Is your home costing
too much to heat?
Every household in the UK creates around six tonnes of
carbon dioxide every year, enough to fill one hot air
balloon. In fact, the average home emits twice as much
CO2 as the average car emits in a year.
Around £8.5 billion of energy is wasted in the UK every
year. This is enough to give every man, woman and child
in the UK £140 a year.
Cavity wall insulation -what's it all about?
Around a third of all the heat lost in an un-insulated home is
through the walls? Insulating cavity walls reduces heat loss
and can save you around £160 a year on your fuel bills.
If your home was built from 1920 onwards, the chances are
that its external walls are made of two layers with a small gap
or `cavity' between them. This means they are `cavity walls'.
Insulating your cavity walls means filling that gap -with very
good reason.
Why insulate your cavity walls?
More heat is lost through walls than any other route, about a
third in an un-insulated home.
Cavity wall insulation is an effective way to save energy and
money at home. A well insulated house keeps warmth exactly
where you need it -indoors.
So, insulating your cavity walls will help you to heat your home
more efficiently. Using less energy reduces carbon dioxide
emissions (CO2): one of the biggest causes of climate change.
You will also save money on your bills too.
Cavity wall insulation can also help to reduce condensation
inside the house if it is a problem on external walls.
What could you save?
Cavity wall insulation is so cost effective that it will pay for itself
over and over again. The better insulated your home, the less
energy you need to keep it warm -the more money you'll save.
By insulating your cavity walls you could cut your heating costs
by up to 15%.
By saving energy, your household will produce less CO2. So
insulating your cavity walls is a great way to help fight climate
change.
Solid walls lose even more heat than cavity walls; the only
way to reduce this heat loss is to insulate them on the
inside or the outside.
This will help stop heat being lost from your home and help to
prevent condensation on the walls and ceilings. It's not cheap,
but you will soon see the benefits to your
heating bill and it's another way of playing your part in reducing
carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. There are two types of solid
wall insulation: external and internal.
External wall insulation
This involves adding a decorative weather-proof insulating
treatment to the outside of your wall and is usually installed
where there are severe heating problems or the exterior of the
building requires some form of other repair work providing the
opportunity of adding insulation.
The savings
External wall insulation is more expensive than cavity wall
insulation but it could save you around £500 a year on your
energy bills and it could pay for itself in around 11 years.
A three bedroom semi-detached house could save around 2.5
tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2) a year.
The Government and energy suppliers provide grants or offers
to help you implement energy saving measures in your home.
Internal wall insulation
Solid walls can also be insulated by applying internal wall
insulation. Types include ready made insulation/plaster board
laminates or wooden battens in-filled with insulation.
Internal wall insulation can be cheaper than external wall
insulation and you could save around £470 a year on your
energy bill.
Floor Insulation
If you've ever stepped from your bed in the morning still
half asleep only to leap back in again as soon as your
warm pinkies touch the icy cold floor you'll know how a
draughty home feels. Gaps and draughts around skirting
boards and floors are simple to fix yourself with a tube of
sealant bought from most DIY stores.
Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and
laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between
the joists.
You can also use a regular tube sealant, such as silicon to fill
gaps between floorboards and skirting boards to stop draughts.
A note of warning, however -don't block under-floor airbricks in
your outside walls. Floorboards will rot without adequate
ventilation.
Not all home insulation work has to be carried out by a
professional. It may work out cheaper to do the smaller jobs
yourself with materials from your local DIY store. Filling the
gaps in between the skirting board and the floor costs about
£20 if you do it yourself and it costs about £90 to insulate
underneath the floorboards on the ground floor.
The savings
Using a silicone sealant to fill gaps will save you around £25 a
year on your heating bills. Insulating underneath the
floorboards on the ground floor will save you around £50 a
year.
Loft insulation
In an un-insulated home a quarter of your heat is lost
through the roof. Insulating your loft is a simple and
effective way to reduce your heating bills and you can
even do it yourself.
It's never been more important to think about insulating your
loft. Without proper insulation a lot of the valuable, expensive
energy you use to heat your home will be lost through the loft.
The recommended depth for mineral wool insulation is 270mm,
however there are other materials which require different
depths. In fact, by not insulating your loft you could be wasting
as much as 15% of your heating costs.
What could you save?
Loft insulation is effective for at least 40 years, and it will pay
for itself over and over again in that time. The better insulated
your home, the less energy you need to keep it warm, and the
more money you'll save in the long run.
By saving energy, your household will produce less CO2. So,
adding or topping up your loft insulation is a great way to do
your bit to reduce your impact on the environment. Plus, to
save money on a professional installation, you can even do it
yourself.
Draught proofing
If you can feel cold air coming in around the windows in
your home it means warm air is escaping. Sitting in a
draught doesn't just give you a pain in the neck, in a
typical home 20 per cent of all heat loss is through
ventilation and draughts.
Draught proofing simply fills gaps and decreases the amount of
cold air entering your home. There are several types of
materials available from brushes, foams and sealants to strips
and shaped rubber or plastic.
Invest in draught excluders for doors and letterboxes opening
onto the outside to reduce the amount of warm air escaping.
Skirting boards are also worth tackling.
Draught proofing is an easy, cost effective way to reduce
heating bills. Most materials are available from DIY stores and
should conform to the standard BS 7386.
The savings
By installing draught proofing you could save around £30 a
year on your heating bills and reduce your emissions by
around 150kg of carbon dioxide (CO 2) each year.
Tanks and pipes insulation
Insulating your hot water cylinder is one of the simplest
and easiest ways to save energy and money. Fitting a
British Standard 'jacket' around your cylinder will cut heat
loss by over 75%. If you already have a jacket fitted, check
that it's at least 75mm thick. If not, it's well worth treating
your old cylinder to a new winter coat.
Both tank and pipe insulation keep your water hotter for longer
by reducing the amount of heat that escapes.
Glazing
Installing double glazing can cut heat loss through
windows by half. If you can't afford to replace all the
windows, why not choose the rooms that cost you the
most to heat?
A fifth of all the heat lost from a home is lost through window
panes and frames.
Double glazing works by trapping air between two panes of
glass creating an
insulating barrier that reduces heat loss, noise and
condensation.
The savings
Double glazing cuts heat lost through windows by half and
installing Energy Saving Recommended double glazing can
save around £140 a year on your heating bills. Double glazing
can save a household around 720kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) a
year.
Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping.
For further information about grants and loans available see the
Energy Savings Trust website –
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Home-improvements/Homeinsulation-glazing
or call your local advice centre free on 0800 512 012, they will be
happy to help.
The Private Sector Housing Team can be contacted through the
Customer Service Centre on 01206 282581. Textphone users
please dial 18001 01206 282581.
Email on [email protected]
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