We're renovating a mid-terraced house that was built in 1874 and currently
the only access into the loft is through a skylight over the stairs and it's
quite dangerous. We need to get into the loft for the rewiring anyway so
I'll probably cut another access hatch in one of the bedrooms instead.

I've not been in the loft for about 30 years so I really can't remember what
it's like up there, but as all the ceilings in the rooms are 12ft high and
it would be such an effort to get in there, I can't see it ever being used
on a regular basis for storage, or anything else for that matter.

I know that there is no loft insulation up there but, given the fact that
the ceilings are 12ft high [1] is it worth putting loft insulation in or
will the 12ft high walls leach all the heat before it can escape through the
ceiling into the loft anyway? And, I *do* know that there is 131-years-worth
of soot, dust and muck up there. I suppose good practice would say to get
rid of it but how? Can you hire hoovers capable of that task?

[1] Because of the size and position of the windows we can't lower the
ceilings, or at least not without a lot of extra work and expense. The house
was my mam's until she died a few months ago and we're doing it up with a
view to renting it out. It needs to be rewired, replumbed, have central
heating installed etc., etc., and the only money we have is what she left in
the bank so whilst lowering the ceilings would reduce heating costs, it
would take too much of our money to do.

Cheers,

Mogweed.