Creating a more energy efficient home
By installing insulation into your flat roof area, we can help you reduce your home’s energy consumption, helping you to create a more energy efficient home and saving you money on your household bills.
A flat roof presents the smallest surface area for heat loss, therefore offering excellent thermal efficiency. As well as meeting the current Building Regulations Part L to the thermal requirements, our high performance roofing systems will also be able to accommodate any further planned upgrades in the Building Regulations, simply and with greater efficiency than some other roofing systems.
Traditionally, flat roofs consisted of a structural timber deck with a waterproof covering directly applied to the top of the deck. This design dates back many years and insulation was somewhat of an afterthought with this type of roof. This type of roof is known as a ‘cold roof’. Where a cold flat roof does incorporate insulation this is usually in the form of mineral wool, which is placed in between the timber rafters/joists, with a minimum 50mm ventilation gap left clear in between the insulation and the roof deck. This ventilation gap is necessary to allow air-flow, so that warm, moist air is allowed to escape rather than coming in to contact with the 'cold deck' and condensing. Condensation can lead to a number of problems, including rotting decking and/or timbers, damp ceilings and damp insulation which is rendered ineffective.
Good external ventilation is also essential to minimize the risk of condensation in a cold roof. This should ideally be in the form of 'soffit vents' to the underside of the fascia boards, but, as many flat roofs were built without soffits, is often in the form of unsightly 'mushroom vents' on top of the roof.
Good ventilation is essential to allow condensation to escape, particularly where moisture levels are high (such as over bathrooms and kitchens). Unfortunately this means a great deal of heat is also lost in the process.
By moving the insulation to the outside of the structure, the roof deck is effectively brought inside, which results in a 'warm roof deck'. This removes the possibility of condensation forming on the underside of the deck and eliminates damp. Because this design works by conserving heat, no ventilation is required. Modern polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam rigid insulation with reflective foil to both sides provides greater thermal efficiency, and unlike the cold roof method the insulation thickness is not limited by the depth of the timber rafters/joists. A vapour barrier or vapour control layer is an essential component of any warm roof.
In recognition of the effect that the thermal efficiency of your flat roof has on the environment, the Government enables us to offer a 10% discount on the VAT element of any flat roof insulation.
Contact us today to make your flat roof more efficient and help reduce the damage done to the environment.
Environment
R G Leverett Ltd is committed to achieving environmental best practice in undertaking its business activities. We recognise that the roofing industry inevitably impacts on the environment in a number of ways and wishes to minimise the potentially harmful effects of such activities whenever and wherever practicable.
In particular R G Leverett Ltd is committed to:
- Meeting and where appropriate exceeding the requirements of all relevant environmental legislation
- Working to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment
- Reducing the consumption of materials by the promotion of waste management, recycling and the use of recycled materials
- The promotion, specification and use of substances, materials and components which in their source, manufacture, transportation, application and eventual disposal are safe, are not detrimental to good health and have minimal environmental impact
- The reduction wherever practicable of the level of emissions to environment and nuisance associated with our business operations
- Keeping abreast of and complying with legislation, regulations and codes of practice on environmental matters relevant to our operations
