Home Insulation
Quality home insulation keeps the warm air in during winter, and keeps your home cool and ventilated during summer. With the cost of energy ever increasing, it’s important to ensure your home insulation is of quality material, and installed correctly to make your home cheaper and easier to heat long-term. Taking these steps with your home insulation means you’re protected from the elements for many years to come, and your home is not only warm, but healthy and comfortable to live in.
Complete home insulation does not have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are plenty of affordable options to suit any home application - some you can even do yourself to save a few pounds!
- Your first priority for home insulation should be the ceiling. Heat rises, and without proper home insulation up to 35% of heat you’re paying for will be escaping through the roof. Fortunately, ceiling insulation is affordable and easy to install in homes with accessible roof spaces. Ceiling insulation is one of the most effective things you can do to improve your homes warmth, and most of the materials can be found at your local hardware store!
- Second priority should be your floors. This is another easy yet effective way to improve your homes warmth; and with easily accessible floor spaces you can install it yourself! Even with great ceiling insulation you could be losing up to 20% of your heating through the floors, full home insulation is the only way to entirely heat proof your home – and taking these first steps is a great way to get started.
- Once you have floor and ceiling insulation sorted, windows and walls are the next practical steps. There are many different types of walls, each requiring different forms of insulation; some more difficult to install than others. Wall insulation greatly improves your homes heat effectiveness, and should be something you take the opportunity to do when renovating your home.
- Double glazing is the most effective form of window insulation, but it does come at a high cost when retrofitting an entire home. Alternatives to double glazing exist, such as insulation film that attaches to the window sash or frame. Even simple steps like installing quality curtains or blinds can greatly improve the warmth of your home.
- Home Insulation effectiveness is measured using an R-Value – the higher this value the more effective the material is at preventing heat loss. Home insulation should be roughly as thick as the cavity in which it is being installed; once is becomes compressed into a space its effectiveness is lessened, which can lead it deteriorating prematurely and not lasting the life of the building. Extra home insulation can be achieved through using multiple forms of insulation – such as lining wall cavities with polystyrene.
The costs of full home insulation can quickly add up, and luckily there are many government grants and initiatives in place to contribute to these costs. In some cases, the insulation may be completely free of charge if you qualify! Make sure you do your research and have a qualified professional survey your home to determine your specific needs, to get a clear understanding of your specific home insulation needs.
