Insulating between floors

ne1880

I am looking to insulate between my first floor and converted attic.The attic is converted but unfinished and before I put floor or carpet down I would like to insulate. The boards are very well nailed down in the attic and would be ruined if I attemt to pull it up. Anyone any suggestions.

paddy147

ne1880 wrote: »

I am looking to insulate between my first floor and converted attic.The attic is converted but unfinished and before I put floor or carpet down I would like to insulate. The boards are very well nailed down in the attic and would be ruined if I attemt to pull it up. Anyone any suggestions.

Use a large monkey bar/pry bar and a claw hammer to lever up the floor boards gently.If you can,try to screew them back down next time,as screws make it much easier to take them back up again,if you ever need to gain access to the floor.Rockwool 1200 x 600 slab insulation down 1st,then a layer of Knauf insulation roll on top.

Make sure you keep power,co-ax,phone and alarm cables on top of the insulation though

Snug as a bug in a rug.:)

deandean

I did this last year, it was quite a project.

I am able to crawl in behind the attic baby wall on both sides, so I could access a channel between the joists.

I bought Rockwell semi rigid 100mm - batten slabs or summit they are called. I cut each slab up the middle and they fitted nicely between the joists.

I made up a pusher: got sewer rods, unscrewed the bit at the end, made up a 250 x 75mm wooden pusher which I attached to the front of the sewer rod.

I cut the slabs into 1.2m lengths and pushed them in along the gap between joists using the rods, had to screw rods together and unscrew them every time due to lack of headroom.

Hoor of a job but it worked!

The bedrooms now retain their heat much longer. I measured ceiling surface temperatures and where I added the insulation, the ceiling is 1.5DegC warmer than an uninsulated area.

Best of luck! Do post how you get on.

Dean.

[edit] the other option, I have only read about this, is to get a lad in with the blown-in insulation system, if he has a long enough blower tube thing he may be able to fill the joist gaps for you.

ne1880

I had considered that. I have recently floored & paneled off the baby attic areas (adding extra insulation) and looked at that option but not a runner. Thinking about cutting sections in the floor and then using your method of pushing the insulation through.

Did it help insulate against "noise" between the floors?

Sigur Ros

I am planning on doing the following:

(1) taking up the floorboards and placing rockwool between the floor joists and overlaying it with knauf insulation

(2) putting the floorboards down again & sealing the joints between the floorboards with gunoprene / acoustic mastic.

(3) glueing & screwing 15mm sheets of plywood over the floorboards and sealing the edges with air tightness tape

(4) putting underlay over the floorboards & placing carpet overneath.

Any feedback on this approach would be welcomed.

Also, would there be any advantage with placing an extra layer of 12.5mm plasterboard over the existing downstairs ceiling in conjunction with above?

I am hoping above approach will address both sound & thermal issues with the upstairs.