Save with Insulation
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Heating is generally far and away the single biggest source of energy consumption in the home. As such any savings we make can be BIG.
In the not too distant past we would only heat a room or two in the house, typically the living room and keep warm from the fire in that. The rest of the house would be ambient temperature and we’d simply put on jumpers and have hot water bottles in bed.
Now of course, most people have central heating and heat the entire house, plus a nice little dial to control the temperature with.
Heating the whole house naturally takes considerably more energy. The trouble is a lot of it is wasted...
While central heating systems have been added to many houses, unfortunately the insulation part of the equation has often been left untended. The result is we burn loads of fuel to make warm air and then leak way too much of it straight out of the roof.
So how do stop this waste ? INSULATION of course !
POSITIVE STEPS:
Roof
Hot air rises – and then leaks right out of the roof…
Laying down extra insulation in your loft will make a massive difference to your heating energy consumption. Super-lag the loft and your fossil fuel usage will drop like a stone.
Current building regs call for 27cm of mineral wool. That’s nearly a foot of insulation in the loft. Most places have a lot less - how does yours measure up?
The cost is generally low relative to the savings you’ll achieve and you can often find DIY stores doing special offers on it.
You might even be able to get a grant (though don’t hold your breath!). Try calling the Energy Advice Centre on 0800 512 012 and see if they can help.
Whatever the case, the sooner you build up the loft insulation, the sooner the savings will come rolling in. And along with walls it really is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your home’s fuel consumption.
Walls
A similar amount of heat is lost through Walls as through the loft. IE: a lot.
Luckily most properties can have their walls insulated too, through the magic of Cavity Wall Insulation.
Definitely a major positive step, this is well worth doing as soon as possible. Check out the Walls section for more details, including approved suppliers.
Draughts
Draughts can wick away a surprising amount of warm air, and replace it with cold.
A quick DIY draught audit around windows, doors, letter boxes & even cat-flaps should reveal where the main culprits are. Fix them up and you’ll yield some impressive savings.
Windows
The two main things you can improve on window insulation are draught proofing and the level of glazing.
Draught-proofing around windows is a relatively simple thing to do. Draught-proofing kits are available from DIY stores, and once done should make the room feel noticeably cosier.
If you’ve currently got single-glazed windows, thermally speaking you have a big hole in the wall. To improve this the options are fitting Secondary Glazing or Double Glazing.
Secondary glazing is another window fitted on the inside of the existing window. By creating an air gap it gives substantially better insulation against the elements. Depending on your windows it can more practical, cheaper and less wasteful than fitting new double-glazed windows.
Double glazing is a window with two panes of glass in the unit. Often with a low conductivity gas such as Argon in between the two, these windows can significantly reduce heat loss.
