This thread should be for comments on green projects that you have completed yourself and offer pro's, con's and, where applicable, pricing information for others to refer to.

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This post may contain nuts

I insulated our loft (a lot). I've posted about this before, but when we moved in, there was fibreglass insulation between the joists, and some laid across the joists, but most of that had been squashed down by our predecessors storing boxes up there.

I started out buying some 2x4 from the local timber merchant (Acre Lane Timber, Brixton, London) which was much cheaper, and came in longer lengths, and had a far friendlier cutting service than the local B&Qs/Homebases. I laid this 2x4 across the joists where I wanted to board down. I just used some nails diagonally into the 2x4 and joists to hold them in place.

Where possible, I recycled the old fibreglass insulation, and put it between my bits of 2x4. I then put some old shelves, doors and a few other random bits of sheet wood on top on my 2x4 (again, just nailed down). I've now got a few paths and "islands" of boarded surface around the loft - very handy for the incredible amount of crap we have up there.

Next, I went to B&Q and Homebase and bought some Earthwool (it's a grey coloured, carbon neutral version of the fibreglass loft insulation). At the time it was about £5-£10 for a massive roll due to government subsidies (not so easily available at your local trade store, by the way). I probably spent about £50 in total, and then laid out loads of that over the top of the joists in the loft. I got the depth (from ceiling below the joists to top of insulation) to be about 280mm (although in a lot of places, it's deeper than that). I also ensured that any of the old insulation was doubled up to be at least as deep.

The insulating part of this work took me about a day. The boarding work took much longer, mostly because I was shuffling boxes and stuff around on the boarding as I was working. I'd recommend an empty loft, but if that's not possible, then try and tidy up as much as you can before you start!

Since I store stuff up in the loft, I wanted to keep the temperature of the loft down in summer and up in winter. Once you've got the normal insulation down, the loft can easily get to 40C in the summer, and 0C or less in winter. Another few quid buys rolls of silver, quilted insulation (again, from B&Q/Homebase). It's really easy to work with - you just staple it onto the roof rafters. You have to leave a big gap at the top and bottom (for building regulations), in my case, the gap at the bottom is about 2 feet (because I didn't want to climb about too much) and about 150mm at the top. Putting this stuff up makes the loft lighter (because whatever light you have reflects around), Most of all, it keeps the temperature down on the hottest summer days by 5-10C and keeps the temperature up in winter by about 5C.

By far the best thing to do is the regular fluffy loft insulation - that made a massive difference to the comfort of out flat, and has reduced our need to heat the flat. It's also kept the place cooler in summer. The rest is optional, and helps us, but not necessary for everyone. Given how cheap insulation is these days, it's more than paid for itself by now.

Got cavity wall insulation put in late 2009 (£100) and after more than 1 year our direct debit for gas has went from £39 pm to £30pm (its still too much, and I think it may go down again). Under 1 year to pay off

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www.craigthehandyman.com Wilmslow / Alderley Edge

I have just bought an ebook from one of those review sites telling me how to get electricity for my house from wind n solar power. It looks really easy to follow so I'm gonna give it a go! Hope it all goes well. Will let you know if it does!


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