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I think the fire risk may be a problem. Building Regulations don't ban the use of polystyrene per se, but they do require that the spread of fire is limited, so that occupants of the building have a chance to escape. I don't know of any types of loft insulation that are made of polystyrene, and I suspect this, and the toxicity of the smoke from it, mean that it would have trouble matching the standard required.

Having said that, it would almost certainly work OK (though maybe not as well as normal loft insulation), and no one is going to check up on you on the off-chance that you have done this.

But there are some issues you may want to consider:

• Come the time to sell the house, the buyer's solicitor should ask about things that don't conform with Building Regs., so the saleability of the house may be affected.
  
  If the house burnt down, a) the insurance company might try to use this as a reason not to pay out, and b) if somebody was hurt, I suppose it's not inconceivable that you may be prosecuted for negligence of some sort, and possiby sued also.

I agree totally with muddy, saves me typing it

Nev

Thanks Muddy
I'll go back to chucking it in my plant pots and keep telling myself that I really ought to top up the loft insulation but can't bear to do it.

Zoe

I cannot speak out loudly enough to express my absolute horror that anyone would even think of putting polystyrene in their loft, whether it be for insulation or just to store the spare sherry glasses.

Two years ago, my husband's house caught fire - an electrical fault. I had only been living in it for three weeks and there were still packing boxes all about. I was home alone. All the lights failed.

He had never got around to removing the polystyrene ceiling tiles from the kitchen ceiling. They caught in seconds and besides raining down great flaming gobs of melted stuff, they were pouring out clouds of toxic, evil, blinding fumes. My only escape route was through the burning kitchen, on my knees, under the rapidly descending layer of smoke/fumes. Until it happens to you, you simply don't realise how fast these things reach crisis point. With polystyrene, you are talking seconds.

I was so lucky - I escaped unhurt but the trauma will be with me for the rest of my life. Frankly, I'd rather die of hypothermia than being burned alive in my own home. Polystyrene is a huge risk - please, don't take it!

If you have any doubts of the truth of what I am telling you, have a quick word with your county's Fire service - I'm sure they'll be happy to send you photographs of fires where plastics/polystyrene/furniture foam have been implicated.

That sounds awful Paddysmum.

Is polystyrene backed plasterboard treated in a fire retardant way? I guess it must be or it wouldn't be for sale everywhere.

It WAS dreadful. I do not know the answer re polybacked boards ... but your county Fire Brigade will and they are, in my experience, always willing to offer advice/guidance.

(As a rather amusing if cynical aside - two days after our fire, uniformed firemen leaflet dropped all houses in the immediate area. They came in a fire engine which really caught the attention of all the children nearby. As I was returning from a neighbour's house, one officer asked me if I had smoke alarms. He was mortified when I said "no ... but I've got a burned out house!") We ended up having a chat about it all and the crews were generous with offers of help and practical support.

From their point of view, it's one less disastrous call-out or gutwrenching body recovery from a housefire. Just make sure it's not YOUR corpse they are slopping into a bodybag!!

Hi Paddy's Mum
Don't worry - you've convinced me. I won't even think of it again.

I am glad you got out OK. That must have been horrific. Thank you for sharing your experience as a warning to everyone.
Zoe

Paddy's Mum

I think you have convinced us all not to mess about with fire hazards (it's always a - yeah, but it won't happen to me - kinda thing)


On a lighter note, digging back through the thread I found loads of people saying how they wash their duvets to kill dust mites. Well you don't need to, just hang your duvet out on the washing line for a few hours - the sun bleaches it a little, the wind blows through the fibres and the cold dry air makes a duvet very unhabitable for those stinky mites (a clear and windy spring day is the best day for it, just don't let it get caught out in the rain ). You probably still need to drag it down to a laundrette every 2 years or so, but not twice a year OH has asthma and I have a dust allergy and have had no problems since doing this (also got rid of all the carpets in the house, apparently gets rid of 90% of those little mites)

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Ann Pan

I read somewhere that the mites are killed by putting pillows / duvets in the freezer. If you have room!!

Plasterboard with insulation attached to the back of it (often polyurathane, I think) should really only be used where there is little risk of fire spreading - typically, it will be sandwiched between the plasterboard and a masonary wall, or contained within an enclosed stud wall. Plasterboard itself is very resistant to fire, and is often used as a fire check, so it is fairly easy to make sure the fire risk is kept to a minimum.

In terms of building regulations, I don't think it would be permitted to use the foam backed stuff in situations where the foam was exposed (can't comment about the French regs., M3), so you couldn't use it on the ceiling where the other side was an open loft space, for example.

Thanks Muddy. I don't know about French regs either, other than nobody abides by them and nobody checks!

Further to the thread on home insulation, here is a site in NZ that shows how we use polystyrene as an insulator. As a chippy , I have used it many times in under floor situations. We mainly use fibreglass in walls and ceilings. We don't have lofts as such as you do in the UK. I don't know about packaging polystyrene as a safe product. Our building regs are pretty strict. During the course of construction of a house, there are seven inspections by the local authority.

http://www.expol.co.nz

Robin.

Polystyrene CAN be manufactured with flame retardants in it. I would suggest that unless it was specifically manufactured to be installed as insulation it would not and so shouldn't be used.

Nev