A SuperFOIL SF19 multifoil installation carried out by one of the vetted installers in our network. The starting point was thin foil-backed board fixed between the rafters and almost nothing at the eaves — here is what was found, what was fitted and why, in the installer's own photographs.
These photographs are from a real loft project carried out by one of the vetted installers in our network. Bournemouth Loft Insulation arranges the free survey and the written quote; the installation itself is carried out and guaranteed by the installer. Property details are described in general terms — we do not publish customer names, addresses or prices.
The property is a chalet bungalow with a part-converted loft — a room in the roof with sloped ceilings and short stub walls, and small unheated voids behind them. The insulation in place was a thin foil-backed board fixed between the rafters, with bare timber at the eaves where the slope meets the wall plate. A thin board on its own, fitted tight between rafters with no air gap, does very little; the eaves gap did nothing at all.
Before anything was specified, the loft was checked properly: the access, the rafter depth and spacing, the condition of whatever was already up there, the airflow at the eaves and any sign of moisture on the timbers or the underlay. That inspection is what decides the work. A photograph and a phone call are not enough to specify a loft, and we would not quote a job on that basis.
The specification was SuperFOIL SF19 multifoil across the face of the rafters over the full sloped ceiling, with the old board left in place between them. The foil was run in continuous lengths, lapped and taped at every joint and sealed back to the stub walls, so the layer is unbroken where the slope meets the flat ceiling above and the wall below — the junctions that usually leak heat in a room in the roof.
The critical detail is the air gap. Multifoil only reflects if there is a still air space either side of it, so counter-battens were fitted to hold the required gap on the room side, and the gap above the foil was kept clear right through to a continuous ventilation path at the eaves. Batten depth was checked against the finished ceiling line first so the headroom in the converted room was not lost.
Multifoil earns its place where headroom is tight — a converted loft, a room in the roof, a shallow pitch — because it delivers a reflective layer in a fraction of the thickness that wool or board would need. It is a product, not a depth: quoted performance depends entirely on the air gaps either side being there and staying clear.
The sloped ceiling now has a continuous, sealed reflective layer across the whole face of the rafters, with no gap at the eaves and no break at the stub walls. The ventilation path above it is clear from eaves to ridge, so the roof timbers still breathe and moisture is not trapped behind the foil. Headroom in the converted room is unchanged. The loft was cleared and left tidy.
What a given loft needs, and what it costs, depends on the roof in front of you. The only figure that means anything is the one on your own written quote — after someone has been up and looked.
If your home is anything like this one — thin or settled insulation, a converted room that never quite feels right, storage sitting straight on top of the layer, or simply no idea what is up there — the first step is the same for everyone.
Wondering what your own loft needs? Tell us about your property and we'll come back within 24 hours with a free, no-obligation quote.
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