We cover Cumbria, the Lake District, Northumberland, Dumfries & Galloway, and the Scottish Borders. Typical towns include Carlisle, Wigton, Penrith, Keswick, Kendal, Workington, Whitehaven, Hexham, Dumfries, and Annan. If you're not sure whether we cover you, call 07899 988437 and we'll give you a straight answer.

Brad spent five years fitting loft insulation full time in Portsmouth before setting up 714 Insulation in Cumbria. The business has grown steadily through word of mouth, and the work is shared day-to-day between Brad and his colleague Zach.

Yes. Every job starts with a free, no-obligation survey. We look at the loft, talk through what you need, and give you a written fixed price. There's no charge whether you go ahead or not.

We accept bank transfer and cash. Payment is taken on completion of the work once you're happy with the result. For larger jobs we're happy to agree a small deposit and a balance-on-completion schedule upfront.

Brad or Zach. Usually both on larger jobs. We don't use subcontractors or agency fitters, so the person who quoted the work is the person fitting it.

Yes. Every install comes with a workmanship guarantee. If anything is not right with the fit, we'll come back and put it right, no argument. We also register manufacturer-backed product guarantees on the insulation where the product offers one.

Most free surveys are booked within a week, often sooner depending on where you are in the coverage area. Installs themselves are typically scheduled one to three weeks after quoting, and we'll always give you a realistic date rather than the optimistic one.

While you can often top up existing insulation, removal is recommended if the old material is damp, compressed, mouse-contaminated, covered in soot from old chimneys, or so old it's lost its thermal value. Laying new insulation on top of failed material locks in the problem. A quick survey tells us which category your loft is in.

If the old insulation is dry, clean, and in good condition, yes. Laying fresh mineral wool on top to bring the overall depth up to 270-300mm is a quick and effective upgrade. If the old material has any of the problems mentioned above, removal is the better call. We'll show you what we find before you decide.

Most removal-and-replace jobs fall between £900 and £4,400. The range reflects loft size, how bad the existing material is, and whether any boarding or awkward access is involved. We quote a fixed price in writing after the free survey so you know exactly what you're committing to.

We bag the old material carefully inside the loft using heavy-duty rubble sacks, and we use vacuum extraction on the finer debris where needed. The sacks go straight out to the van. We cover flooring and landings on the way through to keep the rest of the house clean.

We remove it from site and dispose of it at a licensed waste facility. You don't need to arrange a skip or a separate collection. Disposal is included in the quoted price, so there are no surprise fees on the day.

Yes. Mouse and squirrel contamination is common in older Cumbrian properties, particularly rural ones. We bag and remove the affected material, clean down, and re-insulate with fresh mineral wool. If there's an active rodent issue we'll flag it and suggest getting a pest professional in first so the new insulation isn't immediately contaminated too.

Most jobs are completed in a single day. Very large lofts or properties with difficult access sometimes run into a second day. We'll give you a realistic time estimate as part of the written quote so you can plan around us.

Current Building Regulations (Part L) recommend 270mm of mineral wool, and many installers now go to 300mm to account for settlement over time. Much below 270mm and you're leaving money on the table. We install to 270-300mm as standard.

For a standard 270mm depth, a typical 3-bed semi needs roughly 40-50 square metres of coverage. We measure the loft during the free survey and include the exact material quantity in the quote, so there's no guesswork or shortfall.

Most new-install jobs fall between £500 and £2,500, depending on loft size, access, and whether you need boarding walkways laid at the same time. You'll get a fixed written price on the day of the free survey, not a rough "from" figure.

A standard loft install is almost always finished in a single day. Bigger properties or jobs where we're also fitting crawl boards, hatch upgrades, or tank jackets might run longer, but you'll know before we start.

We use mineral wool (glass wool or rock wool) as standard. It's allergy-safer than older fibre types, has excellent thermal and sound performance, and is non-combustible. For specific situations, such as very shallow eaves or accessible storage lofts, we'll recommend alternatives.

For most straightforward loft insulation upgrades, no approval is needed; it's exempt work. We install to the Part L standard as a matter of course, so if you ever do need to demonstrate compliance (for example, during a property sale), the work is already there.

Not when it's done properly. We always check eaves ventilation is clear, leave a ventilation path at the edges, and never stuff insulation hard against the roofing felt. That keeps air moving and moisture moving out. Most loft damp issues are from blocked vents, not from insulation itself.

Depending on your situation, you may qualify for government-backed schemes like ECO4 or GBIS, which can contribute to the cost of loft insulation. We aren't currently a grant-registered installer, so we quote on a straight paid-for basis, but we'll always flag it if we think you'd be better off applying to a scheme first.