Ceiling Insulation in North West

Building in North West

Solid interwar and postwar brick through Essendon, Moonee Ponds and Strathmore, on generous blocks with well-built pitched roofs. One of the easier parts of Melbourne to work in from a roof space point of view.

The housing stock

Solid interwar and postwar brick through Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Aberfeldie and Strathmore, on blocks that were generous when they were subdivided and mostly still are. The roofs are conventional pitched construction with real standing room, which makes this one of the easier parts of Melbourne to work in. Flemington and Kensington bring a different mix, with terrace housing and a significant body of walk-up unit stock.

What changes the job here

• Conventional pitched roofs with good standing room in most of the stock
• Original insulation, where it exists, is often 1970s or 80s material well past its useful life
• Second-storey additions are common and put access in an awkward upstairs position

Access and local constraints

Good access is the norm rather than the exception here. Most houses have a driveway that takes a vehicle close to the building, side access worth the name, and a roof space that can be moved through upright near the ridge. The exceptions are the second-storey additions, which are common through Essendon and Strathmore and which put the hatch in an upstairs hallway or robe, adding a flight of stairs to every trip and slowing a removal considerably.

Climate and timing

Standard metro conditions. The enquiry driver here is more often the bill and the age of the existing material than raw discomfort, because these are well-built houses that hold heat reasonably well even before anything is done to the ceiling. That tends to produce a better-informed enquiry, where the owner already knows roughly what is up there and wants to know whether replacing it is worth doing.

What we are usually asked for here

The usual finding is original insulation from the 1970s or 80s that has settled to well under its rated value, rather than a bare ceiling. That makes removal and replacement a larger share of the work here than it is further west. Storage in the roof space is common in these houses and compresses whatever is under it. The most frequent blocker is a recent second-storey addition or a full renovation, and the second is downlights through renovated kitchens and living areas.