Insulating the attic at the moment

iMax

Well, not RIGHT now, but I started today... I got 200mm R4.5 B&Q own brand & have started rolling it out into the joists (there was almost nothing there). So far so good (apart from the itchy).

Now here's the question (first one). I'm going to be putting down loft panels preferably over the entire floor. There's areas of the floorspace where some of the joists are 3.5 inches higher than others (support beams), obviously this will cause an issue with the level floor. There's also pipes which would require me to cut the flooring around them (should these be boxed in?). I was thinking of getting some 2x4, fixing it in the other direction to the existing joists, filling that (cross against the existing new insulation) with 100mm insulation & then putting a straight floor the whole way across at that point. Is this overkill on the insulation ??? Is it worth just leaving the 200mm & cutting the floorboards to fit the pipes ?

Question number 2, I was looking up attic insulation online & came across rafter vents. should I be fitting these ?

Thanks in advance

Martron

your attic space should be ventilated enough already.

as for levelling the floor then filling the gap with insulation ........ the insulation you have will make a difference but there is no point wasting more money by doublin up on insulation that will be effective enough on its own.

not sure what you mean by the pipes. will there be much traffic in the attic that thee pipe might get hit? if so . there is no harm in boxing the off just make sure when you are fdrilling or nailing not to hit the pipe:rolleyes:

iMax

Thanks for the reply marton. Do you reckon 200mm is enough then ?

paddy147

Nothing that an electric sabre saw or hand saw cant sort out in a few seconds by cutting small notches out of the joists so that the pipe and any cables simply fall into,so that you dont pinch/damage them when you put down your floor boards over the joists.Also no harm to put on pipe insulation onto the water pipes and over flow pipes from the water tank,will stop the pipes freezing in any future freezing whether we get.

When you put down the floor,all you do is mark the floor where any pipe or cable is under the floor with a black marker.Simple as and job done.

P.S-DONT use nails or a nail gun to put down your floor panels.

Use small wood screws,so this way,at least you can simply unscrew them and lift the floor panel easily if you ever need to get access to under the floor boards in the future.

iMax

There's not that much play on the pipes Woody. I think I'll just insulate them & box them

Martron

depends on the quality of the insulation Imax. but if you have hardly to begin with you will notice a difference.

200mm in my opinon is plenty! but it depends on the quality of the actual insulation

edanto

What did you do here after all iMax? Did you bother doubling up on the insulation?

I'm looking at the same type of insulation now from B&Q and wondering if 200mm is enough, or if I should go for more. (have hardly any up there at the moment)

paddy147

edanto wrote: »

What did you do here after all iMax? Did you bother doubling up on the insulation?

I'm looking at the same type of insulation now from B&Q and wondering if 200mm is enough, or if I should go for more. (have hardly any up there at the moment)

Have you seen BnQs prices on Insulation??

It can be had for alot cheaper than what BnQ charge for it.

edanto

Yeah I was unsure of the price - since I'm looking at the B&Q UK website (can't seem to find an Irish B&Q website) - they have rolls there of space blanket 200mm for £6.29 which covers 4.5 m2, which was the cheapest I could find online. That price might only be for the UK though and not the same in Blanch.

I'd be really grateful for any place you could recommend me to buy insulation cheaper around (south) Dublin (no problem driving to get a good price).

thanks

fodda

edanto wrote: »

Yeah I was unsure of the price - since I'm looking at the B&Q UK website (can't seem to find an Irish B&Q website) - they have rolls there of space blanket 200mm for £6.29 which covers 4.5 m2, which was the cheapest I could find online. That price might only be for the UK though and not the same in Blanch.

I'd be really grateful for any place you could recommend me to buy insulation cheaper around (south) Dublin (no problem driving to get a good price).

thanks

Do they still sell that eco-wool or non-itch insulation at B&Q?

edanto

I dunno - I've given up looking on their website since it's all UK based, I'm gonna call them in the morning.

If anyone can recommend somewhere to get the best value attic insulation, I'm all ears!

edanto

paddy147 wrote: »

It can be had for alot cheaper than what BnQ charge for it.

I got some prices off B&Q on the phone this morning and the Irish prices are about 10 times what's on the UK website - that's 'cos the UK govt subsidise loft insulation, but anyways...

Cheapest supplier I've been able to find is build4less

https://www.build4less.ie/index.php?cPath=946_685_889

That's buying it by the pallet (24 rolls). Now, I don't need a full pallet, I'd have 6 rolls left over. If there were two other people here on boards that wanted to share the costs of ordering 2 pallets (equitable cost share per roll), we might be able to get a decent price. Let me know if you're interested.

If not, I'll probably just order a pallet anyways in the next day or two and then flog the 6 leftover rolls on adverts.

gsxr1

might be a good idea to go to Newry and get it .

For 150 mm it is 18euro a roll which is 7 square meters . Naas price.

if you are doing the the whole attic which requires 300mm then a trailer up north may save a few pound.

edanto

It would be a great idea, I just dont have a trailer! So the delivered price link above is attractive.


Can't find better price delivered - any suggestions?

iMax

edanto wrote: »

What did you do here after all iMax? Did you bother doubling up on the insulation?

I'm looking at the same type of insulation now from B&Q and wondering if 200mm is enough, or if I should go for more. (have hardly any up there at the moment)

Hi,

Laid the 200mm & floored over it. The pipes were all wrapped with foam tubing as far as I could & the water tank I wrapped in Kneff Space Blanket (open underneath). I also insulated the pipes down to immestion level & got a new lagging jacket which went on over the old one at a different angle so all the slack openings were covered.

The difference has been huge. Last winter we were running the heating at 4 & going to five when necessary. This winter We ran at 2 most of the time with the occasional up to 3 & once to 4 for a couple of hours to take the chill out when we'd been away over night. It's actually been at 1.5 for the last couple of days.

Cost me about €450 in total because I had to get flooring & tools also, but was well worth the investment IMO.