How to check your loft insulation

Before you go up

• Only go into the loft if there is a safe way up and you are comfortable doing it. If not, ask us to inspect it.
• Take a torch, a ruler or tape measure, gloves and a dust mask.
• Stand or kneel only on joists or boards, never on the insulation or the ceiling between joists: it won’t hold you.

1. Measure the depth

Push the ruler gently down through the insulation until it touches the ceiling below, and read the depth. Do it in a few places, including near the hatch, the middle and the far edges. Compare it with the recommended 270mm for mineral wool.

2. Look at how even it is

Gaps, bare patches, flattened areas where things have been stored and corners that were never filled all let heat escape. So does insulation that stops short of the edges because no-one could reach.

3. Check it’s dry and clean

Insulation should be dry, springy and not discoloured. Damp, dark patches, mould, droppings or chewed tunnels are signs of a problem that needs fixing before more insulation goes in.

4. Look at the eaves

At the edges of the loft, can you see daylight or feel air coming in? If insulation is packed hard into the eaves it may be blocking ventilation.

5. Check the hatch, pipes and tank

Is the back of the hatch insulated? Are water pipes and any tank lagged?

Write down what you found and mention it in your quote request. It helps us, though we will check everything ourselves.