How To Insulate Your Loft – The Complete Guide
Insulating your home will reduce your energy consumption, and keep you warm.
This also helps to reduce your bills as well as being better for our climate.
One of the best ways to reduce heat loss in your home is by insulating your loft.
You can lose as much as 40% of the heat in your home by not having good insulation in your attic, this is throwing money out of the roof.
If you insulate your loft space correctly this could help reduce condensation and mould on your ceilings, mainly because condensation occurs when warm air has contact with a cold surface.
Before you start,
Most people asked themselves these few questions:
How much money do you need to insulate your home?
Is it worth spending the money?
Should I hire a professional or can I do it myself?
In today’s article, we will describe the average costs to insulate your loft, common insulation materials, and whether should you do it yourself or pay a professional to install it.
So, let’s get started!
An uninsulated home can lose up to 40% of its heat through the roof. A great approach to stop heat loss and save your heating costs is to insulate your loft.
If installed properly, attic insulation should generate significant returns throughout its lifespan.
Because loft insulation increases your home’s thermal efficiency, installing it can significantly reduce your fuel costs.
Depending on the type of home you reside in, you may be able to save anywhere from £50 to £225 per year on your energy costs.
Most people can install insulation in their own lofts, and a lot of hardware shops sell insulation at affordable prices. We highly recommend you wear safety gloves, a mask, and protective glasses.
You will also need to be very careful where you stand in the loft, if you stand on the plastered ceiling, you can cause damage to the ceiling or worse still injure yourself.
We will cover health and safety later in this article.
Types of loft Insulations
Depending on your budget and preferences, you can opt for low cost insulation that sits on the joists, mid-range insulation that goes between or over the rafters, or the more expensive loft insulation that is injected all over the loft between the joists and rafters.
As you’re probably guessing, insulation costs vary depending on what loft insulation you decide is best for you and your home, and how much you can afford vs the cost savings.
Some of these options include:
Choose the best options for your loft:
- Mineral Wool: Mineral wool is a non-metallic, inorganic product manufactured from a carefully controlled mix of raw materials, mainly comprising either stone or silica which are heated to a high temperature until molten. The molten glass or stone is then spun and formed into a flexible, fibrous mat for further processing into finished products.
- Roof Insulation Boards: Thanks to cutting-edge production techniques and materials like polystyrene, insulation boards are a highly adaptable type of insulation that provides exceptional thermal efficiency. These boards come in a variety of thicknesses starting at 25mm.
- SuperFOIL: Superfoil has a BBA certified R value of 2.27 in pitch or flat roofs & 2.73 in walls. Dupont ultra efficient nano coating technology. SF19 SuperFOIL also acts as a radiant barrier to reflect excessive heat gain during the summer months as well as insulating throughout the year.
- Spray Foam Insulation: Foam fills all holes and cavities as it expands, stopping air leakage and infiltration. This is the best type of insulation for your attic or loft area in both newly constructed homes and existing homes but can be much more expensive than other forms of loft insulation.
Best Ways To Insulated Your Loft To Reduce Heat Loss
There are many ways you can insulate your loft and reduce heat loss, below we have listed a number of them & how they should be installed.
How to insulate your loft hatch
Cut the blanket insulation to the same width and length as the loft hatch to insulate it. According to recent government recommendations, the insulation should have a 270mm depth.
Simply use your preferred adhesive to stick on the loft-facing side of the hatch door once it has been cut to size.
How to insulate your loft rafters
There are a number of different types of rafter insulation on the market, two of the most popular are Insulation sheet boards, these can be cut to size and normally fits between the rafters.
insulation boards comes in various sizes for different thicknesses of rafters.
Superfoil is another, Superfoil comes in a roll, normally 10 meters long and 1.5 meters wide.
You roll out the superfoil and staple it to the rafters as you go along, after you have covered the whole loft, you use silver aluminum tape to cover any gaps.
How to Insulate joists
Rolls of mineral wool insulation can be used if access is simple and your loft joists are uniform. The horizontal beams that make up the loft floor are known as joists.
After placing the first layer between the joists, the insulation is then raised to the necessary depth by adding a second layer at a right angle to cover the joists.
How Much Does It Cost to insulate The loft In My Home?
Let’s summarise the initial costs of insulation for you. Below, we’ve put together the average amount of money most people spend.
| Property Type | AVERAGE COST |
| Flat | £500 |
| Bungalow | £750 |
| Semi Detached House | £950 |
| Detached House | £1250 |
As you can see above, the cost of insulation varies on the size of the property you own or rent.
The cost will also go up or down depending on what product you choose and the size of the loft, the above chart shows you the average cost of using mineral wool.
Professional Spray Loft Insulation
Another why to insulate your loft space is to hire a spray insulation company. The cost for this can be considerably higher, so you should weigh up the pros and cons.
Pros
- Can be applied in difficult-to-reach areas
- Quicker and safer than doing it yourself
Cons
- More expensive
- Can be messy
- Needs to be installed by a professional
- Shouldn’t be used in listed buildings or homes with thatched roofs
- Restricts airflow inside the roof space, which could lead to humidity and dampness and put roof timbers at danger of corrosion.
Health & Safety Tips When Insulating Your Loft
When you are doing any kind of DIY you should always take care to protect yourself from injury, below we have listed the equipment you should be using to stay safe when you are insulating your loft space.
- Gloves: As you will be using a shape knife to cut the insulation it is advisable to wear safety gloves.
- Eye Protectors: Alway ensure your eyes are protected, as dust and fibres will be present during the insulation process.
- Protected Mask: You get a lot of dusk particles when cutting insulation, so please do wear a good respirator mask to avoid breathing in dust and fibres.
- Protective Boiler Suit: Loft spaces are often dirty fibres that can irritate exposed skin.
- Ladder: A lot of new loft hatches already come with a ladder attached. If yours doesn’t you will need to use a step ladder. Where possible ask someone to hold the ladder for you, so it does not move whilst climbing into the loft.
- Lighting: As loft spaces can be dark it is a good idea to have lighting installed. If this is not possible a side lamp is a good idea or use a torch. If using a torch buying one with a strap that goes around your head will free up your hands so you can work safely.
- Scaffolding Boards: If your loft is not boarded out, then placing scaffolding boards across the joists will allow you to walk around freely and safely.
A home’s carbon footprint can be decreased and climate change can be fought with effective loft insulation.
As a result of the decreased heat loss in the house, the heating system won’t need to run as long, and the house will hold heat for longer, requiring less fossil fuel to keep you warm.
You can buy more environmentally friendly loft insulation products, such as hemp, wood fibre boards and sheep’s wool insulation. However, they can be more expensive than standard insulation products.
Conclusion
The average cost to insulate your loft can be expensive but over time the savings will outweigh the initial costs.
Take your time, research, compare the cost of the materials and measure your loft space, this way you won’t be buying too much insulation.
