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Why Insulate? |
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Being sure to have your home well insulated will be of great benefit to both you and your finances, and it helps the environment too.
A properly insulated home will be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Many homes in the UK do not have the 270mm of mineral fibre insulation in the loft required to be compliant with Part L of the Building Regulations (Conservation of Fuel and Power). One quarter of all CO² emissions in the UK come from the energy we consumer to power and heat our homes. Many measures will enable you to reduce this, starting with simple and free tips such as switching off your lights when you aren’t in the room or leaving the curtains drawn to help heat stay in the room during winter. Insulating your home is going to cost you money, there is no escaping that fact, but it is a very worthwhile investment. Estimates on how much you can save range from £150 to £300 on fuel bills every year depending on the size of your home. Even if you need to spend a few hundred pounds on doing your loft insulation, the investment quickly repays itself over the course of a year or two and will continue to do so over the life of the product (which can be measured in decades if you use mineral wool). With the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) when you come to sell your home, potential buyers will be looking at how energy efficient your home is. Insulation will help improve the energy efficiency of your home, thus improve its appeal to buyers.
Mineral wool insulation sometimes gets bad press for not being as environmentally friendly as other insulation products, but it is also a product that has moved with the times. Knauf Insulation, the largest UK based manufacturer, now offers a recycled product that uses naturally occurring materials as the binder. It contains no formaldehyde or phenols as would conventional materials, and is itch free to install. Mineral wool is a naturally occurring sustainable resource, with an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP) of zero, it is non combustible, lightweight and has an upper service temperature limit of 230ºC – most other “environmentally friendly” products cannot match these claims. This possibly is the reason why only mineral fibre and glass cellulose are listed as suitable materials in the Part L building regulations. It also has the added benefit of being the loft insulation material which is both sound dampening and fire resistant. The other key benefit is grants may be available for this material.
You should also consider other areas of your home that can be insulated to further reduce your carbon footprint. While we are considering the loft, you ought to consider making sure any pipe work is properly lagged. The Energy Savings Trust would recommend that all 15mm, 22mm and 28mm bore pipes are lagged with 25mm of pipe insulation; the two common types to use for this would be either polyethylene (Climaflex Pipe Insulation) or expanded nitrile rubber (Eurobatex Pipe Insulation). These materials have in fact usually got the same thermal conductivity, but expanded nitrile rubber tends to have a better fire rating and be more flexible. Having the 25mm of insulation suggested by the EST will also meet the regulations for Water Bylaw 49 for the frost protection of water pipes. You may also like to consider radiator foil, which will reflect heat back into your home rather than letting it escape through the walls. It fits easily behind your radiators and is very cost effective.
Cavity wall insulation is the other common method for insulating your home. This needs to be done by a professional – it is essentially structural work and ought not be attempted by anybody who does not know what they are doing. As with loft insulation, grants may be available for you to have this work done. Most homes built after the 1930’s were built with a cavity wall, this being an air gap between the outside and inside walls of your home. Many newly built homes now have this gap insulated during construction, but not all. Not all homes are suitable for installing cavity insulation, but it well worth seeking advice on whether you need it or not. It is typically done with either blown wool or foam that is injected directly into the cavity, expanding to form an insulating layer between the inner and outer wall.
Insulating your home is an investment, both for you and for future generations. Never attempt to do anything yourself that you are not sure about; as with any work in your home, seek advice if you are in doubt. But for a competent DIY’er it can save you time and money to do the work yourself. |
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