Attic Insulation

Sandraf

Hi all,

I was thinking of attemting to lay attic insulation myself as a non diy-er.

I have been looking around and saw some stuff (not the itchy fiberglass) - looked like two sheets of sealed tin foil with the insulation in between.

Is this stuff any good ? Is it easy to fit ? How do I figure out how much I need ? My attic area is 63 square metres and the gap between joists is 14 inches.

Whats the story with insulating pipes etc ?

I got a few quotes for this and they ranged from 600 (for fiberglass) to 1,600 for sheepswool (with matching slippers available !!).

Any comments welcome.
Cheers

Reyman

This job can be done by anyone though you need to be dressed for it (gloves, mask etc.) and it's quite uncomfortable rather than tough.
In your case you would usually use glass fibre 4"-6" deep depending on the height of the joists. You cut the fibre with a shears or saw to 14" wide and lay it between the joists. You then lay a blanket of glass fibre (4"-6" thick) across the joists to finish the job. The blanket type glass fibre comes in 4 ft widths and you don't need to cut it for the second layer so it's a much quicker job.

Two points to watch: Don't cover electric cables. Don't insulate under the water tank. You will need to insulate all pipes and the water tank itself because the attic will be much colder and you can get burst pipes

paudie2005

we're doing the same job,but want to keep access to the attic for storage. How would you recommend doing this as the existing joists are 100mm thick so i was considering laying new insulation between these then counter laying with 150 insulation and 150 timber joists at 400mm centres and then sheeting with shuttering ply.would this be too heavy for the current joists?

ART6

paudie2005 wrote: »

we're doing the same job,but want to keep access to the attic for storage. How would you recommend doing this as the existing joists are 100mm thick so i was considering laying new insulation between these then counter laying with 150 insulation and 150 timber joists at 400mm centres and then sheeting with shuttering ply.would this be too heavy for the current joists?

Ideally you need to keep the joists used for flooring the attic off those for the ceiling, otherwise with the walking about in the attic you will find your ceilings cracking after a while.

slimjimmc

Sandraf wrote: »

Hi all,

I was thinking of attemting to lay attic insulation myself as a non diy-er.

I have been looking around and saw some stuff (not the itchy fiberglass) - looked like two sheets of sealed tin foil with the insulation in between.

Is this stuff any good ? Is it easy to fit ? How do I figure out how much I need ? My attic area is 63 square metres and the gap between joists is 14 inches.

Whats the story with insulating pipes etc ?

I got a few quotes for this and they ranged from 600 (for fiberglass) to 1,600 for sheepswool (with matching slippers available !!).

Any comments welcome.
Cheers

Try rolls of Rockwool instead of fibreglass. It's a bit more expensive (no idea how much) and is used the same way but doesn't itch.

You could use polystrene or insulation board to build a jacket around a water tank. You could just bring the wool insulation up the sides but you'll need to stop it slipping down or dropping fibres into the tank.
The aim is to make sure all sides and the lid on top are insulated.
As said before, don't insulate under tanks, the heat rising up from rooms below helps prevent freezing.

Pipes and valves which are exposed should be insulated with pipe insulation foam. Its a foam tube in handy lengths and has a tearable seam down the side. Open up the seam and slip the tube over existing pipes then wrap a bit of tape around it to keep in place. Make sure you don't leave any pipe exposed as this is where is might freeze. Trim the end of the foam to get a snug fit around joints and elbows.