DIY attic insulation help

captainmitchal

hi,

I have a converted attic and the attic space either side of the room have boards down allowing for storage.

Our bedroom seems to be very hard to heat and i am wanting to put down a bit of insulation to help keep our room warmer, i've had a couple of quotes to get it done and they seem a bit epensive approx 1000euro

I was having a look at a couple of DIY stores and trying to decide what i should do. At the moment the insulation between the joists seems very miminal and there are boards above these to allow for storage in the area. It looks like the boards have been nailed down so i'm trying to avoid lifting them in case damages the ceiling in the bedroom.

I was thinking about putting down insulation boards on the floor and then putting floor/chip boards on top so we can still use the area as storage but if the insulation underneath the boards isn't working i'm wondering if this will have any benefit??

I was also thinking about thermawrap which can be attached along the rafters but is advertised as top up insulation only so again is there any point using this if the attic floor insulation isn't great?

The area i'm talking about doing is about 5meters long by 2meters and the highest point is about 1meter so isn't that large an area, the insulation between the attic space and the attic conversion is good and seems to be doing the job. The attis space does seem a bit draughty but i know there should be a draught to stop mould etc but maybe the thermawrap would reduce this?

Would anyone advise doing one or the other or maybe both?

thanks

One shot on kill

I'd takeout all the insulation that's there and take up floor ( don't worry about ceiling just be carefully ) Then I would use Kingspan or equivalent between joist and then tape all joints with an alluminimum tape

captainmitchal

ok thanks, is that kingspan insulation boards you mean? then just put the floor back down on topof the boards?

nudger

I Done something very like what you are planning during the summer.
Same set up, spaces on both sides, room in the middle done about 30 years ago.
Decided that one side was enough storage, far too much crap going up there anyway.
6m X 2m each side one side over the bedrooms the other side over bathroom and my room.
Over the kids rooms I decided to take up the chip board and put in 150mm between the joists and then another 150mm on top long ways, just pat it down don't force it, lift any elc cables and let them lie on top as they over heat other wise, fire etc. you get the recommended 300mm but no flooring.
Other side just went with 150mm between the joists, again get the wiring on top and put the flooring back down.
No insulation under the water tank and holes cut out for bathroom spots.
5 X 150mm roles €125.
2 day job at your leisure, get masks and goggles, rubber gloves. do it in cool weather.

torres3011

nudger wrote: »

I Done something very like what you are planning during the summer.
Same set up, spaces on both sides, room in the middle done about 30 years ago.
Decided that one side was enough storage, far too much crap going up there anyway.
6m X 2m each side one side over the bedrooms the other side over bathroom and my room.
Over the kids rooms I decided to take up the chip board and put in 150mm between the joists and then another 150mm on top long ways, just pat it down don't force it, lift any elc cables and let them lie on top as they over heat other wise, fire etc. you get the recommended 300mm but no flooring.
Other side just went with 150mm between the joists, again get the wiring on top and put the flooring back down.
No insulation under the water tank and holes cut out for bathroom spots.
5 X 150mm roles €125.
2 day job at your leisure, get masks and goggles, rubber gloves. do it in cool weather.

Thinking of doing this meself in the next week or two. Why no insulation under the water thank then?

Sorry if it's a dumb question. Thanks for the tip with the wires as well.

nudger

Insulating the attic floor is to keep the heat in the house and stop it getting out the attic, so when the big freeze hits the attic will get colder. but if you leave the bit under the tank a bit of heat can escape up and help to stop the tank freezing.
You should get a tank lagging jacket for it as well, I made one up from cardboard packing box from a chest freezer and wrapped some spare 150mm around the sides and on the top.
The middle of the attic, the room still gets the free heat thanks to poor insulation in the middle of the floor.

Fieldies Dreams

Best advice from nudger i think,well id do exactly the thing if it was my house...just if u have spotlights in the ceiling downstairs dont lay the insulation withing 10 inches of them because of the heat off them,just pull it away with your hands

nudger

Fieldies Dreams wrote: »

Best advice from nudger i think,well id do exactly the thing if it was my house...just if u have spotlights in the ceiling downstairs dont lay the insulation withing 10 inches of them because of the heat off them,just pull it away with your hands

I'm no tradesman, but after last years weather there was loads of threads on all things insulation wise and a lot of proper tradies of all kinds gave plenty of advise, you should go back a year and have a look.
There are dome shaped covers you can get to cover the spots (medium flower pot sized) if you want to put in high levels of insulation.
Option 2 is put in LED lights instead, much cheaper to run, last longer, and feck all heat off them, that's my next job, so I'm told.

torres3011

nudger wrote: »

Insulating the attic floor is to keep the heat in the house and stop it getting out the attic, so when the big freeze hits the attic will get colder. but if you leave the bit under the tank a bit of heat can escape up and help to stop the tank freezing.
You should get a tank lagging jacket for it as well, I made one up from cardboard packing box from a chest freezer and wrapped some spare 150mm around the sides and on the top.
The middle of the attic, the room still gets the free heat thanks to poor insulation in the middle of the floor.

On the ball Nudger.. makes sense.

Cheers

Torres

nudger

just a thing that I was going to do at the time to boost the insulation up to 200mm on the storage side.
Get 3 lengths of 2"x3" come in 12ft. Cut them 4 ft long, (The joist length is 6ft but nothing really goes into the last foot in the angle so I recon 4ft is enough) you could put 1 on every second joist making it possible To put 200mm. I floored my attic with 8x4 marine ply cut up the middle (2x 8x2) 3 done the job, if you are going to use the the smaller loft packs then you would have to do each joist and depending on your cuts you will need 8-10 packs.
Drill 3 4mm holes down through the 3" about a foot apart, then counter sink the holes half way with an 8mm bit. screw down with 3 decking screws.
Drill pilot holes in the flooring and then screw down to joists (40-50mm screws), know where your wires are.
Nice job when its done.

On the thermal wrap haven't figured that out yet , any ideas?

captainmitchal

Hi guys that's great advice, think I'll try lifting the floor and put the insulation down and see how that goes, thanks again and if anyone has any pros or cons on the thermowrap would like to hear it!
Cheers