[Anasa_EONNext]

How can insulation help me?..

Insulation can offer lots of benefits such as:

• Protection from heat loss
• Reducing your energy bills
• Helping towards a more sustainable future
• Minimise condensation
• Prevent mould and damp

How can insulation help me save Energy?..

Insulation is designed specifically to cut down on heat loss and heat gain helping us to become less reliant on other heating systems that require a large amount of power.

Heat is circulated around your home via Conduction, Convection and Radiation.

• Conduction - Moves heat around your home
• Convection - Heat transferred by the movement of air circulating
• Radiation - From the sun being absorbed via ceilings, walls or roofs in your home

Any house with a loft or roof space will need some sort of insulation to keep the heat in the living area from escaping through layers of insulation that may not work as well as it use to. In Most homes you'll find that there is already some insulation but over time it loses its effectiveness and may not be at the recommended level of 270mm, costing you more in energy bills.

Where can I add insulation?...

Walls
Roof
Ceilings
Floors

Did you know?.. 👀

An improvement with insulation can help you retain up to 80% of the heat in your home that would other wise be lost with the right insulation?

It helps keep your home cooler in the summer months and warmer during those winter months.

We also have Saving Energy with The Great British Insulation Scheme Are you a homeowner or private renter looking to save money by becoming more energy efficient? The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) will do just that, with an average yearly energy cost saving of £265² for cavity wall insulation (CWI) or £250³ for loft insulation. Both savings are based on a semi-detached house. Find out what the scheme involves, who launched it and why, and how improved insulation can support the potential for Air Source Heat Pumps

There are lots of safe and eco-friendly ways to insulate your home Choosing loft insulation for your home

It would be great to hear from anyone who's saved any energy through insulating their home and share your journey with us or anyone that has contacted us for The Great British Insulation Scheme.

[meldrewreborn]

@Anasa_EONNext

I had cavity wall insulation installed in 1978 and loft insulation about the same time. Windows were retrofitted with double glazing in 1988 and 1995 (back first then front).

the pay off from doing this comes over many years . Owner occupiers can do this when it suits them, tenants because of tenure issues cannot sensibly make these improvements - they need the landlord to take the initiative- which many don’t.

[geoffers]

@Anasa_EONNext - move into a mid-terrace house, then you've got the best possible insulation provided by 2 of your neighbour's party walls 😜😁

[retrotecchie]

Always go for the low hanging fruit first. One of the cheapest and most cost effective ways to minimise heat loss is to track down draughts and eliminate them. Take a candle and go around doors and windows and look for anywhere where you have unwanted air movements. Door frames, window frames and especially around a letterbox. Mitigating draughts makes a real impact and costs very little but is one of the most cost effective and fastest payback methods of shaving down your energy bills. Always start with the small jobs first with the biggest bang per buck rather than the big ticket items.

And of you live closer than 5 miles to the sea...NEVER HAVE CAVITY WALL INSULATION!

[Tommysgirl]

@retrotecchie

Great advice.👍 I live about a mile from the sea, some of my neighbours had extra cavity wall insulation installed a few years ago, and have ended up with condensation and damp problems. Two of them have had to have their windows replaced.

[Nesims]

@retrotecchie I have cavity wall insulation by previous owner so 20+ years ago . Live next to sea . rarely open windows. Have no problem with damp at all. I wonder if diff fitters or products causes some problems for people?

[retrotecchie]

@Nesims

Older materials and systems seem to be less trouble-prone than more modern methods. There is some physics which cavity walls capitalise on in order to work in their intended manner. A cavity wall is intended to allow heat from the inside of a structure to pass through and warm up the cavity very slightly. This warmer air then rises up the cavity and into the eaves and draws moisture out of the inner skin. When this warm air comes into contact with the colder outer skin, any condensation formed stays on the outside layer rather than being transferred to the inner skin.

This air gap does add significantly to the insulation properties of the cavity wall, but pumping insulation into the cavity adds to that r value. But what it does tend to do is prevent the necessary airflow up the cavity which can cause damp issues. Loose fill systems such as blown Rockwool or polystyrene beads do allow a little air flow, but more solid systems such as blown PU foam which 'sets' as a solid filling the cavity and preventing warm air rising in the cavity are often troublesome.

Most modern systems of building use solid cavity 'batts' which are installed into the wall during construction, but they are usually designed to leave the correct air gap between the outer skin and insulation and the inner skin.

There is a trade off between increasing the insulation of the build, and still maintaining the proper amount of convection inside the walls. And the physics varies according to the humidity difference between indoor and outdoor air. In coastal locations with more humid air coming off the sea, the convection in the cavity is actually rather more important than the insulation. The heat lost through the inner skin is not actually wasted, per se, but is a fundamental component of the building ventilation and condensation mitigation design.

Depending on system used and environmental factors, your mileage may vary, but the cavity is there for a reason. Filling it is not always a good idea.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@Nesims
When this warm air comes into contact with the colder outer skin, any condensation formed stays on the outside layer rather than being transferred to the inner skin.

... also, ever wondered why wall ties have a twist in them?

The twist is there to act as a "drip" so any condensation will travel along the tie and form a drip at the twist, rather than transferring to the inner skin.

The addition of cavity wall insulation allows the moisture to travel along the tie, which can be another cause of damp transferring to the inner skin

[Actual]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

Very interesting stuff...

@retrotecchie

We hear all the time about how traditional construction methods were used to ensure the long term health of the building structure especially to control condensation and avoid rot and altering the insulation or ventilation properties is detrimental...

I have always wondered how did these construction methods come about? Did the Vikings or the Tudors use construction material scientists? Did they make note of which buildings were still standing after 100 years and copy ? Was it just good luck?

[retrotecchie]

@Actual

I live in a 180 year old 'stone and slate' Welsh cottage. 32" thick walls, no foundations and no damp proof course. I've had builders in doing a bit of work on the chimney and fitting a flue-liner and I've had a chance to see right into the way the house was constructed, what out of, and how it was designed.

Those old Welsh builders knew their stuff, that's for sure. You can keep your modern houses made out of monkey-materials! Nowhere near enough thermal mass to stay at a consistent temperature all year round.