DIY Insulation: When the Cold Should Be Kept Out By Benedict Smythe At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Loft insulation may be one of the most neglected DIY projects this side of the Home Improvement Planet. Often, people pay a lot of attention to the walls inside and outside, not paying any attention at all to the fact that heat escapes (not to mention enters) through the roof as well. If you have been feeling chilly the past few months, it’s about time that you take control of your pad’s temperature levels.

Insulating your loft can be a medium-difficulty task that requires only your utmost concentration and complete adherence to instructions.

Preparation

Before doing any alterations to your loft, first examine if you would have enough working space, and that the area has enough lighting to sustain the work. The loft should be examined physically as well for pest infestations as well as the usual molds, mildews and termites. These should be identified before insulation is installed.

The physical examination of the loft is done to make sure that the insulation would be useful in the first place. Insulation installed on a rotting loft is next to useless because eventually the whole thing would have to be taken apart and replaced.

Remember that your safety should always, always come first. Electrical wirings, if present, should be set aside carefully well away from your particular working spots. If you can, get a small generator, link a few light bulbs, place these on the loft and switch of the main power source for the whole house. This way, you would be safe from the main power line but at the same time you would still be well-lighted.

The steps

1. The insulation blankets should be rolled down first. Make sure that the blankets fall snugly into place between the joists in your loft; any rough whorls should be patted down flat before anything else is done. Well place insulation blankets mean more insulation and less waste of the insulating material.

2. Water tanks that were intended to hold cold water should be left alone. These installations do not need insulation as the heat escaping from below would naturally regulate the temperature of these tanks.

3. Before leaving, make sure that top of the hatch that you used to climb up the loft would have its ample share of the insulation material. Secure the insulation, double check if there are no leaks in the loft, and go down.

4. Loose-lay types of insulation are used to reinforce any existing insulations and are also utilized in instances when the loft is irregularly designed and built. One way to make sure that the loose-lay insulations stays in place is by securing all possible ports where they could disappear; wall cavities included.

5. If you really want to insulate the tanks, then what you can do is to simply cover the tank with insulation material and tie the whole assemblage tightly with tough rope. Don’t wound too many times as you would still have to remove the insulation when it gets warmer. Do not place insulation under the tanks (practically useless).

6. Water pipes may be insulated as well. Wrap visible pipes generously and secure with wires or tapes.

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