Reducing Heat Loss
If you want to reduce your carbon emissions and keep your energy bills low, installing insulation or draught-proofing will reduce heat loss.
There are many simple yet effective ways to insulate your home, which can significantly reduce heat loss while lowering your heating bills.
Even little fixes around the home can mount up to significant savings in your energy bills. For example, fitting your hot water cylinder with an insulating jacket will save you £18 a year in heating costs and 110kg of carbon dioxide emissions.
Whether you are looking for quick wins around your home or a professional to install insulation, the suggestions below will help maintain a constant temperature in your home.
Grants
There are a lot of grant funding available for heating and insulation, especially for those households with low incomes or with someone living in the property with a long term health condition.
These grants do not need to be paid back and usually cover all the cost of installation and if not significantly reduce the cost of it.
We can help identify the best grant funding for you and guide you through the process. Please contact us for further information.
Loft Insulation
Heat from your house rises resulting in about quarter of the heat generated being lost through the roof of an un-insulated home. Insulating the roof space of your home is the simplest, most cost-effective way of saving energy and reducing your heating bills.
Insulation should be applied to the loft area to a depth of at least 270mm, both between the joists and above as the joists themselves create a "heat bridge" and transfer heat to the air above. With modern insulating techniques and materials, it's still possible to use the space for storage or as a habitable space with the use of insulated floor panels.
Cavity Wall Insulation
About 35% of all heat loss from UK homes is due to un-insulated external walls.
If your home was built after 1920 there is a strong likelihood that your property has cavity walls. You can check your wall type by looking at your brick pattern. If the bricks have an even pattern and are laid lengthways, then the wall is likely to have a cavity. If some of the bricks are laid with the square end facing, the wall is likely to be solid. If the wall is stone, it is likely to be solid.
A cavity wall can be filled with an insulating material by injecting beads into the wall. This restricts any warmth passing through the wall, reducing the money you spend on heating.
If your home was built within the last 25 years it is likely to been already insulated or possibly partially insulated. The installer can check this with a borescope inspection.
Underfloor Insulation
When thinking of areas in your home that need insulation, under the floor is not usually the first on the list.
However homes with crawl spaces under the downstairs floor can benefit from underfloor insulation.
Underfloor insulation eliminates drafts that may enter via the gaps between the floorboards and ground, making you feel warmer, and according to the Energy Saving Trust save up to £40 per year.
Room in Roof Insulation
Up to 25% of heat loss in a home can be attributed to an un-insulated roof space.
The ECO grants can cover the entire cost of having all loft rooms insulated to current building regulations using the latest insulation materials.
Many older properties that were originally built with loft room space or 'room-in-roof' were either not insulated at all or insulated using inadequate materials and techniques when compared to today's building regulations. A room-in-roof or attic room is simply defined by the presence of a fixed staircase to access the room and there should be a window.
By using the latest insulation materials and methods, insulating existing attic rooms means that you can still use the roof space for storage or additional room space if needed while still trapping heat in the property and rooms below.
Internal Wall Insulation
Internal wall insulation is perfect for solid wall homes where you can't alter the outside of the property.
If your home was built before 1920 there is a strong likelihood that your property has solid walls. You can check your wall type by looking at your brick pattern. If some of the bricks are laid with the square end facing, the wall is likely to be solid. If the wall is stone, it is likely to be solid.
Internal wall insulation is installed on a room by room basis and is applied to all exterior walls.
Polyisocyanurate Insulated (PIR) plaster boards are usually used creating a dry-lined, insulated internal wall. The internal walls are then plastered to leave a smooth and clean surface for redecoration.
Not only will this make your house warmer in winter but it will also save you money by slowing the loss of heat through un-insulated walls.
It will slightly reduce the floor area of any rooms which it is applied (roughly about 10cm per wall.
External Wall Insulation
External wall insulation is perfect for solid wall homes where you want to improve the look of the exterior of your home and its thermal rating. Having external wall insulation fitted to your home requires no internal work so the disruption can be kept to a minimum.
Planning permission may be required so please check with your local authority before installing this to your property. Someperiod properties cannot have this installed to the front of the property but can have it installed to the rear.
External wall insulation cannot only improve the look of your home, but also improve the weather proofing and sound resistance, alongside reducing drafts and heat loss.
It will also increase the lifespan of your walls as it protects your brickwork, but these do need to be structurally sound before installation.