My Loft Build.

[Keeno]

Insulating and boarding the rafters/roof:

This has taken some real thought and some help with ideas. This can be a expensive pain in the arse of a job and its definitely the most important part of trying to grow in a loft. You cant really go over the top here but the reality is as a hobby grower there has to be a line in cost when it comes to doing this. I luckily have most of the expensive materials already from my outdoor building i insulated in my old property.

Keeping gaps between layers of insulation boarding is key here, mostly for insulation purposes but also for sound, as mentioned in my above post about laying the floor in the loft, a solid to solid connections between solid materials will carry sound more than cavities or soft connections.

My plan is to use 100mm PIR insulation like Celotex or Kingspan and a blanket type insulation as well. Ill be splitting the 100mm PIR insulation into 2 x 50mm boards, this will give me a total of 4 cavities/air spaces between the tiles on the outside of the roof and the plasterboard on the inside. The blanket insulation is equivalent to 210mm rockwool insulation, so this will give a lot of heat insulation while hopefully further soundproofing the loft.

Materials ill be using:

50mm Celotex (2 layers) - https://insulation4less.co.uk/products/ ... 7409001525
YBS Superquilt Insulation - https://www.superquilt-insulation.co.uk ... x+10m+Roll
Batten to separate layers - https://www.diy.com/departments/planed- ... 316_BQ.prd
9mm plasterboard (to separate layers) - https://www.wickes.co.uk/Knauf-Plasterb ... m/p/220207

I have most of this from a previous build and the places are above are just for reference. You will get better prices shopping around or salvaging materials off building sites.

How it will be installed:

Roof tile and felt

20-50mm air gap (inside roof rafter/beam)

50mm PIR insulation (inside roof rafter/beam)

20-50mm air gap (inside roof rafter/beam)

YBS Superquilt (this will blanket the whole loft over the rafters/beams, a full blackout/cover)

20mm batten fixed over the quilt material creating a 20mm air cap and something to fix to

50mm PIR insulation again blanketing/covering the entire loft surface

20mm Batten again creating a 20mm air space and something to fix to

9mm plasterboard to finish the loft area. Id like to go thicker but the weight will be substantial.


This will hopefully be more than enough to keep the hot and cold out. I will need to sort out a good ventilation system which ill cover in a later post. Needs to be stealthy but recirculate the air in the loft enough.

[Norseman]

@Keeno Egg Cartons like these are actually amazingly good to use in order to make a really good sound barrier. And since you're not gonna have any really high noises i would say that cartons like these would work like a charm for you at those sides where you might have neighbors in order to prevent any unwanted noise to get over to them.

Insulation works as well of course. The question is just which solution is the most cost effective and which one that removes the most noise for your neighbors.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grey-Fibre-Eto ... 75&sr=8-10

[Keeno]

Wow that space has some amazing potential!

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with mate!

Cheers Flip, I cant wait to get it started.

Hell to the mo frickin yeah ... love the space the possibility’s are endless , massively jelly right now buddy ... you have the best bit ahead .. do it right do it once

Totally agree mate, tryimg not to cut corners while not costing the earth to do it.

Nice one :-)

I got green eyes, I want my blank canvas too

Fair play @Keeno

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers Rik.

Imho first thing id do is ditch that old insulation its most probably holding some kind of nastys,then next is build a room in there within a room line it with kingspan....... then make sure its sealed,sort out air exchange then fumigate it will then get a bottle of this just incase id will rid anything within the groom organic and don't harm the plants,spray the new room walls and all surfaces with the potion then ya should be good to boot but ffs leave the old insulation there imo

great googly moogly!

Good shout on the insulation Captain, ill do that and will get someof that stuff and give everything a good spray.

Looks like a really nice loft you got in the new place mate. Loads of potential for sure.
I'm kinda agreeing with Capt when it comes to the old insulation, toss it or just leave it be and get new one to the new groom that way you won't bring any nasties with you from the old groom.

I would also make sure it is insulated real good and and sealed so you don't get any air leaks in or out. In might be more important when it gets colder since the cold that might come in could potentially kill your existing grow or at least harm it.

Interested to see what you make of that space and looking forward to more updates on the new groom.

Yeah your right Norseman, old insulation has to go. Im planning on good insulation and creating the whole loft as a negative pressure with outlets coming out of the loft that are filtered.

Interesting thread, can't wait to see what you make of the space

Cheers FX

I can't wait to move house for this very reason!! :)

Gotta love a groom build Gupz

[Guest]

That's interesting about the floor. I've never thought of that and should have done considering I'm in a trade myself.

I will be in a garage so totally different, but it's always good to know.

Also that earth wool looks brilliant, I may look at using that myself inbetween two weather boards? To build my groom walls inside the garage.

Thanks @Keeno for taking the time to write this up.

[Keeno]

@Keeno Egg Cartons like these are actually amazingly good to use in order to make a really good sound barrier. And since you're not gonna have any really high noises i would say that cartons like these would work like a charm for you at those sides where you might have neighbors in order to prevent any unwanted noise to get over to them.

