I've a largish hatch with the ladder mounted on it. It's 1100x700mm, so a good source of overhead cooling :-( it's this one more or less:
The only other way I can think of is to insulate the underside, but that means a lump sticking down from the ceiling!
Any ideas, please?
PeterC formulated on Saturday :
Could you not mount the ladder fixed to battons, to space the ladder away from the hatch and then that would give room for insulation?
Apart from the fact that it is shit, it also requires to sit in a compartment with 1" of still air on either side of it so you still lose
2" of space.HB's idea of battening off sounds good although creating a sandwich with the existing hatch panel, 2" of Celotex and 1/2" of ply to protect the insulation from foot impact might work just as well with the 'tex provising the stand-off instead of the battens.
1" of celotex might do the job in which case it could be stuck to the underside and with a 45deg chamfer around the edge to half depth and appropriate decorating finish it wouldn't look too obtrusive.50mm lump of insulation attached by super magnets, to be put up when really cold and sod the aesthetics of it. Could store it up in the loft when it gets a bit warmer?
Normally a loft hatch is recessed so it's above ceiling height. Are you saying that this is not the case when there's a ladder - and in your particular case?
This year I've insulated two loft hatches here. I bought a (IIRC 2" thick) sheet of celotex which I cut to size, and covered round all the edges with heavy-duty 2" wide sellotape. I then glued these to the top of each loft hatch.
That's a thought, but I'd need to move the bracketry up on the carcass to retain the relative positioning of ladder and springs. Those springs are very strong and might do nasty things if out of kilter.
Ah, the ladder is cut to length already - also, it only just clears the end of the hatch so it would clash if any higher.
I've fitted 2 loft ladders, one being the standard fold-into-the-loft type and the other mine and in each case the instructions showed the bottom of the hatch flush with the ceiling. The edging frame is meant to be on the ceiling and the lower edge of the carcass.
That would take up a lot of the 1.75" between the ladder and the hatch!
Now that's an idea that could work and it'd be out of harm's way when the hatch is open.
Good point; in my house, aesthetics is a foreign concept!
I wondered if 1" would do so did a little calc:
If your hatch is the same size as the one you linked to it works out about 15W loss for a 21degC diff (I assumed 18C for a hall and -3C in the loft).
This from 0.77sqm door x U value of 0.95W/m2K for 25mm Celotex times
21degC diff.Wallpaper/lining paper will stick to the foil on Celotex, I have done something similar and mixed a little PVA into wallpaper paste to be sure.
Is there a flat area in the loft, around the hatch? You could make a foot deep upside-down box out of 50mm Celotex, just larger than the hatch, and pull it down overhead to cover the whole hatch and ladder arrangement before you stow it. When you pull the ladder down, go up it and push the box out of the way (Celotex weighs about the same as David Cameron's brain). That way the whole hatch and ladder is on the warm side of the insulation, when it's stowed. I'd fix the box together with low-expansion PU foam and drywall screws.
Cheers Richard
In article , Harry Bloomfield scribeth thus
I bet more heat leaks around the poor seal that most loft hatches have like the bl**dy Wavin plastics one we have that distorts.
Must get one of these new ones..
Just a possibility: remove ladder, fit a 1-2" layer of the squashy loft insulation with outer wrap on it, and refit ladder. Now feet compress it in use.
Another option is a box of insulation above as someone said, but hinged so its a secondary flap. Add a short pullcord, just makes it trivially easy to use.
NT
Thanks for the calculation, Fred. One factor that I forgot to point out: the linked item has a hatch that's insulated and 35mm thick; mine's an older model and is 27mm thick, so any insulating properties will be insignificant, making any addition worthwhile.
Now to find a small amount of Celotex...
Now that's an idea - it would also make a cover for when I'm working up there in cold weather.
This is developing; now, semi-automation?
You could wear it on your head.
Cheers Richard
Two enhancements - if it's not heavy enough to sit properly you could add some timber to it; a soft roll of something fixed to the bottom edge would prevent draughts getting under it.
Cheers Richard
Good idea. I had to make a similar hood for to go over my loft hatch as the wooden drop down ladder protrudes about 150mm above the loft floor. If you don't cover the celotex with something you end up with foam snowing down whenever you move it. I ended up spray gluing breathable roofing membrane to the celotex. It sort of works. There are still draughts around the bottom so I need to take your advice and create a seal. I wondered about making a small upstand lip around the edge of the opening which the hood sits into. I am wary of this as it might be a trip hazard when going up and down the ladder.
Dave.
Foam spraying down - Christ yes, use foil-backed, the non-foil Celotex and Kingspan is horrible. I used some non-foil Kingspan to insulate my rafters, because it was cheap from Seconds and Co (obviously I used foiled over, for a vapour barrier). We christened it FPS, for f****** pink s**te, because it got everywhere when you cut it and trod on the bits. All over your clothes and everything
Cheers Richard
Cheers Richard
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