desmondo84

Hi,
With winter nearly here, I'm looking at beefing up the rood insulation. Any advice on where to buy it from? I'll do it myself so probably go for those big rolls.

Des

Snap Shot

You can buy rolls of Pink Batts from Mitre 10. I don't know if Bunnings or Hammer Hardware those sort of retailers sell it. I assume it's ok to install it yourself in the loft of your property. You may need to buy a protective face mask to protect yourself from fibres when you are putting it in your loft.

Ours is a huge 'blanket' of Pink Batts that goes over the whole of the loft as we don't/can't use our loft.

bearskin

We had ours done with the benefit of a subsidy from the council (or something). We had the underneath of the house and the loft done. I am glad I hadn't tried to do it myself - it took one guys 2 days to do it. I've been and had a look and it is very professionally done.

One huge plus to it: It has meant that I can go and board out some of the loft, now that I know the insulation there is up to date. I've only done a few square metres but it makes huge difference to your storage to suddenly have that extra storage space. We also had a loft ladder installed so we can easily access our new storage area - we've put our suitcases; all of our Christmas stuff like the tree, box of decorations, lights etc; and our seasonal stuff like heaters, dehumidifier up there too.

desmondo84

who did you get to do it bear?

bearskin

Insulation for New Zealand | Supplied & Installed - Eco Insulation - sustainable insulation for homes - call 0800 400 ECO - Nationwide

I was quite happy with them - the boss of the local office came along and he said he like to personally vet all the work they do - so he goes up in the loft and has a look after it is done and asks the homeowner quite a few questions as well. They were very thorough - had to take away quite a bit of horrible old sheets of old insulation from under the house. And, unlike other members, it was certainly not a job I would have fancied doing myself - in some places the space they had to work in was very very tight (and pretty hot up in the roof).

Snap Shot

A local company installed the underfloor insulation. That was made of recycled plastic. We got our grant/discount from EECA Energywise. That's an NZ government 'Warmer Homes' initiative.

The Pink Batts was installed by a builder I think, it was over 3 years ago now. There was already a layer of Pink Batts but the thickness code requirement of the Pink Batts meant it had to be a standard amount of millimetres thickness to comply with the code. The new layer was put over the old layer, spread like a huge blanket. The total of the two layers is thicker than the current code, so if they increase the requirement in the future, we're already there.

desmondo84

cheers guys. Think I'll get a couple of quotes to increase the thickness of the loft and for some underfloor... Also getting a heat pump so will be interesting to see how we fair through our 1st NZ winter in auckland.

Snap Shot

Once you've done all those improvements it'll be just like a first world house. Does it make you nostalgic for what you had in Belfast ?

desmondo84

Lol. A little. would love some oil heating!!!

Robbo25

These guys were great for me: Auckland Insulation Ltd - for ceiling insulation wall insulation underfloor insulation and insulation advice

moonie2011

We buy a packet of pink batts each time we go in mitre 10 then put it up there

barnsleymat

I saved a fortune doing it myself, I had a quote from a company involved in the government scheme to help pay for it for over 2 grand, I had another from company not involved in the scheme for a bit less. I decided they were both talking the piss and did it myself for about $400. I'd recommend climbing up and doing yourself, it's not very hard, like everything else these days simply watch a few YouTube videos and you're an expert.

It's possibly the easiest bit of DIY you can do and you get to have a climb around in a strange dark place.

desmondo84

Yeah. Got a quote yesterday and it was frightening albeit for underfloor as well. diy it is.

Stormer999

Both simple jobs for the loft use a long stick, broom stick will do, put a nail in the end and you can use this to push the insulation into the low height eaves spaces. Under floor arrange some cheap recycled Mitre 10 black plastic sheeting so you can slide easily on it......

MrsFychan

I think you may have to remove it from the packet and lay it for it to actually do some good