Advice on insulating with combination of SuperQuilt & Fi

[lukemm]

I've just moved house and it's freezing. I've been up in the loft and there is little insulation, it's all a bit of a mish-mash of boarding and messy insulation - but not really enough from what I can tell.

So I want to tidy it all up, insulate to regs (in most areas) and still leave plenty of boarded storage space. I wanted to pay someone to do it, but the quotes are coming back rather high (£600 ish) and I think the materials will cost me £200 at most...

My roof has trusses in a FINK pattern.
See THIS Image.

Within the central space (the middle A of the trusses) it's just tall enough to walk around, this area contains loads of plumbing the water tank, shower pumps etc and is all boarded on top of what looks like 100mm of insulation. This area needs to be easily accessible and is a great storage area.

Outside of this central area I'm going to top up the insulation with 200mm Knauf Earthwool and I'm going to install 12 EasyVents in the roof lining to ensure the ventilation is adequate.

It's insulating the central area that's the challenge and I wondered if I could enclose the central area with battened SuperQuilt? I'd devise some access from one section of the roof to the other, but this seems like a quick and easy way for me to up the insulation without having to pull up all the boards and go through the time and cost of creating boarded areas above the insulation?

Firstly, does this make sense?
Secondly, what are peoples thoughts?

I can get up in the roof space tonight and take some photos if that helps.

 

[pinenot]

You probably don't need the roof vents, most builds accommodate positive venting to the loft space in the first place. This is either via soffit to soffit or sometimes the ridge is fully vented or both, so just ensure you leave a couple of hundred mm clear of the eaves when applying the wool insulation, or iif your really in the mood cut the ends at the slope of the roof and lay within 75 -100 mm.
Older builds, with no felt or otherwise, the tiles moved/lifted enough in a strong wind, to provide the positive ventilation, so when their changed to more modern ways, this should be attended to...pinenot

 

[lukemm]

Thanks - I did wonder about the need for the EasyVents, and was going to taper wool regardless - but quotes I received back from a couple of firms had EasyVents spec'ed after inspecting the roof space. Maybe it's just another way of increasing the profit margin!

What did you think with regards to the SuperQuilt?

 

[pinenot]

Were stepping both into the unknown (will last the lifetime of the building? manufacturers claim) and the moving on from more traditional materials. That said when rigid insulation first came onto the market it was regarded as inferior to more common wool/blown types not it is the in vogue material. what I do know from study, is that it was developed first in the space industry and is now used more and more within the refrigeration sector. I remember when 8" - 16" solid form insulation was more normal, so I think you can be fairly confident in its use, but this should be to manufacturers spec. and authorised use, good luck...pinenot

 

[lukemm]

Thanks pinenot.

I'm pretty happy with the superquilt as a product, but I'm more unsure of the proposed zonal insulating, effectly creating a small enclosure insulated with superquilt, and the larger area outside then being insulated with fibre roll.

If people have thoughts on that please pipe up!