How to insulate a sloping roof

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Insulation can save you over £100 a year on your heating bills, and makes your home a more pleasant place to live in! There are different types of insulation available, depending on whether you have a pitched (sloping) roof or a flat or dormer roof. Sloping roofs are far easier to insulate.

If you have a sloping roof, there are two main types of roof insulation available – in the forms of a warm loft or a cold loft. With a warm loft, you insulate immediately under the roof, thus warming the loft space as well as the house. This option is generally more expensive, but will keep the temperature of the house more stable – giving a greater level of heat retention in winter, and helping to keep the house cool in summer.

A cold loft is where you insulate immediately above the ceiling of the top storey of the house, thereby preventing heat from your house from escaping into the loft. Although a cold roof can get hotter in summer, it’s worth bearing in mind that there are energy-efficiency grants available for cold loft roof insulation, which will save you considerable amounts of money.

If you’re doing a DIY job, then cold loft insulation is by far the simplest option. If there is already some insulation in your loft, check the depth of it. The recommended depth of insulation (glass or mineral wool) is 250-270mm. If existing insulation is below 100mm, it’s probably best to throw it away and start again as it’s probably pretty old. If it’s over 100mm, then you can ‘top it up’ with new wool, which is easily done, as modern insulation tends to be sold in depths of either 100 or 170mm.

Before you start, remember to clear the loft out so as to have a clear surface to work with. Start by insulating the main floor area, and don’t forget to insulate the loft hatch itself! Using a block of polystyrene insulation, and sealing any gaps around the side with draught proofing strips easily does this. Remember to cover any pipes with pipe insulation to prevent burst pipes (as the loft will be colder than the house). You can only insulate under any tanks if they are at least 10cms above the insulation. Otherwise they could freeze. Insulation should go up the side and over any tanks. Leave electrical cables exposed or, if there is enough slack in them gently raise them and put insulation underneath. Finally, if you have any recessed halogen lights in rooms below the loft you must protect them with loft caps or loft covers before insulation. Otherwise you run the risk of a fire!

If you want to carry on storing things in your loft, make sure to use an insulation product that has a wooden or polystyrene layer on top of it, as objects cannot be placed directly on normal insulation. Whilst polystyrene is not as hard wearing as wood, it will provide the best insulation.