Best way to access roof space, to insulate

[Brigadier]

Pitched roof over ground floor kitchen.
Presumably because it is not readily accessible, loft insulation in there is a few scraps between the joists, where there is any at all.

I have been in the adjoining roof space, and the gap to crawl through: well, I can't.
Certainly couldn't get any rolls of insulation through either.


How best to access the space then, to insulate it?

Take roof tiles off, cut through sarking, then access from above?

Cut out plasterboard ceiling, access via there, then have hatch / reskim?
(my thoughts are going with "install hatch", to allow easier future access).


Given there are copper pipes running hither and thither through the adjoining loft space and through the access hole itself, I don't want people clambering around up there, potentially causing more trouble than they'd be saving.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Why can't you make the existing hole a bit bigger?

 

[Brigadier]

Thanks FMT.

The bit I need to get to is the section beneath the ridge in the picture.
Current access is via the loft (the tiles of which are in the foreground, sloping down, and this side of the valley).
The roof structure itself forms the limits of the access hole. Without chopping into the structure itself, it isn't getting any bigger than it currently is.

 

[Brigadier]

Oh, and a helpful plumber / kitchen fitter has run copper pipes (presumably to the kitchen sink and appliances) across the near loft space, through the existing access hole, and onto the kitchen roof space.

Straight line, lying loose across the joists, no clipping or protection......

 

[Brigadier]

Thinking on, probably best to chop out for hatch, and get plumber to reroute pipework while the access is better too.

 

[old duffer]

you go in from the ceiling side. Disturbing tiles is the last thing you should ever consider
I did this in an old property I had. Cut the hatch space then slide old kitchen carcass panels in to form a platform then lay on the platform to do the insulation work.
It was awful.
But needs must