3 Reasons to Remove Roof Insulation

A well-insulated roof area plays a big part in making your home energy-efficient. It keeps heat in and cold out. However, to get the best out of your insulation, you need to remove and replace it periodically.

How can you tell if you need to remove the insulation in your roof space?

1. Your insulation is old

Roof insulation doesn't last forever. Typically, you should replace it every 20 years or so to make sure that you get the best protection and to avoid safety risks.

For example, insulative materials settle or flatten when they get older. When this happens, a material loses some of its ability to insulate effectively.

Plus, some older products can become hazardous. For example, older materials might lose their fire resistance and become very dry as they age. They could be extremely combustible if a fire was in your roof area.

So, if you think your insulation has exceeded its natural life, remove and replace it. You can install more effective products that meet modern energy efficiency and safety standards.

2. Your insulation doesn’t do its job

Some insulation stops working effectively after a few years. You might not think that the time is right to replace it; however, you might start to get signs that all is not well.

Often, you'll feel this breakdown in your indoor climate. You might notice that your temperature fluctuates from room to room, especially in the rooms that sit directly under your roof space. If you touch the ceilings in these rooms, they may feel cold to the touch in cold weather and too warm on hotter days.

Also, you might start to notice more draughts in your home that don't seem to have an obvious cause. You might need to run your heating and air conditioning more than you used to in previous years to keep an even temperature.

In some cases, you might also notice that you can hear outside noise more clearly than you used to. Things seem louder indoors.

These signs could all mean that your roof insulation is reaching the end of its useful life. It doesn’t give you the same levels of thermal or noise insulation. To get things back to normal, you might need to take it out and replace it.

3. Your insulation is damaged

Even newer insulation materials can stop doing their job effectively in some circumstances. For example, you might lose some of your protection if your roof insulation gets damaged.

Water leaks are a common problem here. If you have a leak in your roof, then your insulation will get wet. While some materials can repel water, others will absorb it.

In extreme cases, insulation gets so waterlogged and heavy that it puts too much stress on a ceiling. The ceiling might sag or even break.

Even if your insulation doesn't get too wet and dries out over time, you might be left with some problems. When wet materials dry out, they sometimes shrink and harden. They can't work effectively in this state.

Also, mould might grow on the wet or damp material which could then spread to your roof's timbers and ceilings. Any spores that spread down through your house aren't good for your health.

Pests can also be a problem here. They might eat into some types of insulation. If a pest chews a lot of holes, then your insulation loses some of its integrity; it won't work as well.

Plus, if you have a significant or long-term pest infestation, your insulation could be full of droppings, hairs and bacteria that aren't good for your health. So, if your insulation is damaged, then you might need to replace some or all of it.

If you aren't sure whether your insulation is up to scratch, then contact Insulation Removals. If it does need to come out, then we will do a quick and professional job. We can also install new energy-efficient and safe insulation for you.