Eligibility & Ceiling Assessment

We walk the house first to see the ceiling construction and find the access, then get into the roof space and measure what is there. Depth in several places rather than one, and an identification of the product, because foil, loose fill and batts are treated differently. We note the light fittings visible from above. We ask when the house was built and whether the ceiling area has been altered, extended or renovated, and if part of it has we look at that part separately. Then you get the position in writing the same day, including the answer you did not want if that is the answer.

By measuring the uncompressed depth and identifying the product, then reading the two together. Neither one on its own tells you anything useful. The same depth of 1970s loose fill and modern batts are a long way apart, and material that has been compressed by storage or foot traffic has lost performance that the depth no longer reflects. So the measurement is taken in several places, because a roof space is rarely consistent, and where it varies across the ceiling we record the range rather than an average that hides it. Foil alone is a separate case and is treated as uninsulated.

Three things come up most often. The ceiling already has enough insulation in it, which is more common than people expect in houses that were done once and forgotten. The light fittings in the ceiling are a type that has to be dealt with first, which needs a licensed electrician and is not work we do. Or the house, or the part of it the insulation would go into, is too recently built or altered. The criteria are set by the program rather than by us, and they are set out with their source in the program facts on this site. What we do is establish the facts about your house and tell you how they land.

It does, in two directions that pull against each other. Older houses are more likely to have nothing up there or only foil, which is the situation the upgrade exists for. But the program also excludes premises that have been built, renovated or extended too recently, and that applies to the part of the ceiling in question rather than the house as a whole. So a 1950s weatherboard with a 2023 rear extension is two different answers in one building, and we look at them separately. The exact period is set by the program and is stated with its source in the program facts.

Yes, and this is the single most common reason a house that looks straightforward turns out not to be. Insulation has to keep a clearance around fittings that are not rated to be covered, and where a ceiling is full of them the program treats the premises as ineligible until they are dealt with. It is most often a house that had downlights put in during a renovation in the 2000s. Sorting it out is licensed electrical work and we do not do it, so what happens in that case is that you get told clearly what the issue is and referred to an electrician. Once it is resolved the property can be looked at again.

Usually under an hour at the property, and less if access is easy. At the end you get a written position on where your property stands, what is in the roof space now, what we measured, and what would be involved if the work goes ahead. If something blocks it, the write-up says what and what would need to happen to change it. There is no cost and no obligation, including when the answer is no. We would rather spend the time and find out than schedule a job that gets cancelled on the morning.