Hot air rises, and if you don’t insulate your loft, all this heat will escape out into the night sky! Loft insulation is one of the best ways to ensure that your home stays warm and your heating bills stay manageable. It is just like putting a woolly hat on, really.
So, how do you go about it?
There are 2 ways, either get someone to do it for you – we can help you here – or the other way is to do it yourself. You need to clear the loft space, and if the floor is boarded the boards should be lifted. Measure up the floor area of the loft so that you can calculate the area you need to cover. The next step is to check the depth of any existing insulation; the recommended minimum is 270mm (which is about 10 ½ inches). With this information you can work out how much insulation you will need.
For help calculating how much insulation you’ll need you can use our handy new calculator that you can download for free. Simply enter your measurements into the white boxes and then select the type of insulation you want to buy, and it will tell you how many rolls you need.
There are different types of insulation depending on your preference. The most common are:
- Space Blanket – This is insulation that is enclosed in a plastic covering which makes it much easier and more pleasant to handle. This is ideal for topping up insulation.
- Space Combi Roll – This is mineral wool roll that is perforated so that it can be used for lofts with either 400mm or 600mm spaced joists.
- ECO Home – This is an easy to handle product made from recycled plastic bottles.
All these products come in various thickness or ‘depths’, so that you can get the right amount. Remember that you will need more rolls of the thicker insulation as they don’t cover as much area because you can’t get as much into a roll (that you can still carry!).
