The Logistics of Insulation.
So after much searching, and asking and taking of advice, and the dismissal of some advice we finally arrived at a consensus that would give us the amount of insulation we considered ample to keep us warm in the winter. I was going to add 'cool in the summer" as well however as we are in Brittany and even though the summers can get very warm it is not so important an issue.
Our roof sandwich starting from the top is this
Slate (man made composite with 25 year colour guarantee and from the ground looks like the real thing)
The slate is hooked onto batten that is 20mm by 15mm (approx)
The batten is nailed over a plastic membrane.
The membrane sits on chevrons that are 63mm deep
The chevrons sit on purlins.
The insulation we decided on was the Celotex / Kingspan style of stuff which is a polyisocyanurate frigid foam which has silver foil on each side, and that as far as I can tell gives the best thermal protection you can get depending on the thickness chosen.
The method was to put in 30mm between the rafters and then suspend 125 below the rafters counter battened at 30mm centers to take the plaster board later.
The screws I would need would be 180mm which allows plenty of penetration into the chevron.
So now it was all down to where to buy it and being in France it made sense to try and buy it here.
There is a product called Recticel which is the same stuff however I couldn't find a supplier that would do the thicknesses I needed or the size panels I wanted as the Recticel seemed to only come in 60 by 60 sheets, and I soon became rather disillusioned with the whole process and the prices being quoted so I had a chat with my mate in the builders merchants back in Bridport Dorset who came up with a very reasonable figure which came in at 40 sheets (2400 mx 1200) of 125mm thick and 40 sheets of 30mm thick at 2450 quids.
So, why only 40 sheets and how do we go about getting it there?
40 sheets gives and area of 115 meters and my roof is bigger than that however the biggest truck I can hire and drive is a 7.5 tonne box truck with tail lift. I also needed to pick up the last few bits of household stuff that we had stored in mother in laws garages so with the maths all done the most I could buy was 40 sheets of each and that volume together with the other stuff was enough to fill the truck.
Now comes the timing:-
I was due to finish on the ship around 23rd Jan but in a moment of weakness (or probably guilt) I had said to Mrs B that for her winter sunshine this year how about a week in Singapore with perhaps a visit to some other Asian city during that time.
I had forgotten this conversation (conveniently) however MrsB had full memory of it and was insisting on me honouring the deal.
So I met MrsB off the plane in Singapore at 0700 on the 24th Jan, we had 3 nights in the Berjaya Hotel on the edge of China Town and then on 27th we flew up to Bankok and stayed in the rather lovely Muse hotel for two nights and then back to Singapore for 2 nights in the Marina Bay Sands Hotel so that we could have a dip in the infinity pool. (at this juncture I have to say that it was worth every penny and we had a fantastic week but the infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands really should be on ones list of things to do )
This was view from bathroom
and from lounge
Anyway once our fun and frolics were over it went something like this.
Depart Singapore 0030 on 01 Feb
Arrive Heathrow 0740 on 01 Feb (flight time 13 hours)
Collect hire car Heathrow 0820 on 01 Feb
Drive to Dorchester arrive 1030 on 01 Feb and hand over the hire car.
Get car hire people to drive us to the lorry hire place Dorset Vehicle Rentals and go through the process of hiring the truck.
Leave Dorchester in truck at 1100 and drive to Bridport.
Leave MrsB at her mothers at 1130 and drive to builders merchants.
Load up the insulation finish at 1200 and drive to MrsB's mothers.
Arrive at 1210 and have a coffee and commence loading the lorry with the rest of our stuff and also load my pick up truck with my sons stuff who is leaving to live in London.
Finish loading and set off for Portsmouth ferry port at 1615 in the lorry with MrsB and our dog Minnie.
Arrive ferry port at 1815 and go through the freight processing and get sent to the queue to board.
Boarded by 1940.
Had a shower changed and then up to the A la carte restaurant for a big dinner and some nice wine. We were both back in our cabin and fast asleep by 2230.
Arrive St Malo at 0830 and disembark at 0840.
Arrive at house after a detour for groceries and coffee at 1030.
