Half of our homes heating is lost through poor insulation. This means two things for the homeowner; firstly, they are throwing money out of the cracks in their walls and secondly, they are wasting an awful lot of heating which is making their homes energy guzzlers.
Insulation is quite a simple tactic in keeping your home energy efficient. For houses built after the 1920's they may wish to look into cavity wall insulation. Because houses built after this point tend to have two walls there is a 'cavity' between them - by filling this up a homeowner could save a bucket load! Cavity wall insulation works out very cheap and easy; holes are drilled into your outside wall, then the material is injected into the cavity, thus insulating your house. Not only very easy but it will pay for itself within in about three years by the amount of heat you save.
If your house does not have this 'cavity' but instead a solid wall you will find you are loosing even more heat. 45% of all heat in the home is lost through walls or lost conversion with solid walls. For this you may find that a Solid Wall Insulation is better suited to your needs. It works either internally or externally The internal wall insulation works by dry lining walls with flexible thermal linings or laminated insulating plasterboard. External Insulation systems use an insulation layer fixed to the existing wall, such as a protective render or decorative cladding. The insulation needs to be between 50 and 100mm in thickness. Although more expensive then cavity wall insulation it will save the homeowner an impressive £300 a year in heating costs!
Since some of that 45% of heating lost is through your loft you may wish to take a look at loft insulation. This is simple and very effective; it can be done DIY on a Bank Holiday Monday - just lay the insulation on the floor of your loft and enjoy the heat and financial savings! The insulation is available from high street DIY shops or you could employ a professional installer.
These are just a few examples of how you could save energy in your home and save an awful lot in bills at the same time. For an extensive list of companies who provide installation facilities and have taken part in the EcoBuild exhibition, to make buildings more environmentally friendly, check out www.ecoswitch.com.
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Posted under Articles, Environmental News
This post was written by Rachel Archer on April 22, 2008