G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons, but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al

On 17/05/17 16:04, Al-W wrote:
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray
closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought
I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this
sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various
reasons, but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my
curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if
you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the
impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can
anyone confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed
skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore
doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say
someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no
standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

Spraying foam would probably draught proof it. It will probably also
cause untold amounts of rot as I bet they won't reroof your house to
install breathable membrane and suitable ventilation.


3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about
this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that
spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea,
because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as
rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass
fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's
inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

Utter complete ********. That really tells you everything you need to know.

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al

On 5/17/2017 4:04 PM, Al-W wrote:
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons, but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al

I think you have covered the bases pretty well. My personal rule is
*never* to trust cold callers.

Other thoughts, is your roof felted? And how good is the felt? Slate or
tiles? If they didn't ask about that, be even more suspicious.

Al-W wrote:

G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

There seems to be an endless supply of folk with such snake oil
schemes.

Another wheeze is to spray some form of thin external coating on
the roof tiles with the claim that it could save "up to 30% of
your energy costs. I reported one outfit to the ASA, but they
said that because of the "up to" they would take no action. :-(

Others now try to convince me that because my double glazing is
over 10 years old, then I should replace it with the very latest
magic panes.

Looking at round numbers, my gas costs my about £500 a year. Lets
say that about 75% of that goes on heating, and maybe 10% of that
energy is lost through the windows, so that leaves us with less
than £40 per year. Even if the new windows eliminated all energy
loss, I can't see it paying back in my lifetime.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

[offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters.]

The roof 'draughts' I call ventilation, and are needed to dry out condensation etc up there.

This summer I'm finishing taking all the slates off my roof, replacing battens and Tyvek, and putting them back on. If they were sprayed with foam this wouldbe impossible and all the slates or tiles would have to be thrown away.

George

On 17/05/2017 16:04, Al-W wrote:

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if
you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the
impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can
anyone confirm/refute this?

Standard sales pitch kind of stuff. Start by quoting a silly price, then
reduce it as a result of the "grants" you are entitled to, to get down
to a still silly price. There are some grants available for some
insulation jobs. More readily available to the over 70's

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed

Its doubtful that you lose 40% of your heat through the roof in the
first place. So even if it reduced losses to nil, that sounds unlikely.

skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore
doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say
someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no
standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about
this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that
spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea,
because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as
rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

Its an ideal way of sealing in any trapped moisture against the wood and
accelerating rot and decay. It also may bond the tiles into the whole
lot and make it impossible to remove and reuse any of those.

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass
fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's
inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

Sounds like nonsense to me as well.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Well define inefficient really. Everything is relative. I'd outlaw it due to
its tendency to make you itch when you go anywhere near it.
No I'd not have any stuff like foam sprayed, if there is any damp there it
will just make it worse.
Of course that is my opinion.
Brian

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Al-W" wrote in message
...
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell
(polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past
you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons, but
some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you are
retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the impression
that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone confirm/refute
this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed
skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore
doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say
someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no
standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this form
of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying plastic foam
around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof timbers need air
circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre
loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient. This
sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al

Yes never ever buy from a cold caller, at least before you look up other
companies, what they say and what they charge.

My roof is extremely draughty as you could see out between the tiles.
I've had numerous suggestions about insulation of this inner side, but to
me many people suggest that a good air circulation is needed. So when they
have flogged you the rafter insulation they will see the draughty loft and
suggest the whole roof is insulated as well.

Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"jim" k wrote in message
...
Al-W Wrote in message:
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray
closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd
run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of
thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons,
but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you
are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the
impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone
confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed
skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore
doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say
someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no
standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this
form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying
plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof
timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork.
Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre
loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient.
This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al


hehe.!

You googled them yet?

--
Jim K


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On 17/05/2017 18:16, John Rumm wrote:
On 17/05/2017 16:04, Al-W wrote:

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if
you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the
impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can
anyone confirm/refute this?

Standard sales pitch kind of stuff. Start by quoting a silly price, then
reduce it as a result of the "grants" you are entitled to, to get down
to a still silly price. There are some grants available for some
insulation jobs. More readily available to the over 70's

AFAIK the only grants for loft insulation will cover 100% of the cost of
putting 300mm of glass or mineral wool in.

You don't need to be old or disabled to qualify either, sometimes just
the postcode sets availability.

