I'm about to pull up some chipboard flooring in a bedroom, which also happens to be in an extended bedroom that extends over our garage. So there are 2 things I could do with some advice on.
Firstly, the room is much colder than the rest of the house, probably not only because it's above the unheated and draughty garage, but also because it has two external walls (it's the detached side of our semi-detached).
So in terms of the heat loss, I've read that I should insulate the garage ceiling (ideally Celotex, or maybe just good old polystyrene), as well as the bedroom floor.
So is it worth insulating the garage ceiling at all? If I do insulate it, can I just screw poly sheets onto the existing ceiling? Is this a fire risk and do I need fire-resistant plasterboard over it?
In terms of the bedroom floor, should I use poly sheets, then loft insulation over the top? Or just the loft insulation rolls? These should come up between the joists I think?
Also, it's a 30's semi, so I'm pretty sure the walls are solid brick. Would dry-lining the walls make a difference?
Secondly, I'm not sure what to replace the crap chipboard with as a new sub-floor!
I was planning to put T&G chipboard flooring down. I'd considered new floorboards but I'm not convinced. We kept the original ones in the rest of the house where we've laid carpet, and despite many hours of screwing boards into place and putting hardboard over the top, there's still some creaks. I know some people hate chipboard of any kind, but it seems better where there's going to be carpet and no likely short-term need for access to pipes etc (recently re-wired and new plumbing).
Sorry for the lengthy post, but all of these issues seem tied together so hard to separate them. Cheers..
Firstly, the room is much colder than the rest of the house, probably not only because it's above the unheated and draughty garage, but also because it has two external walls (it's the detached side of our semi-detached).
So in terms of the heat loss, I've read that I should insulate the garage ceiling (ideally Celotex, or maybe just good old polystyrene), as well as the bedroom floor.
So is it worth insulating the garage ceiling at all? If I do insulate it, can I just screw poly sheets onto the existing ceiling? Is this a fire risk and do I need fire-resistant plasterboard over it?
In terms of the bedroom floor, should I use poly sheets, then loft insulation over the top? Or just the loft insulation rolls? These should come up between the joists I think?
Also, it's a 30's semi, so I'm pretty sure the walls are solid brick. Would dry-lining the walls make a difference?
Secondly, I'm not sure what to replace the crap chipboard with as a new sub-floor!
I was planning to put T&G chipboard flooring down. I'd considered new floorboards but I'm not convinced. We kept the original ones in the rest of the house where we've laid carpet, and despite many hours of screwing boards into place and putting hardboard over the top, there's still some creaks. I know some people hate chipboard of any kind, but it seems better where there's going to be carpet and no likely short-term need for access to pipes etc (recently re-wired and new plumbing).
Sorry for the lengthy post, but all of these issues seem tied together so hard to separate them. Cheers..
