Every one needs more storage in their home. We all have that room that's never quite tidy. With space at a premium, many home owners are looking up to find the answer. Its really easy to add storage to your loft, but be careful not to compromise the efficiency of your loft insulation. If you want storage space in your loft, you need to use loft legs. We'll take a look at what they do and why it is necessary in this short post below.

Loft Insulation

Lets begin here. Loft insulation is one of the most important factors in keeping your home warm and reducing wasted heat. It acts as a blanket that traps warm air inside your home by preventing it from escaping through your roof. Current building regulations recommend that you have 270mm. When completing an EPC, we recommend to all home owners that anything less than this is retrofitted to bring it up to standard. We've written a longer article on the importance of loft insulation, but in short, you can expect a warmer home with reduced energy bills if you've got this recommended amount.

Your insulation should never be compressed. If it is, it will not perform to the same standard as uncompressed insulation. Also, as the heat transfer between the warmer house air and colder loft air will be faster, this can lead to condensation issues. How do we use our loft for storage if we cannot put boards on top of the insulation? The answer is loft legs.

How Do Loft Legs Work?

To avoid compressing loft insulation, we can use loft legs to raise the boards above the insulation. They come in a variety of heights, but look for a leg that will lift your boards to at least 270mm. Most ceiling joists are a minimum of 70mm thick meaning you'll need a 200mm leg. You can screw your boards directly into the legs and they'll work with different joist widths too.

Once you've screwed your boards down you've got your storage area. Its a quick job that can be completed by most DIYers.

How How Does it Affect The EPC?

If we visit a home that has compressed loft insulation, we have to record the compressed depth. This reduces the score you will get on your certificate. If we see that storage is raised above the top of the insulation we can record the full depth of it. We're looking for a minimum of 270mm to get maximum marks. Anything less than 100mm and you'll get a recommendation on the EPC.

Summary

To get the full benefit of your loft insulation, when installing a storage area, you should use loft legs to raise the board above the loft insulation. Insulation doesn't work as well when it is compressed and can also lead to damp and condensation problems.