sga Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I've just had these RDI people in to insulate my loft under the loft insulation scheme and I thought I'd post here to let people know what like they are. I'm sure there are loads of households in Shetland waiting to get their lofts insulated for free and all I can say is dont worry these guys were very friendly and they did a gret job in the loft. I was a bit concerned about the quality of work I would receive and heard that they fitted the insulation in such a way as that it would be difficult to get all o wir bruck back in again, that is they lay the insulation at 90 degrees to the joists over the top of the joists and existing insulation. I was lucky that i had very little insulation in my loft, only about 3 inches thick so they managed to get the new insulation in between the joists and leave the top of the joists free for me to put the flooring back down and safely put all af my precious things back in. We have a couple of smaller lost spaces forbye the main one and they fired in the insulation two layers thick in some of these spaces. All in all I was delighted with the service, well above what I expected. It also gave me a chance to sort out the bruck in wir loft and go wi a good run to the dump. (***Mod Edit - Moved to Consumer Advice & Resources***) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISOT Posted June 23, 2011 Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 Have to agree with Sda here. I had my loft done about 3 months ago by RDI and although both boys were young they did a great job. I cleared the loft myself and also laid dust sheets in the stairs just in case. They were polite, quick and left a really good job in fact the loft look like a work of art when they'd finished I was nearly loathed to but me bruck back up again! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudden Stop Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 I've just had the loft insulation upgraded by RDI though this scheme and can happily report that from first contact to completed job, all the staff have been great. There are commonly bad reports that do the rounds up here and companies/people can get a bad name very easily but I'd like to post this message in the hope that a good report does the rounds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoots Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 They came in to ours and told us the house was too big to qualify for free top up. Between the "excess" insulation and cavity wall, they wanted almost £3000 from us to do the work!! Fortunately, we had been in touch with the Energy Savings Trust. Thanks to the Scottish Govt Energy Assistance Package scheme, and our circumstances which qualified us for it, we have had our insulation done by Shetland Heatwise (who were absolutely fantastic!!) and got a brand new oil fired boiler, heaters and thermostats out of the grant provided for those qualifying under fuel poverty. The grant awarded if you qualify is around £4000, which extends to £6500 or so if your heating system is k-nacked or really inefficient, and we certainly had that!!! This is a super scheme. For details contact the Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centre (Energy Saving Trust) in Inverness, on 0800 512 012. I'm blimmin' glad we did!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyKipper Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Aha we might do that then, RDI wouldn't do our loft as he couldn't stand up in it (healthy and safety issue?). Maybe Shetland Heatwise would be more obliging. We have no thermostat and a Rayburn used in in autumn/winter which costs a small fortune in oil, but we are loathe to give it up for a boiler! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoots Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 The insulation being used by RDI was independently described to me as not being of the best quality. In fact, not being of much quality at all... And I'd be surprised if the lads from Heatwise turned you away like that! How's it ever supposed to improve or be improved then??? This scheme is primarily about your heat loss and insulation first, then heatING second. Give them a go. They might no be abld to help, but nothing ventured... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biglad Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 Aha we might do that then, RDI wouldn't do our loft as he couldn't stand up in it (healthy and safety issue?). Maybe Shetland Heatwise would be more obliging. We have no thermostat and a Rayburn used in in autumn/winter which costs a small fortune in oil, but we are loathe to give it up for a boiler! Surprised they have any work at all if your case is the norm. They couldn't stand up in my loft but left a perfect job. The 'rockwool' insulation they used in mine is used in the vast majority of homes throughout the country at this moment in time and has been for 30 or 40 years since taking over from the old brown insulation of similar type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoots Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 Because of the price RDI came in with, I went south for something else and bought a load of rockwool while down there. I used it to put in what I thought was a fairly decent layer in my home. It's the really itchy stuff that as BigLad says has been in use for the last don't know how many years. Heatwise came in and said I didn't have it thick enough (there was next to nowt there before), so they just put ANOTHER layer over the top of what I'd done. Their stuff is of a kind I haven't seen before and is a lot more forgiving on exposed skin. You only need to look at it to know it's thicker, a lot more dense (pretty much like me then!). If you are lucky enough to qualify under the scheme, you'll see what I mean. The kicker is, they would have done ALL my loft insulation for free! Oh well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biglad Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 The newer type rockwool that contractors are using in todays houses is nearly like sheeps wool. Not sure of the composition but there's no itch with it. If I remember correctly if you have under 4" of insulation in your loft then the Govt. scheme which RDI seem to be the contractor up here will put an extra layer on top for you. I think its 6" but not sure and they used the yellow run of the mill insulation on mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoots Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 That's the stuff! That's exactly what it looks like. I think it's called KnaufWool? But there's no itch and it's blooming effective! It's made a huge difference to us, along with the cavity wall, already. We are having to turn the heating down, or off altogether (that won't last long in Winter, I bet!). We would never have known about this and struggled on, if it hadn't been for a Hydro Electric lass that spoke to me on the phone, after they whacked our bills up (turns out boiler is on it's way out, wasn't doing all it should, so we were having to use the immersion all the time! Ouch!!). She told me about the scheme, then referred us on to it. She was a huge help, I have to say. There are criteria for qualifying, but I'd urge anyone struggling with heating, etc, to contact the EST, as I said. And if you're spending 10% or more of your income on energy bills, the Hydro are supposed to put you onto a subsidised tariff, plus there's a once a year payment they can make to your account of £120. I don't know how many times I spoke to them and there was no mention of any of this. It took one decent, compassionate lass to give us all the info and put our names forward for the scheme. Very, very grateful to her, and very happy (and cosy - especially the bairns, who count most of all) now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyKipper Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 Mentioned it on another post somewhere I think... The surveyor guy said that if there was a problem and one of the guys was ill they wouldn't be able to get him out. You have to stoop but it's not that bad! We can't have cavity wall insulation as it's a wood frame house and the air gap is required. What I *would* like is the walls of the loft rooms to be done... otherwise those rooms lose heat sideways into the loft that surrounds them. Can they do that too do you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbiniho Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 yeh he broon knauf stuff is very good to work with is doesnt itch and it also expands far better when taken out of the packaging compared to the normal yellow glass fibre stuff which mean you get a far better coverage http://www.knaufinsulation.co.uk/sustainability/ecose%C2%AE_technology.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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