Insulation advise new build

[Juan Hidalgo]

Hello everyone

I have been reading you for a while but never had to ask anything.

We purchased a new build semi-detached house in May and now that we are nearing winter we find the top floor is a bit colder than the others. I must say the house gets really hot 5 or 10 min after turning heating on but once it's off I feel like we are losing the energy too quickly.

Obviously our house is made of brickwork in the outside and wood and plaster inside.

I contacted the sales office and they confirmed the roof is insulated and for this reason they didn't insulate the loft floor, so it's supposed to be a warm loft. However I wasn't happy and today I have installed fibre glass insulation for the loft.

Basically I would like to know what to look for to know if our house is insulated to a good standard or not.

I have a few pics I have taken during some repair work they had to do and also of the loft before putting the insulation. I can share these pics.

Looking forward to your answers!

 

[Notch7]

It should comply to current building regs, part L

If you download the pdf, it should tell you the required u value for each element of your house
Bear in mind, building regulations specify the minimum thermal value required, not the actual material or construction used.

Most modern houses have minimal amounts of concrete or brick on the inside, so there is little thernal mass, either to heat up, or conversely to act as a thermal store.
So modern houses warm up quickly but may not retain much heat after the heating has been turned off -although the high level of insulation means rooms should retain heat for a fair while.....unless the doors are opened.

Im not sure about warm lofts -it doesnt sound very logical to have a large unheated space



https://www.planningportal.co.uk/in...ts/74/part_l_-_conservation_of_fuel_and_power

 

[Juan Hidalgo]

These are some pictures of a hole on the floor I spotted today whilst insulating the loft. Is this normal and can you spot anything from the materials seen on the pictures?

 

[Leofric]

You wouldn't normally have a warm roof construction except for a room in the roof or sloping ceilings on the first floor. As others say you are heating up all that loft space for no reason. An advantage is your loft space is already insulated if you want to convert it or use it for storage. You should be able to find the insulation specification if it was built in May this year. Do you know if it is a timber framed house?

 

[Juan Hidalgo]

Thank you for your responses. As far as I know yes it is a timber framed house. The outer structure is brick and masonry and interior is timber and plaster board.

I just want to know how to find out if they have put the right amount of insulation and if it's done to a good standard. Apologies if I'm not being clear as I'm not an expert on this topic.

 

[Leofric]

Ask the builder for the specification used and ask who did the building control on the house and if it has an NHBC warranty.

 

[Leofric]

Most modern houses have minimal amounts of concrete or brick on the inside, so there is little thernal mass, either to heat up, or conversely to act as a thermal store.

- that is the case with timber framed houses, less thermal mass to act as a thermal store.

 

[^woody^]

That's the feature/problem with timber frames. They heat up and cool down quickly, and you won't alter that fact, however much fact checking and "should be" analysis you do.

Whilst you should have at least 280mm quilt in the loft which you could check, the wall insulation could be one of several standards and you will never be able to check for air leakage, which is the most significant escape route for heat.

You may be better off checking that the heating emitters are correctly sized for the room areas and are used/ programmed correctly to keep the rooms warm.