Dormer bungalow attic.

Mickalus

I live in a dormer bungalow with 2 bedrooms upstairs. There are 2 fairly sizeable attics - one at the front, one at the back in the 'walls' upstairs running the width of the house.
There's 2.5m of depth in floor space between the stud walls and the external wall where the roof meets. There's 1.9m of height inside the attic so you can just about stand up inside it.
The entire attic is approx 9m end to end.



The whole house was poorly insulated when built (c. 1999), cavity walls have been pumped since, and extra insulation been rolled out on the attic between and on top of the joists.

On the back of the stud walls, there's styrofoam that's not very well installed. Plenty of gaps there. The attic itself is very draughty and in the bedrooms you can feel that draught coming through the walls in places. Significant amount of heat lost here.

We are about to install a stove with boiler in the front room and the hot water cylinder is going to be moved into this attic to save us from digging up the floors.


I'm looking to do 2 things with this space and would appreciate your advice.

1. Board up the floor to better use this space for storage.
I'm also getting someone in to check out feasibility of moving the stud walls back a bit to allow for larger bedrooms so there's some options there. We may even do a combination - in one room, move the walls back, and the other will still have an attic for storage.
Advice requested here is for boarding up the joists - any concerns with doing this? Are you supposed to suspend the floor over the insulation? Can you board directly onto the joists with insulation underneath the board?

2. Insulate more - we previously had an insulation company come out and and give a quote. They use spray foam and recommended that for the attic spaces. There's currently nothing in between the rafters - you just see the felt (and in some places roof tiles and daylight).
Does anyone have experience with this? Their particular product is Icynene.
Any alternative solutions that should be considered?

Many thanks in advance.

Calahonda52

What size are the ceiling joists that form floor in attic space?

Whats in all the different places in your gaff as listed in the attachment?

Mickalus

Calahonda52 wrote: »

What size are the ceiling joists that form floor in attic space?

7"x2"

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Whats in all the different places in your gaff as listed in the attachment?

1. 80mm styrofoam, with gap under felt
2. 150mm glass fibre above and between joists
3. 80mm styrofoam in between studs (some gaps in this too - not installed very well in places)
4. same as 2.

Mickalus

*Bump.
Any advice on the above?
Thanks

Water John

There are a number of specific regs if you are making any of this space into a bedroom. A Velux type window at specific height and specific opening. Fire proof doors to stairs.
Screw down floor boards, do not nail to prevent ceiling damage underneath.

Hope some others come here as they are more experienced than me.

Calahonda52

Water John wrote: »

There are a number of specific regs if you are making any of this space into a bedroom. A Velux type window at specific height and specific opening. Fire proof doors to stairs.
Screw down floor boards, do not nail to prevent ceiling damage underneath.

Hope some others come here as they are more experienced than me.

WJ: its a dormer bungalow, so only two storey so I don't think the above applies.

Gumbo

Water John wrote: »

There are a number of specific regs if you are making any of this space into a bedroom. A Velux type window at specific height and specific opening. Fire proof doors to stairs.
Screw down floor boards, do not nail to prevent ceiling damage underneath.

Hope some others come here as they are more experienced than me.

Escapeable window - yes.
Fire doors - no as only a 2 storey dwelling.

Calahonda52

kceire wrote: »

Escapeable window - yes.
Fire doors - no as only a 2 storey dwelling.

Tks, kc, the proper sized oped window may be in the gable end either so not limited to a Velux type

Gumbo

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Tks, kc, the proper sized oped window may be in the gable end either so not limited to a Velux type

Yes deffo. Once the 0.33 Sq. M is met with minimal width/height etc