Loft insulation in Anerley

Anerley's homes

Why Anerley lofts need attention

Anerley forms part of South East London, an area whose housing is characterised by Victorian and Edwardian terraces on the older high ground, extensive interwar semi-detached suburbs, and post-war estates. The bulk of it went up during the 1880s through the 1930s, decades before insulation was a design consideration at all, and what sits above the ceilings today is usually a retrofit added at some point in the last fifty years to whatever standard was current at the time.

That matters because the standard has moved repeatedly. Lofts insulated in the 1980s typically received 100mm; earlier work was often 50mm or nothing. Current guidance is 270mm. A great many Anerley houses therefore contain insulation that was entirely adequate when it was fitted and is now doing roughly a third of the work it should be — while the homeowner reasonably assumes the loft is 'done'.

Hipped roofs on 1930s semis cut the usable loft area down sharply at the corners, which changes how much of it is worth boarding. It is the sort of thing a survey establishes in ten minutes and a phone quote never can.