Boarding and insulating attic for storage

T

Trinacheile

Registered User
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Hi,

We have a really cold house that has a little bit of old fibreglass insulation up in the attic between the ceiling joists, put there by the previous owners.

The house is very small so we want to put down chipboard in the attic to use it for storage space, but also make it as insulated as possible.

I've been reading the various threads on attic/loft insulation, and looking up the different products B&Q sell etc, but I'm still pretty confused about what to do.

All the wiring for the house is strewn around over the attic floor. So we need to make sure we don't squash it.

I know that you usually need about 270mm thick insulation to be really effective, with the highest possible R value.

The space board-type insulation for laying between joists have very low R values, less than 2. But they would be so handy for putting boards on top of afterwards.

So would it be best for us to:


  • Take out the old raggedy fibreglass
  • Buy new space combi roll and put down two layers of it to get the R value up to about 6
  • Raise the joist height (somehow), and lay the wiring back on top of the new insulation
  • Put slats across the joists so we can put chipboard on top of it without the insulation being compressed or the wiring being squashed.

We're going to put some insulation over the attic door too to keep that warm.

I suppose the problem really is how to get good insulation within the existing joist levels.

Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
Trinacheile said:
Hi,
All the wiring for the house is strewn around over the attic floor. So we need to make sure we don't squash it.
Click to expand...


If your house is very old, you may want to have an electrician check to see if:
  • the electrical insulation on your wiring is degraded,
  • the wires are overloaded, or
  • knob and tube wiring was used (often found in homes built before 1940).
If any of these wiring situations exists in your house, it may be hazardous to add thermal insulation within a closed cavity around the wires because that could cause the wires to overheat.
 
Another point while you are clearing up the attic - if you have an old metal water tank it might be a good time to update it to possibly a plastic one to enable you to be one step ahead of any leaks.
 
Hi,

The house has a new fusebox and wiring. I think some of that old wiring up in the attic might be redundant - who knows though! Better to be safe and mind it.
There is a plastic water tank up there too, which was put in recently but not insulated.
I am going to wrap it in insulation (not below it though) and put an insulated lid on it.
My main concern is how to effectively insulate between the ceiling joists and be able to lay chipboard on top.

Thanks
 
Out of interest, how does one put a floor into the attic above the 300mm of insulation? The boards have to be put on some type of stilts perhaps?
 
In my experience the best option when you wish to upgrade the attic insulation and retain storage space:

Insulate between the joists as normal, then across the top of the joists lay hard insulation boards (there are insulation boards available with a sheet of ply attached for this very application).

This will give you a solid surfaceplus a good level of insulation.

Hope this helps
 
Thanks for the advice. Wouldn't the board compress the insulation below resulting in it becoming less effective?
 
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