Green Home Improvement - Insulation pt 2

If you live in an old house like us, it's really worth having a poke about the nooks and crannies. Having topped up insulation in our main attic, I had a look in the space above a small offshoot at the back of our house. There was no insulation at all above the ceiling, part of the wall was simply a thickness of wallboard, some of the central heating pipes were unlagged, and whole bricks were missing for the pipes to get into the bathroom (see above).

For a bit of variety (and economy) I ordered some Warmcel 100. This is recycled and treated newspaper that is used as a loose fill insulation. It is much cheaper than Thermafleece, but most places tried to charge me a whopping great transport charge (£60 for £40 worth of product). Green Steps only charged £20 and got my custom (and a plug here!). They also got brownie points for delivering in 2 days.

So, the pipes got lagged, the uninsulated wallboards got a vertical layer of Thermafleece, the holes got blocked with Polyfilla and Thermafleece scraps and Warmcell was used on the rest (see pic). The Warmcel was brilliant in such an awkward space as it was easy to push into the difficult corners and around the pipes. The only real drawback was that I had to build a rim around the access hatch to contain it and my carpentry skills aint the greatest.

Compared to Thermafleece:

Advantages: cost, ease of installation
Disadvatages: horizontal use only, containment

BTW, I did some rough costings of the various insulation options. For 200mm thickness, the approx costs per square metre are:

Rockwool: £5
"Non-itch" Rockwool: £7
Warmcel 100: £9 ex carriage
Thermafleece: £25 ex carriage