Electrics and loft insulation

[Deleted2797112]

Hi thanks, yes. I read here and elsewhere about the different methods and it came down to a trade-off between cost and ability to do it myself. I think the cheapest way would have been to raise the height of the joists with timbers and lay sheet chipboard/osb/ply or whatever. But I'm a small woman so my ability to get these up a fully extended ladder and then manoevre them around the loft single-handed without going through a ceiling is a bit limited! So I priced up using the loft legs and boards against the insulated boards and the loft legs version came in £30 cheaper.

This is before I topped up the insulation. Still got to screw the boards down.

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On the whole I'm pleased with them. With the boards on they're solid to walk on. One thing I will say though is that I watched the promotional video about fitting them, the bloke appears to drive screws straight into them with a piddly little driver. I've got an 18v Bosch cordless combi and it wouldn't touch them. I ended up drilling 136 pilot holes to fit them to the joists and will do the same to fit the boards. Still, my time is free!

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Looking at that link you posted - do I need the rubber gaskets too?

No, you should be fine without them.

On the whole I'm pleased with them. With the boards on they're solid to walk on. One thing I will say though is that I watched the promotional video about fitting them, the bloke appears to drive screws straight into them with a piddly little driver. I've got an 18v Bosch cordless combi and it wouldn't touch them.

Likely the pro-mo installer was using an impact driver.

 

[Deleted2797112]

Thanks for the gasket info!

Yes, when I couldn't get anywhere with my combi, I looked around at threads here on impact drivers but they're quite expensive and I'm not likely to get a lot of use out of it so did it the long way.

Thanks again for all the help. I have a feeling I'll be back on loft electrics once I work my way round the rest of it. The previous owners had a dislike of ceiling lights, so the living room has none (not even any wall lights either!) and one of the bedrooms has one 40w wall light in a recess so the room is like the black hole of Calcutta. I would like to re-instate the ceiling light in that room if I can but need to see what they've left behind, if anything.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Well when you are ready, to move on to next part of project with regards to lights, you know where we are.
Good luck with loft panels and take care.

 

[Deleted2797112]

Thank you - that's very kind! And for your input on my loft light thread too.