With everyone focussing on the cost of living crisis and rising energy costs, homeowners are looking for ways to save money and reduce carbon emissions. The answer comes in the form of insulation. There are easy home fixes and professional solutions to the question of How can I insulate my house in the UK? so let's look at the options.
Insulate your Walls
Your walls are the largest single surface of your house. If your walls are not insulated, you could be losing up to 33% of your heat through them.
First, you need to check if you have cavity walls. Cavity walls became popular during the 1950s and became compulsory on new builds in the 1990s, except in London, where any property built after 1983 should have them. That said, properties built earlier could possibly have cavity walls.
A quick way to check, although not a guarantee, is to measure the wall thickness at a window or door opening. If it is thicker than 26cm, it most likely has a cavity inside.
Cavity wall insulation is a standard and mess-free procedure performed by professionals. They will drill holes in the exterior walls and inject an insulating material into the space. Modern cavity wall insulation is effective and safe as it is made chiefly from mineral wool, polystyrene beads, or polyurethane foam.
If you have solid walls, these can be insulated from the inside or outside, depending on access and space. External insulation requires the insulation material to be fixed to the wall and then covered with plaster or cladding for aesthetics. These are often in the form of high-insulating slabs of Rockwool. Internal insulation is done by fixing insulating boards directly to the walls or building an insulated stud wall.
Wall Insulation Costs and Savings
There are considerable savings to be made by insulating your walls. Still, they will vary depending on your wall type and the property size.
Should you decide to insulate your walls, it would be wise to get quotes from multiple installers and heed the advice given. As a word of caution, ensure your installer is a member of one of the leading trade bodies. You can look them up here:-
National Insulation Association (NIA)
Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA)
You will also need to ensure that a 25-year guarantee covers your wall insulation. There are three methods for providing a guarantee:-
- An independent insurance guarantee paid for by the installer
- For solid walls, you would want your installer may be a member of the SWIGA guarantee scheme
- A CIGA guarantee is needed for cavity walls
Failure to have these checks and guarantees in place could cause problems in the future with finance lenders' surveyors.
Insulate Your Roof
An uninsulated roof could lose up to 25% of your precious, expensive heat. Your roof space, attic or loft is an accessible space to insulate cheaply and effectively.
A dry loft space is simple to insulate, even for a basic DIYer. The horizontal beams in the roof space are called joists. By laying rolls of mineral wool insulation, firstly between the joists and then another layer at right angles, gives a great insulation barrier.
There are no excuses for avoiding having this insulation fitted, especially as the UK Government have generous grants for loft insulation. And remember, a grant is not a loan; you do not have to pay it back.
The cost-to-saving ratio for an insulated loft is staggering. You can quickly recoup your investment within three years of energy savings and reduce your carbon output by increased efficiency.
Insulate Your Ground Floor
Whether you live in a ground-floor flat, bungalow or traditional house, you should consider insulating your floor. Obviously, if you live in an upper-floor home, this will not benefit you.
First of all, what type of floor do you have? Newer homes will be concrete, but older properties will likely have wooden floors attached to joists.
Concrete floors can have rigid insulation boards attached to the floors and then covered with a suitable floor covering.
Wooden floors can be lifted and the space below filled with mineral wool insulation, similar to insulating a loft space. This task is an exceptionally efficient and cheap method to insulate your floors. This insulation could save you around £50 per year and also make your floors more comfortable to walk on in the winter.
A quick DIY fix is to seal the gaps between the floorboards and around the skirting with cheap silicone sealant. This fix doesn't "insulate" but does stop cold air from coming through the cracks and will make a difference for very little outlay.
Insulate Your Pipes
Often forgotten in the big insulation picture, insulating your water tank, pipes, and radiators requires no special skills and are very cost-effective.
For around £15, you can buy a fit-it-yourself hot water cylinder jacket. Fitted within minutes will help keep your hot water hot for longer.
Pipe insulation is also cheap and easy for anyone to install —different materials and sizes are available depending on the location of the pipes.
The most popular is foam pipe lagging which requires no special skills and can be fitted in minutes. Not only will this make your house more efficient, saving you money, but it can stop the problems and costs involved with frozen pipes.
Another quick and cheap fix is to use foil radiator reflectors if you have radiators. These can be bought cheaply and stuck on the wall behind your radiators, reflecting the heat into the room. They only need to be fitted where a radiator is on an outside wall.
The materials for these insulation tasks are cheap, and the results could save you a significant amount. So well worth a little effort.
Conclusion
There are no excuses for sky-high energy bills when insulating your home can be cheap and done quickly. Check out government and local authority grants to help pay for larger insulation jobs; they are there for you to claim. Savings can be significant for little outlay, so it is time to take home insulation seriously.
