Anyone topped up their insulation?

Dandle said:
I went to wickes before I got the quote and just to put 4" of insulation down(space blanket) it would have cost me £300..
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We spent just over a hundred quid of Space Blanket at Wickes. Admittedly I had to lay it myself but it wasn't hard just hot and dirty!

Space Blanket is rated as thicker than the normal stuff because of the foil layer. Can't remember the equivalent thickness as I have thrown the wrapper away. it also says it pays for itself in a year (I don't believe that) so seeing as it was half-price we should quickly see a return n investment. Already we have seen an decrease it heat wastage.
 
There's already insulation in my loft (fibreglass itchy stuff) but I was thinking of adding more/replacing it. With regards to the space blanket insulation, do you remove the old stuff first and put it down or do you place it over the top of the existing insulation? Not very diy orientated as you can see :)
 
swinnie said:
I think the stuff that the builders put into our loft and dormer extension was about 200mm.
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LOL, you can't just pull out a number like that !

Insulations all have ratings, different ones can achieve the same results with different thicknesses, there are different types for different places. 200mm of what? Kingspan? Rockwool? Which Kingspan ? Which Rockwool exactly ?
 
Had our house assessed last month for cavity insulation. Turns out that cos we live ina timber framed house, (built by the canadian airforce in the 50's), we can't have it done :(
However, we're in the middle of building a 22sqm extension and can have that done for approx. £199. Thats the min charge, and it would have cost us that to have the WHOLE house done if it weren't timber framed. Bahhhh!
 
With my AV installation business I am forever going in attics to run cables and resolve issues with existing cabling.

Some of my customers now have this strange insulation that looks like wadding used in upholstery/soft toys. It's made from recycled milk bottles and doesn't itch or get on your chest.

Any idea how well it actually insulates? Could be the way forward if it's not silly money as it's much nicer to fit than the fiber glass stuff!
 
Tesla, that sounds like the stuff I went out and bought from b&q today. It is 200mm thick and has an R rating of just under 5.

I thought it wasnt too bad for the price. £9 for a bag of 3 rolls. I got 3 of them and have done about 2/3s the loft space.

Just need to figure out what I am going to do about the middle where I want to store some stuff up there.

On a side note, i was reading some document last night where it recommends not putting the top up insulation over the electrical wiring due to a potential fire risk. Is that BS? I spent a lot of time moving the wiring about so that it was laying ontop of the insulation. :?
 
Tesla said:
Some of my customers now have this strange insulation that looks like wadding used in upholstery/soft toys. It's made from recycled milk bottles and doesn't itch or get on your chest.

Any idea how well it actually insulates? Could be the way forward if it's not silly money as it's much nicer to fit than the fiber glass stuff!
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We have that stuff, its like mashed up paper or something. I guess they just pour it in. Its been there since we bought the house so no idea if its good stuff or not. Actually i was thinking about pulling it all out and starting again.
 
Havent had a gas bill in yet but it does seem to keep the house warmer. You notice especially upstairs when you go to bed.
 
Ok, Im now thinking of the next part of the project.

Either of these are on the cards...

1) Pulling up the floor boards in the front room and dinning room (suspended floor) and then putting in a suspened insulation layer, then purhapes replacing the old floor boards and putting in new pine and tightly fitting it in to remove the large gaps that exist at the moment.

or

2) Pulling up the floor boards upstairs and suspending insulation so that there is insulation between upstairs and downstairs.

The only issue I have with both of these is how the heck im gonna get these boards up (they aren't chipboard panels). Has anyone had experience of doing the above?

Cheers
 
leaskovski said:
On a side note, i was reading some document last night where it recommends not putting the top up insulation over the electrical wiring due to a potential fire risk. Is that BS? I spent a lot of time moving the wiring about so that it was laying ontop of the insulation. :?
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Not at all BS mate, the cables generate heat in use, and they need to shead this heat... they can't do that if they are surrounded in insulation, a cable totally surrounded in it for more than half a meter has to have a derating factor of 0.5 applied to it (i.e. it can only carry half of what it could if it were not in the insulation)

Also worth mentioning... If you use insulation thats based on polystyrene... don't let it touch cables... the polystyrene draws the plasticiser out of the PVC, and it go goes downhill fm there and becomes a goey mess!
 
Just catching up with what you are planning to do, do you mean putting insulation in between floors of a domestic house?

If so, there is usually not much benefit, unless each floor will be heated separately. What I mean is that if when you turn your heating on, both floors will be heated at the same time and your insulation isn't going to to much as there won't be a temperature difference.

Walls, ground floors and ceiling/roof are usually heat insulated; but intermediate floors uncommon unless each floor is a separate flat.

HOpe you understand what I mean.
 
not sure about item 1 unless ti is very cold underneath the floor. I will be doing mine but I have a freezing cold cellar downstairs that has to be well insulated for damp reduction.

Item 2 I wouldn't bother with the idea is to heat the whole house and prevent cold areas. Unless you never heat upstairs and you want it cold it will have no effect.
 
leaskovski said:
The only issue I have with both of these is how the heck im gonna get these boards up (they aren't chipboard panels). Has anyone had experience of doing the above?

Cheers
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If you're replacing the floor boards, circular saw the ******** out. Watch out for wires underneath. If you aren't, you can get this tool for a fiver from Wickes which with a hammer and some force, takes a bit of the floor board out so you can put your hammer in the gap and use it as leverage to take it out.
 
I'm definately thinking about doing this... house cools down far too fast for my liking, I have thought about it in the past but I now have the money to do it, I'm thinking about the roof and also the cavity wall as well...

I think that I might need to get the damp doing too before all that... my god houses cost a lot of money :)

Stelly
 
hmm, cheers people. I though maybe putting some insulation between floors would stop upstairs from getting really warm and downstairs from staying coolish.

Maybe this is because the downstairs floor really needs to be insulated. Its an old 1890s mid-ter house with a suspended floor. The air vent bricks are allowing the coolr air to circulate under the house (which is good) but because there is no insulation under there I think that is sapping the heat from downstairs.
 
You'll have to keep an eye out on any damp proof membrane, if there is one (dunno because of the age of the house). Basically you want the insulation to be on the inside of the dpm so that it stays dry.

Ground floor defo sounds tricky to do!
 
sorry for the slight hijack, but does the insulation they inject into cavity walls have a detrimental effect on power cabling?
I've trailed my power cables into the cavity wall, but done my best to push the cables down below the dpm to avoid any drill bits hitting them when drilling into the walls to inject the insulation.
Thanks for any advice.
 
DB_SamX said:
You'll have to keep an eye out on any damp proof membrane, if there is one (dunno because of the age of the house). Basically you want the insulation to be on the inside of the dpm so that it stays dry.

Ground floor defo sounds tricky to do!
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Hmmm, maybe it might be better then if I find someone who can do the whole lot then. Replace floorboards and put insulation in at the same time.
 
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