Insulation works as well of course. The question is just which solution is the most cost effective and which one that removes the most noise for your neighbors.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grey-Fibre-Eto ... 75&sr=8-10

Cheers Norseman, ill have a look at them, anything that can reduce noise at low cost is a win.

[Guest]

I'm using this for notes and bookmarked if you don't mind Keeno.

[Keeno]

That's interesting about the floor. I've never thought of that and should have done considering I'm in a trade myself.

I will be in a garage so totally different, but it's always good to know.

Also that earth wool looks brilliant, I may look at using that myself inbetween two weather boards? To build my groom walls inside the garage.

Thanks @Keeno for taking the time to write this up.

The floor i only know about given a mess up on a job. Years ago we were doing a flat conversion above shop, it had to be all singing all dancing on the soundproof front as it needed a sound certificate after. The boards we were using were chipboard with a foam underneath, makes it effectively a floating floor but these boards are around £50 for 2.4 x 0.6m, well out of my price bracket for a loft. Thats where the idea using a cheap but thick underlay came into play for this and to keep it floating, not fixed.

The mad part on this job was that we would fix one of the soundproof floor boards with screws to work against, once the floor was finished we would remove them few screws, made it faster work. One of the laborer's on the job rounded off a single screw trying to get it out, he shit himself and said nothing. Later that day the sound test guys came and done the test, it failed on the vibration test, we were all like wtf, we had used everything and more that we should have. The laborer came clean and showed me where this rounded off screw was, i managed to get it out. Test was done again, passed with flying colours. So a single screw fixing the soundproof flooring to a single floor joist in a whole room was enough to carry the vibration to fail the sound test to building standards. Floating is vital for the kind of vibrations we get from pumps, fans etc.

Yeah the earthwool is very nice stuff, you can rub your face in it and no itchy, theres some small particles but nothing itchy. I believe its made from recycled stuff and wool. And for smaller jobs the few pound price difference isnt noticeable over that nasty glass stuff.

I'm using this for notes and bookmarked if you don't mind Keeno.

Of course mate. Im doing it in such detail so if it works as i hope others can do it. Ive got a lot of material already here from the old outbuilding but ive done the maths and this wouldnt cost more than a couple of grand the way im doing it to buy all new, its not pennies but in the grand scheme of things, running air con, redoing certain parts, buying roof tents, its not a huge amount of money for a permanent groom that should get through the hottest days and the coldest nights.

Ive got some ideas for ventilation and further reducing noise of air movement which ill do in a later post.

[Keeno]

Insulating and soundproofing the dividing walls:

As this is a loft build i have walls either side of the building separating my loft from from other lofts. This is the area i will be using actual sound proof plasterboard. My plan is to lay the floating floor first as per my above post. Then any stud walls i build will also be sat on top of the floating floor. As the 2 walls at either end of the loft are very important to be as soundproof as i can get them without robbing a bank to so, having them sat on the new floating floor is a good start.

Ill be building a timber/wood stud type wall out of 3 x 2 inch wood at each end, but again keeping with the no hard material fixed to hard material idea ive mentioned above, this wall will not be fixed to the dividing wall in anyway. Instead it will be fixed to the first rafter/beam away from the wall, giving me a nice big cavity to fill with earthwool. I could use acoustic insulation in this cavity but its expensive and i think 200mm earthwool will do the job just fine. Ill face the stud wall with 50mm celotex then 12.5mm soundbloc plasterboard.

Materials ill be using for separating walls:

3 x 2 inch timber - https://www.diy.com/departments/round-e ... 781_BQ.prd
200mm earth wool (in 100mm rolls) - https://www.diy.com/departments/knauf-e ... 146_BQ.prd
50mm celotex - https://insulation4less.co.uk/products/ ... 7409001525
12.5mm soundbloc plasterboard - https://www.diy.com/departments/gyproc- ... 771_BQ.prd

Ill be adding the carboard egg trays to the brick wall, nice find @Norseman. Any noises that do make it through the wall and insulation will then hit these

Like above posts im posting links to easy to source places but you will get better deals shopping around for this stuff.

How i will install it:

Brick separating wall

Carboard egg crates probably silicones to the wall.

100-200mm cavity full of earthwool

3 x 2 inch stud wall

50mm celotex

12.5mm soundbloc plasterboard

These walls will be at either end of the loft and sat on the floating floor, not fixed to the brick separating wall, fixed to the first rafter/beam next to the wall. Any noise or vibration hitting the wall will have a cavity filled with earthwool it will have to pass through before hitting the neighbors wall.

[Gward20]

Good luck doing the loft mate looks roughly the same size as mine. I have a 2.4 x 1.2m and a 75 x 75cm tent up there with loads of free room

[Keeno]

All of the above should get me to the point of a well insulated, as soundproof as is reasonable blank area to build some grooms into.