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