Get the house opened up and make sure the sheds are habitable and that elec and water all good.
Get the truck stuck in the mud trying to turn around and spend an hour digging it out and making a gravel path for it.
Unload truck and stow the stuff in the house.
At 1730 leave MrsB and Minnie in the sheds and drive to Caen
Depart on 2300 to Portsmouth
Arrive Portsmouth at 0645 03 Feb. Disembark and drive truck to Dorchester.
Arrive Dorchester at 9.00 and leave truck in Hire compound.
Son arrives in my pick up truck from London after moving his stuff there. I drop him back to the train station and then drive on to Bridport, where I arrive at about 1030 with intention of having lunch with an old mate after making sure that mother in law's garages are all clean and tidy.
Stop at Bridport filling station and fill up the pick up truck ready for the afternoons journey back to the ferry port.
Travel half a mile after filling up and the pick up truck breaks down.
Call a good mate who is a mechanic who suggests I take off the filler cap and see what I can smell.
Ahhhhrrrrgggghhhhhh it is fu@king petrol and my truck is a diesel. It was all goingt so well!!!! Oh woe is me!!!
Anyway after having a small tantrum with myself for being so stupid and it being a sunday so no-one being available to pump it out for me had to call RAC and they came and organised the "pump out company" to come and get me and do the deed.
So at 410 pounds lighter in the wallet (that's 70 quid for the initial top up with petrol, 255 quid to get it pumped out and another 85 quid to fill it up with diesel) I then drove back to Portsmouth for the 2030 crossing to St Malo on 3rd Feb.
Arrived back at home at 1030 on the 4th, had a coffee changed into working gear and started on installing the insulation.
Given the cost of the insulation, the hire lorry, the three ferry crossings, the cock up with the fuel, I still saved over 1500 quid on the cheapest quote I could get in France.
I don't understand why and maybe with more research work I may have found a cheaper source here but after being confronted with "we don't do that size" and "cant deliver by then" and other minor irritants I decided to vote with my feet and get it in the UK.
Simple maths really.
Next installment is the fitting of the stuff
So after much searching, and asking and taking of advice, and the dismissal of some advice we finally arrived at a consensus that would give us the amount of insulation we considered ample to keep us warm in the winter. I was going to add 'cool in the summer" as well however as we are in Brittany and even though the summers can get very warm it is not so important an issue.
Our roof sandwich starting from the top is this
Slate (man made composite with 25 year colour guarantee and from the ground looks like the real thing)
The slate is hooked onto batten that is 20mm by 15mm (approx)
The batten is nailed over a plastic membrane.
The membrane sits on chevrons that are 63mm deep
The chevrons sit on purlins.
The insulation we decided on was the Celotex / Kingspan style of stuff which is a polyisocyanurate frigid foam which has silver foil on each side, and that as far as I can tell gives the best thermal protection you can get depending on the thickness chosen.
The method was to put in 30mm between the rafters and then suspend 125 below the rafters counter battened at 30mm centers to take the plaster board later.
The screws I would need would be 180mm which allows plenty of penetration into the chevron.
So now it was all down to where to buy it and being in France it made sense to try and buy it here.
There is a product called Recticel which is the same stuff however I couldn't find a supplier that would do the thicknesses I needed or the size panels I wanted as the Recticel seemed to only come in 60 by 60 sheets, and I soon became rather disillusioned with the whole process and the prices being quoted so I had a chat with my mate in the builders merchants back in Bridport Dorset who came up with a very reasonable figure which came in at 40 sheets (2400 mx 1200) of 125mm thick and 40 sheets of 30mm thick at 2450 quids.
So, why only 40 sheets and how do we go about getting it there?
40 sheets gives and area of 115 meters and my roof is bigger than that however the biggest truck I can hire and drive is a 7.5 tonne box truck with tail lift. I also needed to pick up the last few bits of household stuff that we had stored in mother in laws garages so with the maths all done the most I could buy was 40 sheets of each and that volume together with the other stuff was enough to fill the truck.
