Insulation
Insulating homes well is the most efficient and effective way of reducing our household carbon footprint. Insulating attics is usually straightforward. Insulating walls, ceilings and under floors usually involves a lot more work but will pay dividends in terms of heating costs saved. Before decorating any room, consider what you can do to improve internal insulation. Look out for a number of grants that are available to help improve insulation in our homes, though they tend to benefit home owners rather than those who rent their homes. Some are national, some are regional.
A wide range of insulation materials are now available - for insulating all kinds of areas. In terms of heat loss in un-insulated buildings, around 35% is lost through the roof, 25% through the walls, 15% through the floor, 15% through the doors and 10% through the windows. Aim to exceed, if possible, rather than just meet building regulations in terms of the amount of insulation required. Get advice to ensure that insulation doesn't prevent airflow.
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Useful links
Energy Saving Trust Introduction to insulation
Construction Resources Natural insulation products
The Yellow House Really practical explanations of the principles behind effective insulation
Resurgence Calculate where energy is being lost in your home
Energy Saving Trust Loft insulation
Energy Saving Trust Under floor insulation
Energy Saving Trust Introduction to cavity wall insulation
Warm Front Grants Grants available for home insulation
Affordable Energy Useful source of grants for insulation and solar water heating systems
Insulating walls
Energy Saving Trust introduction to internal and external wall insulation
Ecovation Useful case study for insulating non cavity walls
Alan Simpson ecohouse Details of external insulation
Recently we needed to insulate a roofspace which was too narrow for conventional glas wool insulation. The architect recommended a material called Tri-Iso Super9 which was as thin as a woolen blanket but provided the equivalent of several inches of glasswool. Apparently it wa developed by NASA for space travel. Although it's more expensive it seems to do the job very well, and is quite widely available.