Porch insulation & downlights

joe103 · 8 Apr 2021

(Admin. Not sure if this should be in the electrics, Roof, or another part of the forum so if you need to move the thread please do)

Hi all.

We have recently bought a house & I'm currently doing a fair bit of work to it.
The porch was apparently added late 80's- early 90's & there is no insulation in the (Unvented) roofspace. The ceiling has 3 spots in it.

I know that the neighbour has said the previous owner said it was always freezing cold in the porch so I was going to pull the ceiling down, & add PIR insulation, re-board & also clad ceiling using hollow soffit boards & re-fit the spots. This of course in itself brings problems with the insulation needing to be cut, thus allowing condensation into the roofspace.
I cant drop the ceiling as there is only the possibility to drop it 25mm maximum any further drop would mean that the ceiling would be lower than the head of the original doorway.

Any advice would be appreciated on best way round this.

Thanks
Joe

joe103 · 10 Apr 2021

Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks.

catlad · 10 Apr 2021

When you say porch! has it got its own heating?

23vc · 10 Apr 2021

Is it a flat ceiling or vaulted? If flat, you can use loft (fibre wool) insulation. I wouldn’t stress too much about a tiny area of roof not having vented soffits unless you’ve got an obvious mould problem

joe103 · 10 Apr 2021

catlad said:
When you say porch! has it got its own heating?

No. Its just a small entrance porch approx 1.5m x 2m

joe103 · 10 Apr 2021

23vc said:
Is it a flat ceiling or vaulted? If flat, you can use loft (fibre wool) insulation. I wouldn’t stress too much about a tiny area of roof not having vented soffits unless you’ve got an obvious mould problem

Hi. Its a flat ceiling

catlad · 11 Apr 2021

Is the porch sealed of from the rest of the house with its own door?

joe103 · 11 Apr 2021

catlad said:
Is the porch sealed of from the rest of the house with its own door?

It has its own upvc front door on to the porch, & an internal door from the porch onto the house.

catlad · 11 Apr 2021

Well then it will be cold in winter and warm in the summer.

joe103 · 11 Apr 2021

catlad said:
Well then it will be cold in winter and warm in the summer.

Yeah I know.
That's why I want to insulate the ceiling, but having an ordinary internal doo leading to the porch the warm air (holding more humidity) will cause the warm humid air to condense in the roofspace of the porch through the spotlights, which is why I was hoping someone would have a solution.

23vc · 12 Apr 2021

I thought I’d answered it? Yes you can pull the ceiling down, insulate around the down lights, (or use down light hoods) and unlikely you’ll have any major issues with condensation in the roof space as it’s a very small area and not a particularly humid part of the house. There are loads of rooms, even bathrooms which get full of steam, with that setup. Or, lose the Downlights if you want complete unbroken insulation.

joe103 · 13 Apr 2021

23vc said:
I thought I’d answered it? Yes you can pull the ceiling down, insulate around the down lights, (or use down light hoods) and unlikely you’ll have any major issues with condensation in the roof space as it’s a very small area and not a particularly humid part of the house. There are loads of rooms, even bathrooms which get full of steam, with that setup. Or, lose the Downlights if you want complete unbroken insulation.

Hi 23vc.

Thanks for the info.
So using PIR would still be ok? Or IYO should I still be going down the fibreglass route?
Also the spots are the bog standard type (where the circlip just holds the bulb in place) So should I also be going down the road of changing the spots to IP65 being more of an airtight design?

Thanks
Joe

23vc · 13 Apr 2021

You can use PIR, but the loft roll is just easier as you can just put it up there in a couple of layers (first across the top of the joists, then between the joists) without having loads of cuts like you would with PIR. It also stops the joists being a cold bridge which PIR won’t unless you put another layer over the joists. You can get down lights which are suitable for covering with insulation too.

joe103 · 15 Apr 2021

Some good points raised.

Thanks again for the info mate, its appreciated

Joe

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Porch insulation & downlights

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