Need to do a metric crapload of loft insulation

[Dan delaMare-Lyon]

My mother has asked me about insulating their loft as she's noticed that the fuel bills are rising and the general cost of keeping the place warm is "going through the roof". It's an old solid walled place so there's little or nothing we can do wall insulation wise unless there is a major refurb.....which is not on the cards.

However, the roofspace is pretty clear. I haven't been up yet to get joist sizes to look at costs - but I reckon the house is about 8m deep by about 30m long - 240m^2 - erk. I think some of the roofspace already has insulation in it so this might cut it down by about 25ish pc - but it is still quite a job.

Anyone got any thoughts about easier ways to do this than rolls of glass wool stuff or similar. I'm tempted to ring up their leccy supplier (Powergen) and see if they have any offers to do this as quite frankly the amount of work just looks too much for me on my own before xmas - and I just know I'm going to find other things that "really - we should be doing" while I'm up there...

Anyone got any experience of the sort of costs of putting say 200mm insulation over that sort of area? Is stuff on a roll the best choice? Also - any tips on getting it from somewhere other than a "shed" to get the cost down a bit?

All advice gratefully received.

Best, dan.

[Dave]

If they are pensioners or unfortunate enough to be disabled or get benefits, it really just isn't worth DIYing. My mother had her loft done (smaller than your mothers) but at the time, IIRC, the "going rate" was about £320 but because she qualified for the pensioner/benefits discount, all she paid was £87.

Look at the utility companies for discount schemes as well.

Dave

[auctions]

Whether she gets any discount schemes or not, it may not be worth DIYing, because a VAT registered firm doing the job can charge 5% VAT instead of 17.5%, so the saving on the materials offsets a lot of the labour cost.

A

[Dave Liquorice]

The local council will alomost certainly have a scheme to completely or partly pay for loft insulation depending on the circumstances of the household.

In my experience of these supplied and fitted schemes the standard of the work won't be particulary high and may contravien modern wiring regulations ie they just lay the insulation over the wiring. Now unless they also do a full electrical survey how do they know that the required derating of the cables is safe?

[Mark]

I got mine done recently from nothing, up to full spec for £249.

I phoned a company called 'Mico' who I believe are a national company.

The price is £249 regardless of size. For instance a small attic requiring a top-up of 100mm would still be £249.

£249 isn't the full price and Mico claim for the grant.

Also if the owner is 60+ then there is no charge.

mark