Loft conversion..
 

Hi,

I would like some advice please?

I have a completely open loft (no wooden beams etc across the space)
with concrete floor and no insulation or cladding (you can see the
underside of the tiles etc...)

I'd like to use this space as an office but the temperature varies a lot
with no insulation etc.

What's the cheapest way to sort this out. I have been told that
cardboard makes a reasonable choice, but I guess it doesn't look good
and is certainly a fire risk. I don't want to spend much money as the
house isn't mine...

Would some insulation material and a load of plasterboard do the job?

Thanks for any advice..

Alex

In article , Alex Dady
writes
Hi,

I would like some advice please?

I have a completely open loft (no wooden beams etc across the space)
with concrete floor and no insulation or cladding (you can see the
underside of the tiles etc...)

A concrete floor in a loft???
--
Tim Mitchell

Alex Dady wrote:

What's the cheapest way to sort this out.

Cheapest way is to do nothing, but won't achieve the desired result. You
really need to spend /some/ money on insulating it.


I have been told that
cardboard makes a reasonable choice

By whom?!? That is a really stupid idea, for lots of reasons.


but I guess it doesn't look good
and is certainly a fire risk.

And isn't a good insulator, and will absorb moisture.



I don't want to spend much money as the
house isn't mine...

But you want a useable space, right?


Would some insulation material and a load of plasterboard do the job?

Yes, that's what you need - at least 40mm of insulation board, then
plasterboard. The ceapest insulation (polystyrene) can be had for around
£6/sheet. Plasterboard costs a similar amount.


--
Grunff

I have a completely open loft (no wooden beams etc across the space)
with concrete floor and no insulation or cladding (you can see the
underside of the tiles etc...)

I'd like to use this space as an office but the temperature varies a lot
with no insulation etc.

What's the cheapest way to sort this out. I have been told that
cardboard makes a reasonable choice, but I guess it doesn't look good
and is certainly a fire risk. I don't want to spend much money as the
house isn't mine...

Would some insulation material and a load of plasterboard do the job?

I'm in a similar situation (except for the fact that I do own the loft, it's
not made of concrete, it is insulated and it does have wooden beams crossing
the space) and was planning on just using the foil loft insulation roll
stuff from ScrewFix @ £5.56 per square metre. I have no idea whether this
is a good idea or not but I presume you can just board on top of it,
although plasterboarding a loft you don't actually own would seem a bit
excessive in my book! How would you actually get the boards up there
(without cutting them) for a start?

Andy

"Pecanfan" wrote in message
...
I have a completely open loft (no wooden beams etc across the space)
with concrete floor and no insulation or cladding (you can see the
underside of the tiles etc...)

I'd like to use this space as an office but the temperature varies a lot
with no insulation etc.

What's the cheapest way to sort this out. I have been told that
cardboard makes a reasonable choice, but I guess it doesn't look good
and is certainly a fire risk. I don't want to spend much money as the
house isn't mine...

Would some insulation material and a load of plasterboard do the job?

I'm in a similar situation (except for the fact that I do own the loft,
it's
not made of concrete, it is insulated and it does have wooden beams
crossing
the space) and was planning on just using the foil loft insulation roll
stuff from ScrewFix @ £5.56 per square metre. I have no idea whether this
is a good idea or not but I presume you can just board on top of it,
although plasterboarding a loft you don't actually own would seem a bit
excessive in my book! How would you actually get the boards up there
(without cutting them) for a start?

Andy

A friend of mine did this in his house to make room for his office, trains
and Scalectric. Wooden flloor, insulation + plaster board and a nice loft
ladder. The one thing that ruined it which never did solve was damp and
condensation, even in summer when room was too hot to use. No matter how
much he tried, more insulation, a heater or two the walls/ceiling always got
damp and went mouldy. Paperwork curled, cardboard storage boxes came unglued
and went mouldy, trains and Scalectric stopped working due to oxidation from
moisture. So in his opinion a bit a waste of time. Did have slight success
after installing fans to draw air out at top of room to ridge vent, but only
made the room cooler in summer and still had condensation on non sunny side.

Finally a building inspector friend of his had a look and noted the
following:-
- Damp cause 1 was from moist air from house (due to breathing, cooking etc)
rising to loft and condensing on cold walls/ceiling.
- Damp cause 2 (when loft closed) was interstitial damp (spelling ?) caused
by temperature gradiant outside to inside. Never heard of this bfore being
mentioned but is quite common.

Solution is surprise surprise, do it properly.....
- Proper stairway and door that closes to reduce house air rising into loft
room.
- Proper insulation.
- Proper windows/extractor fan.
- Proper heating, extension of central heating to keep it warm in winter.

He ended up removing all the ceiling plaster board (+insulation) and
reverting back to a nicely floored loft space that had no damp problems.

Ian Middleton wrote:


A friend of mine did this in his house to make room for his office, trains
and Scalectric. Wooden flloor, insulation + plaster board and a nice loft
ladder. The one thing that ruined it which never did solve was damp and
condensation, even in summer when room was too hot to use. No matter how
much he tried, more insulation, a heater or two the walls/ceiling always got
damp and went mouldy. Paperwork curled, cardboard storage boxes came unglued
and went mouldy, trains and Scalectric stopped working due to oxidation from
moisture. So in his opinion a bit a waste of time. Did have slight success
after installing fans to draw air out at top of room to ridge vent, but only
made the room cooler in summer and still had condensation on non sunny side.

Finally a building inspector friend of his had a look and noted the
following:-
- Damp cause 1 was from moist air from house (due to breathing, cooking etc)
rising to loft and condensing on cold walls/ceiling.
- Damp cause 2 (when loft closed) was interstitial damp (spelling ?) caused
by temperature gradiant outside to inside. Never heard of this bfore being
mentioned but is quite common.

Solution is surprise surprise, do it properly.....
- Proper stairway and door that closes to reduce house air rising into loft
room.
- Proper insulation.
- Proper windows/extractor fan.
- Proper heating, extension of central heating to keep it warm in winter.

He ended up removing all the ceiling plaster board (+insulation) and
reverting back to a nicely floored loft space that had no damp problems.



Thanks for that..

As it happens we have a proper staircase up there and a proper door
already. There are three very old small looking 'porthole type' windows
which do open, just. There's also quite a nice windows in the gable end
(open and tilt type thing).

There doesn't seem to be any signs of damp anywhere but I've only been
in the house for a month, and the loft is like an oven!

I'll check out the insulation board etc and see how much it would cost.

Maybe I'll just take over the spare room instead!!!

Cheers

Alex