Will insulating the upper floor area straight away prevent the loft from being converted into a heated room at a later date?
As part of a building’s energy-efficiency refurbishment, insulating the top floor is an often-overlooked but extremely important measure for saving valuable energy and improving the comfort of the home. A well-insulated top floor ceiling is essential to minimise the ‘chimney effect’ between the heated living space and the unheated loft.
The potential of the loft
An unfinished loft offers countless planning possibilities and is more than just a storage space. Particularly at a time when living space is in short supply, converting the loft can create new, much sought-after living space.
However, converting an attic is not an easy or inexpensive undertaking. Instead, it requires a great deal of planning and financial preparation, often spanning several years. Yet heating energy and costs can be saved directly through the relatively inexpensive and cost-effective insulation of the top floor ceiling.
Insulation does not stand in the way of a subsequent conversion; rather, it is the first stage in transforming the attic into habitable living space. Once installed, the insulation material – in this case, blow-in fibre insulation – can continue to be used even years later.
In the event of a potential conversion to a heated loft, the sloping roof is insulated. The insulation material required for this is then already in place on the upper floor slab and can be shovelled in between the roof membrane and the installed foil. Any gaps in the insulation are filled by a specialist contractor using blown-in insulation, which is compacted to the specified density to prevent settlement.
If the loft is to continue to be used as a storage space even after the insulation work has been carried out, it is possible to install an ‘DämmRaum’ system with chipboard or OSB boards on the upper surface. As this roughly triples the cost of the insulation, it is possible to fit only parts of the space with the flexible system rather than the whole area.
Like insulation alone, the installation of the DämmRaum system is a step towards creating a habitable loft, as the installed wood-based panels are repurposed. They will later be used to clad the roof from the inside. It is essential to ensure that the installation (Torx screws) is carried out in such a way that the boards can be removed without damage.
Unrecognised insulation potential
It is therefore worth insulating an upper floor slab, even if the plan is to convert the loft in a few years’ time.