BG are frequently looking for houses to do to fullfill their obligation,
you do not have to be a customer. 8-)

On 17/05/2017 16:04, Al-W wrote:

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

The general consensus is that, all other things being equal, about 25%
of your heat is lost through your roof. It must be magic stuff if it can
stop *all* that plus 15% more.

I suppose it's possible that it might reduce the heat loss through the
roof by 40%, i.e. a reduction of 0.4 x 0.25 = 10% of your total losses.

He's either a liar or has no understanding of heat losses - either way
not to be trusted.

--
Mike Clarke

It's felted. To be fair to them, they wanted to send their surveyor over feist to look at the roof before attempting to sign me up.

Al

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 4:33:30 PM UTC+1, Tim Watts wrote:

Spraying foam would probably draught proof it. It will probably also
cause untold amounts of rot as I bet they won't reroof your house to
install breathable membrane and suitable ventilation.

The draughts are mostly coming from the venting in the soffit boards, which I guess are there for a good reason (other than increasing my heating bills). So I've always assumed it's best to leave the draughtiness as is.

Al-W

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 8:54:37 PM UTC+1, Mike Clarke wrote:

He's either a liar or has no understanding of heat losses - either way
not to be trusted.

Yes, that was my impression too, and was partly why I declined to have their boys come over to look at my roof.

Al-W

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 4:15:29 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:

You googled them yet?

That's one thing I *should* have done! I didn't think to write down the company's name, because I had already decided to say "no thanks".

Al

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 4:33:48 PM UTC+1, newshound wrote:

Other thoughts, is your roof felted? And how good is the felt? Slate or
tiles? If they didn't ask about that, be even more suspicious.

Thanks. My roof has concrete tiles and it is felted (built in 1990). The felt is okay, although there's a patch missing in one place.

No he didn't ask. But to be fair, he wanted to send the company surveyor over to scope out the roof first.

Al

On 17/05/17 16:04, Al-W wrote:
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons, but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.


My house has this form of insulation, installed by the previous owners
because they were probably too skint (negative equity I suspect) to
repair the roof properly maybe 20 years ago.
1. As the tiles are effectively glued on, it will be expensive and
difficult to repair the various broken tiles that are now evident.
2. That also preclude reusing existing good tile when replacing the roof.
3. There is no ventilation of the roof timbers between tiles and foam so
there is a risk of rot developing.
4. There is less ventilation in the loft area so a risk of condensation.
5. It is a high pitched roof, hence a lot of attic space that is wasting
heat that could have been prevented from escaping to the attic by
insulation below.
So it will mean a new roof just as soon as i get the right tuits.


--
djc

(–€Ì¿Ä¹Ì¯–€Ì¿ Ì¿)
No low-hanging fruit, just a lot of small berries up a tall tree.

On 17/05/2017 22:07, Al-W wrote:
No he didn't ask. But to be fair, he wanted to send the company surveyor over to scope out the roof first.

And what's the betting that the so called surveyor would say that your
house was perfectly suited for this treatment and apply high pressure
sales techniques to try to get you to sign up before he left the premises,

--
Mike Clarke

Al-W Wrote in message:
G'day!

Today, I had a cold sales call from a company offering to spray closed-cell (polyurethane?) foam between my roof rafters. I thought I'd run this past you folks, because a lot of you understand this sort of thing.

I didn't take up their offer of a free assessment for various reasons, but some of the things the salesman claimed aroused my curiosity.

1) He claimed that the UK Govt is subsidising such work, and that if you are retired, you qualify for the maximum subsidy. I was under the impression that grants for insulation ended some while back. Can anyone confirm/refute this?

2) He claimed that I would save 40% on my heating bills. I expressed skepticism, pointing out that I had a very drafty loft, and therefore doubted if insulating the roof would make much difference. I dare say someone might save 40% if their loft was draft-proof and they had no standard loft insulation already in place. Anyone agree?

3) Another thing that made me hesitate, is that I've thought about this form of roof insulation before. It has occurred to me that spraying plastic foam around roof timbers might not be a great idea, because roof timbers need air circulation to prevent hazards such as rot and woodwork. Anyone agree?

4) The salesman also claimed that the Govt is going to outlaw glass fibre loft insulation because it has been discovered that it's inefficient. This sounded like nonsense to me. Anyone agree?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and insights on this.

Al



hehe.!

You googled them yet?

--
Jim K


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