If you want to make your home as efficient as possible and drive down high energy bills, taking a look at your insulation is a good place to start.
UK homes are some of the least-insulated properties in the world, and it's costing the families that live in them hundreds of pounds of wasted energy every year. Many are put off the idea of spending thousands on professional insulation, especially during a cost of living crisis, but insulating your home does not always have to be tricky or expensive and even simple DIY remedies can have a major impact on your energy bills.
Getting an expert in to fit heat-saving material to your home can come at a high price, but can be a good investment if you have the funds. Wall insulation, for example, can shave up to £1,800 per year off your energy bills, but at up to £12k can take a good few years to recoup the initial cost.
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However, there are a few ways you can insulate your home yourself on a budget, and although you won't see the savings big-ticket projects such as double glazing will bring, cheap and simple DIY tasks can save you money.
Insulation experts LoftZone told This Is Money that a typical property loses 25% of its heat through the roof, 35% through the walls, 15% through the doors and floor and 10% through windows. Here we have a look at the potential cost of popular insulation projects and low-cost options to try yourself.
Wall insulation
More heat leaves buildings through the walls than any other surface, including the roof, so this is a good place to start if you have the cash to go pro. There are two main types of wall insulation, depending on what type of wall you have:
Solid wall insulation: Homes built prior to 1920 are likely to have solid brick walls, so cavity wall insulation is not suitable for these buildings. However, they can be insulated, either on the inside or outside of the wall, although the work comes with a hefty price tag. External insulation involves fitting insulating material and then rendering or cladding over it. Internal insulation is mostly a form of thermal sheeting that is fitted to the inside walls. This will reduce room size when installed. The cost is high -£12k to insulate the outside or £8k to insulate the inside of a three-bed semi, according to the Energy Saving Trust -but the savings can be high too, at £240 a year for a mid-floor flat all the way up to £930 a year for a detached house.
Cavity wall insulation: Cavity walls are usually found in more modern homes and have an air-filled gap in the middle of two walls. The idea of cavity walls is to protect interior walls from damp, and although the air gap provides a small amount of insulation, it can be improved by fitting proper insulation. This is done by a drilling small holes into the wall then spraying insulation into the cavity. The cost is not as high as solid wall insulation and the savings can be from around £395 to £1,800 a year.
Double glazing
Double glazing keep heat in and noise and draughts out and can save between £195 and £235 a year in energy bills. However, the upfront costs are on average £7.5k for a semi-detached house. If the cost is prohibitive, there are several tweaks you can make to your windows that may help you make savings. There is no easy way to work out how much secondary glazing will save you, as "systems range from very cheap and temporary to expensive and highly effective", according to the Energy Saving Trust said.
You can attempt to mimic the effect of double glazing by fitting secondary glazing, an additional sheet of plastic or other insulating material next to a single-glazed window. This can be fitted professionally, or you can go DIY using a thin sticky-back plastic film you can peel off and put on your windows, thicker plastic sheets which attach with magnets or clips or even bubble wrap.
Loft insulation
The Energy Saving Trust reckons a family living in a semi-detached house with no roof insulation could save £640 a year by fitting 270mm insulation in their loft. If you opt for professionals to do the work, this could cost around £500, which is still less than you could recoup on energy bills in the first year.
You can save even more by doing this yourself from around £100 upwards depending on the size of your loft. Prices vary, but £25 will buy around 8-10 square metres of insulation. Fitting it involves going up into the loft and pushing the insulation between joists, being careful not to squash the wool, as this makes it useless. Also factor in the cost of gloves and a face mask.
Floor insulation
For homes with timber floors, insulating your ground floor can cut energy bills by more than £110 a year for the average home, or up to £180 for a detached house. The cost of the insulation is roughly three same as loft insulation, but the labour involved is more, as it involves lifting the floorboards and putting down mineral wool insulation on top of netting between the joists.
DIY costs are similar to DIY loft insulation costs, but the extra labour involved brings the price up to between £1,600 and £2,900 if you get a professional to do it. A cheaper, simpler solution is to fit carpets with thick underlay or even large, thick rugs.
Draught-proofing
Although it might only save you £60 or so a year, the easiest and lowest-cost way to start your home insulation project is to look at draught-proofing.
They these easy ways to stop cold air getting in:
Windows: The simplest form of draught-proofing is thick curtains, which help block cold coming from windows. The Energy Saving Trust also recommends using draught-proofing strips to stick around the window frame, which help fill the gap between the window and the frame.
Doors: Fit easy-access covers to keyholes and letterboxes, as well as draught excluders that go along the base of the door.
Fireplace: If you have an open chimney you do not use, a chimney draught excluder help stop draughts and heat loss through the chimney. These look like thick plastic balloons and cost around £18-£20 from DIY retailers. But be careful that you do not block off ventilation completely. Some airflow is needed to prevent mould and avoid build-up of carbon monoxide in rooms with fireplaces or open flues. The same applies to rooms which produce a lot of moisture, such as bathrooms and kitchens.
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