Now comes the timing:-
I was due to finish on the ship around 23rd Jan but in a moment of weakness (or probably guilt) I had said to Mrs B that for her winter sunshine this year how about a week in Singapore with perhaps a visit to some other Asian city during that time.
I had forgotten this conversation (conveniently) however MrsB had full memory of it and was insisting on me honouring the deal.
So I met MrsB off the plane in Singapore at 0700 on the 24th Jan, we had 3 nights in the Berjaya Hotel on the edge of China Town and then on 27th we flew up to Bankok and stayed in the rather lovely Muse hotel for two nights and then back to Singapore for 2 nights in the Marina Bay Sands Hotel so that we could have a dip in the infinity pool. (at this juncture I have to say that it was worth every penny and we had a fantastic week but the infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands really should be on ones list of things to do )
This was view from bathroom
and from lounge
Anyway once our fun and frolics were over it went something like this.
Depart Singapore 0030 on 01 Feb
Arrive Heathrow 0740 on 01 Feb (flight time 13 hours)
Collect hire car Heathrow 0820 on 01 Feb
Drive to Dorchester arrive 1030 on 01 Feb and hand over the hire car.
Get car hire people to drive us to the lorry hire place Dorset Vehicle Rentals and go through the process of hiring the truck.
Leave Dorchester in truck at 1100 and drive to Bridport.
Leave MrsB at her mothers at 1130 and drive to builders merchants.
Load up the insulation finish at 1200 and drive to MrsB's mothers.
Arrive at 1210 and have a coffee and commence loading the lorry with the rest of our stuff and also load my pick up truck with my sons stuff who is leaving to live in London.
Finish loading and set off for Portsmouth ferry port at 1615 in the lorry with MrsB and our dog Minnie.
Arrive ferry port at 1815 and go through the freight processing and get sent to the queue to board.
Boarded by 1940.
Had a shower changed and then up to the A la carte restaurant for a big dinner and some nice wine. We were both back in our cabin and fast asleep by 2230.
Arrive St Malo at 0830 and disembark at 0840.
Arrive at house after a detour for groceries and coffee at 1030.
Get the house opened up and make sure the sheds are habitable and that elec and water all good.
Get the truck stuck in the mud trying to turn around and spend an hour digging it out and making a gravel path for it.
Unload truck and stow the stuff in the house.
At 1730 leave MrsB and Minnie in the sheds and drive to Caen
Depart on 2300 to Portsmouth
Arrive Portsmouth at 0645 03 Feb. Disembark and drive truck to Dorchester.
Arrive Dorchester at 9.00 and leave truck in Hire compound.
Son arrives in my pick up truck from London after moving his stuff there. I drop him back to the train station and then drive on to Bridport, where I arrive at about 1030 with intention of having lunch with an old mate after making sure that mother in law's garages are all clean and tidy.
Stop at Bridport filling station and fill up the pick up truck ready for the afternoons journey back to the ferry port.
Travel half a mile after filling up and the pick up truck breaks down.
Call a good mate who is a mechanic who suggests I take off the filler cap and see what I can smell.
Ahhhhrrrrgggghhhhhh it is fu@king petrol and my truck is a diesel. It was all goingt so well!!!! Oh woe is me!!!
Anyway after having a small tantrum with myself for being so stupid and it being a sunday so no-one being available to pump it out for me had to call RAC and they came and organised the "pump out company" to come and get me and do the deed.
So at 410 pounds lighter in the wallet (that's 70 quid for the initial top up with petrol, 255 quid to get it pumped out and another 85 quid to fill it up with diesel) I then drove back to Portsmouth for the 2030 crossing to St Malo on 3rd Feb.
Arrived back at home at 1030 on the 4th, had a coffee changed into working gear and started on installing the insulation.
Given the cost of the insulation, the hire lorry, the three ferry crossings, the cock up with the fuel, I still saved over 1500 quid on the cheapest quote I could get in France.
I don't understand why and maybe with more research work I may have found a cheaper source here but after being confronted with "we don't do that size" and "cant deliver by then" and other minor irritants I decided to vote with my feet and get it in the UK.
Simple maths really.
Next installment is the fitting of the stuff
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