Loft insulation!

[Monkeykong1]

Hello everyone

I boarded out my loft but foolishly didn’t insulate! Now it’s winter it’s freezing and in the summer is way to

Im looking at something like superquilt reflective foil insulation. I believe your supposed to staple it to the rafters leaving a gap between the tiles and membrane. Taping any joins.

Then you place Battons length ways over the rafters then fix the plaster boards.

As I already have the plaster boards cut, can I just staple the superquilt to the rafters (still leaving a gap) then just screw the plaster board over it? If I add the batton’s I will loose space in the loft and possibly have to recut the plaster board.

many thanks for any help
Clive

YBS SuperQuilt - The Highest Certified Multifoil

 

[WartonWoodworksDIYBlog]

Hello MonkeyKong ( good name by the way! )

My advice is that you should double check the insulation properties of this superquilt. Do you know for a fact that it will offer the thermal insulating properties you are expecting?

I am slightly sceptical of these foil lining type insulations to be honest. But maybe they have come along way throughout the years.

If you are interested to know how effective your insulation will be, then you need to know its u-value for a particular thickness. Basically the U-value is a measurement of how resistance that material is to heat transfer. U-values are measured by the unit W/m2K. The lower the u-value, the better that insulation is for your home.

For example, rockwool Insulation (aka mineral wool) has a u-value of 0.044 at 100mm of thickness. whereas PIR has 0.022 per 100mm thickness. This means that 100mm thickness of PIR insulation if equivalent to 200mm thickness of rockwool. If this quilt is less than 100mm thick then it probably would not compete with mineral wool or PIR insulation. The superquilt website seems to imply that the superquilt must be combined with other types of insulation to achieve a decent u-value.

Would it be a major job to unscrew your loft boards, and insulate under them with mineral wool? I believe it will be more effective insulation within the joists, rather than your rafters. If you insulate your roof rafters only, then this means the heat from your home will be allowed to fill your loft space, which is wasted energy. If you insulate at joist (ceiling) level, then your are preventing heat going into the loft in the first place, meaning you are wasting less heat.

Here is a good article about how to insulate and board your loft, which you might find useful.

I hope this info helps you. And good luck!