Pitched Roof Insulation

[Anonymous]

We are in the process of a loft renovation. I am looking into the different types of insulation that are available and need advice on the best type. We face onto a busy road and so need good sound proofing. The felt needs patching in places but does not leak at all (have been through 18 months of doing nothing to verify!). We want to insulate between the beams and then plasterboard over the top, leaving the beautiful A frames exposed.

So what would people advise is the best type of insulation for the above and where can we get it from? I know we need to leave an air gap between so that air can move in and out. We have looked into natural wool insulation but I would like to see what else is out there.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Anonymous]

We are looking into loft insulation for our 160 year old barn conversion. It was converted 15 years ago and seems to have very little insulation in the loft. You can see daylight through the ridge tiles in some of it, is this normal for insulation. What is the best type of insulation to use on the inside of the roof?

 

[Anonymous]

Can I just clarify your question - do you want to lay insulation on the floor of the loft (ie: above your upstairs ceilings)? This is the normal method of reducing heat loss in a house whose loft is not a habitable area.
Or do you want to insulate the underside of your roof, so as to make the loft a heated part of the house?

Seeing daylight between your roof tiles suggest that you have no roofing felt under the tiles. This is not necessarily anything to worry about, provided the rain and/or snow is not getting in. We once lived in a Suffolk cottage that had no roofing felt - you could see hundreds of points of light between the tiles when you stood in the loft. But it never leaked once.

 

[Anonymous]

Polyurethane slab insulation such as Kingspan works well when cut accurately to fit betwen the rafters. This can then be covered with plasterboard and skimmed in an appropriate way to finish.
If you want the finished surface to sit between rather than over the rafters you would need some arrangement of battening in place first to provide fixing for the plasterboard. It is recommended that a 50mm ventilation gap is maintained between the underside of the tiles and any insulating material.

 

[Anonymous]

we have just insulated our rafters and loft only now to discover the ventilation was not enough and have mad wet sarking as the felt doesn't breathe. we are madly putting in some vents at the ridge but trying to not lose the benefit of insulating by over ventilating. our ratfer ends are bedded into the stone wall and so eaves type vents are near impossible. I'm not sure that energy saving methods and old houses marry too well.

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Gayton I recall did a post about such a situation not too long ago - it may be worth a search (or contact him...) it concerned slitting the underfelty stuff and eaves vents.

I agree though - it's not simple in an old house to employ new methods!

Where are you? We are stone and Nothumberland.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi
Am in Scotland - as you can see it's not just the stone bedroom wall thats giving us problems! You need to be a good chess player in this game and be able to think 10 moves ahead of yourself!