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insulating under my floorboards (Read 23766 times)
unicorngirl
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insulating under my floorboards
Mar 15th, 2010, 10:51pm
 
Smiley I am planning to lift my floorboards in my living room and insulate underneath them - I'll openly admit to being a girly but I am reasonably competant and would like to have a go myself, not out of any great longing to have the satisfaction but because I'm skint!!!  I think I should be ok getting the boards up but am a bit confused about the rest of the process.  I'm thinking polystyrene - can't afford the really nice kingspan stuff.  So do I just cut it a tight fit between the joists or do I need to attatch it with something?  Also I know I mustn't block the airflow so is there an optimum depth to place it?  And then Thermal Bridging - WTF!????  This sounds like something out of Dr Who to me but I am taking it to mean that I should make sure that the cold air from underneath doesn't get over the top of my nice insulation so I need to seal any holes etc and put perhaps loft insulation around the pipes?  Which is probably totally wrong but that's why I'm asking lol.  Any light shed on this would be great.  Finally do I need to lift all the boards or just enough to allow me to shove the insulation along the joists.  As you can tell I've never had a floor up before so I am rather dreading what I might find burried under there.  

Many thanks for reading.x
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CWatters
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #1 - Mar 16th, 2010, 7:12pm
 
Basically you cut it to fit tightly between the joists flush with the top. Don't rely on that to keep it in place, use nails into the joists below it to stop it dropping. You will either have to take up the whole floor or crawl underneath it (not my idea of fun). If you were keen you could nail battens to the sides of the joists to form ledges for the insulation to rest on. Make sure the void below is well ventilated. There should be air bricks at several places around the perimeter.  

re Cold bridging - Yes you are correct.  Don't worry too much about bridging. Just get as much insulation in there as possible. If you have any gaps between blocks of insulation or the joists just fill them with a _little_ expanding foam (comes in a can like squirty cream). Beware that it keeps expanding for some time so don't go mad with it. Try a little first and wait.

Sadly the Building Regulations require you to make a Building Contol Application when upgrading a thermal element such as a floor. It means you would need to put a certain  minimium amount of insulation in the floor.  This is covered by Part L which is horribly complicated...

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADL1B_2006.pdf

I believe the relevant data is in table 4. and that it requires floors to be upgraded to a U-Value of 0.25. However you may wish to do better than that.

Looking at the data on the Celotex web site (registration needed)...

http://www.celotex.co.uk/downloads.asp?i=25

it suggests you need around 90mm of Celotex to achieve a U-Value of 0.25.

For Jablite (modified polystyrene)..

http://www.jablite.co.uk/insulation/applications/jablite-Premium.php

I believe you need nearer 120mm thickness.

Edit: To be technically correct the thickness you need depends on the Perimeter/Area ratio eg long thin rooms need a different amount to short fat ones. Sorry this is all so technical.
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« Last Edit: Mar 16th, 2010, 7:25pm by CWatters »  
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #2 - Mar 16th, 2010, 9:55pm
 
On the other hand, you could just go ahead and do it and don't tell Building Control.

If you are going to all this trouble though I don't think it is worth it just to put a bit of polystyrene underneath. You can buy 'seconds' of Kingspan although delivery might be outside your area.
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #3 - Mar 17th, 2010, 9:23am
 
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #4 - Mar 18th, 2010, 8:56pm
 
Slight deviation from the main question, but why on earth does building control need to know information like that?

I perfectly see the point of potentially dangerous works like electrics and gas to make sure works have been installed and tested properly, but insulating under your floorboards?

You'd think that they'd do anything they can to openly help people do things like insulate their home to stop wasting energy, not put up barriers to deter people.
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« Last Edit: Mar 18th, 2010, 8:57pm by Sandy »  
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #5 - Mar 19th, 2010, 3:39pm
 
The building regs specify minimium levels of insulation. Sadly some builders would cheat and not fit any if they could get away with it.

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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #6 - Mar 28th, 2010, 9:14am
 
Ah but this job isn't anything to do with an extension or new build is it?  So why would BC be interested?  This person wants to insulate under the floorboards of her own volition, not because any BC controlled work is being done.

However it is done (well or badly) it will be an improvement on the original.  The BC cannot insist on this upgrade (as it's not part of controlled work) so has no say in the quality of the work or the materials used.

Obviously it's best to do it properly and use the best materials, but the BCO still has no say in it in this instance.

Does he??  Huh
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #7 - Mar 28th, 2010, 9:41am
 
New thermal elements have to comply (See Section 49, page 22) as do upgrades to existing thermal elements (Section 54, page 23).  

Approved Document L1B: Conservation of fuel and power (Existing Dwellings)

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADL1B_2006.pdf

However reading it again I can't see where it says they are notifiable. Perhaps because it's classed as "Building Work".  Certainly LABC require an application to insert cavity wall insulation.
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Re: insulating under my floorboards
Reply #8 - Mar 28th, 2010, 11:53am
 
I did my living room with 100mm (4" in old money) celotex.

I cut it so that it was slightly too wide to go between the joists and then forced it into place from below. After this, I bought some 50mm x 25mm treated timber lathes and nailed these along the sides of the joists from  below to support the insulation.

Fortunately, I can get underneath the floor and could kneel to carry out work, so it wasn't too bad.

No idea about LABC - I just got on with the job. I also took down the brick wall which divides my living room from the hallway and rebuilt it in thermalite blocks. After this, I clad all the outside walls of the house, both upstairs and downstairs with 22mm polystyrene-backed plasterboard and it has made the whole place much warmer.

Insulating under a suspended wooden floor is one of the best things I have done in terms of making a room warmer without adding heat.

TT

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