1930s house with 2"x4" joists in loft which is already filled with insulated. Upon visit my Energy supplier suggests increasing insulation by extra 8", they will supply rolls of insulation and fit them free of charge to me.
Loft is boarded so this could be problem, I have to sort this before their job.
I feel we should remove boards, chipboard tongue/grooved. Bolster up existing joist with extra 2"x6" joists, let energy supplier insulate with extra 8" of insulation and finally I refix chipboard boards on new joist, thus compressing 8" of insulation into the 6" space. The chipboard floorboards at 1" will have an insulative effect too. We store numerous items in loft, not too much weight though.
My questions are:
1) should extra 6" joists be fixed in same direction as existing joists, ie running along the joists? If this way, is there a propriety joist fixing, something which has a letter H profile fixing to the top of one joist and bottom of the other?
2) Should new joists be added running at 90 degrees to existing joists. I could rake in extra loose insulation to fill up any voids before adding new 8" insulation rolls.
3) To keep costs down is there any alternate to wooden joists, or to keep integrity of house when I sell house on is it best to use wooden joists?
4) Has anyone experinced this issue before - sorry if raised by another topic in this forum, I'm a bit dislexic so I may not have been searchihing properly!
5) Would the extra 2"x6" joists add too much weight to loft floor/bedroom ceiling. Is there a lighter material to the wooden joists? I need 105 metres of joists to increase the floor level in the loft.
6) Finally - Whats best way to insulate loft hatch?
Loft is boarded so this could be problem, I have to sort this before their job.
I feel we should remove boards, chipboard tongue/grooved. Bolster up existing joist with extra 2"x6" joists, let energy supplier insulate with extra 8" of insulation and finally I refix chipboard boards on new joist, thus compressing 8" of insulation into the 6" space. The chipboard floorboards at 1" will have an insulative effect too. We store numerous items in loft, not too much weight though.
My questions are:
1) should extra 6" joists be fixed in same direction as existing joists, ie running along the joists? If this way, is there a propriety joist fixing, something which has a letter H profile fixing to the top of one joist and bottom of the other?
2) Should new joists be added running at 90 degrees to existing joists. I could rake in extra loose insulation to fill up any voids before adding new 8" insulation rolls.
3) To keep costs down is there any alternate to wooden joists, or to keep integrity of house when I sell house on is it best to use wooden joists?
4) Has anyone experinced this issue before - sorry if raised by another topic in this forum, I'm a bit dislexic so I may not have been searchihing properly!
5) Would the extra 2"x6" joists add too much weight to loft floor/bedroom ceiling. Is there a lighter material to the wooden joists? I need 105 metres of joists to increase the floor level in the loft.
6) Finally - Whats best way to insulate loft hatch?
