Insulating kitchen Ceiling

[Crakkers]

Hi

I have a side extension to the kitchen with a pitched roof. There appears to be about 75mm of loft insulation above the plaster board. With 8 poorly fitted downlighters the thermal insulation of this ceiling is quite poor.

I wish to improve it.

Im thinking of simply adding 100mm of celotex or similar, maybe a thinner foil as an alternative, below the existing ceiling and boarding over and refitting the downlighters. The alternative would be to remove the existing plasterboard and start again, which will prove very messy.

Just wondering what your thoughts are on this??

Thanks in advance,

C

 

[Ian H]

I’d do what you say but get rid of the spotlights. Makes no sense to go to the effort of getting a decent layer of the Celotex then cutting holes in it.

 

[Crakkers]

Ive been thinking of that!

But still wonder about the initial proposal

 

[Ian H]

I like spotlights but there was no way I was hacking through the insulation in my loft.

I guess you could cut the existing holes bigger and insulate higher above them?

 

[garyo]

I just competed a room that has 150mm pir and used four of those low profile downlights. They're only 20mm thick so you can fit them to a 50mm cavity, leaving 100mm of the pir intact

 

[Crakkers]

The lights are a secondary issue.

looking for advice on the insulation method

 

[ivixor]

You can overboard with insulated plasterboard, sure. That would be the quickest and easiest method. No timber needed. Though it depends if your ceiling is high enough to get away with that. If not, you'll need to rip down the plasterboard and insulate between the timbers.

 

[garyo]

The lights are a secondary issue.

Not if you want the insulation to perform well.

 

[^woody^]

If you have the head room, then go for it. Draught sealed fire-rated spots will be OK and not an issue in terms of heat loss.

 

[garyo]

I wish you'd built the last two lots of Swiss cheese I had to pull down Woody.

 

[^woody^]

Crackers