Upholding the benefits

It is hard to believe it but, on average, homes lose a staggering 60% of heat through the walls and roof. That's an incredible waste of energy and money - and the only way to avoid it is to have proper insulation installed in your home

The great thing is that governments around the world are keen to meet their targets for reduction in carbon emissions and many are offering home insulation grants to help consumers save energy. The cost for insulation varies, but in many of these countries government initiatives reduce the cost by over 50%. Even up to 100% if you happen to be on certain benefits.

There are many types of home insulation, from cavity wall and loft insulation to draught proofing. One type of loft insulation is a mineral fibreglass which is simply rolled between and over the joists in your roof to a depth of around 270mm. It effectively acts as a blanket, trapping heat rising from the house below.

Cavity Wall Insulation is possibly the best way to significantly reduce the energy needed to heat your home. In most residential buildings the external walls are made of two layers of bricks with a small air gap or ’cavity’ between them. Cavity wall insulation involves filling this gap with a special mineral fibre that reduces the amount of heat that can escape through the walls.

There are a lot of insulation suppliers out there though, some better than others – so make sure you find one with industry accreditations and a good record of customer service.

Will Weedon of www.lioninsulation.co.uk

The Importance of Insulating Your Home

Maintaining a warm and comfortable home during the colder, less hospitable months of winter is a major preoccupation for most homeowners, particularly with respect to the costs involved. Over two-thirds of household expenditure on energy is spent on heating and cooling. Much of this money spent on heating is wasted when one considers that approximately 60% of heat is lost through walls and the roof. This is a vast amount of energy that could be better used heating the home but much of this contributes to an unnecessary expense that has an even greater impact on the environment. The solution to this on-going crisis is to invest in insulation.

Insulating the home assists in creating a stable ambient temperature throughout the house, since the heat remains trapped indoors. During the summer months insulation also provides benefits by keeping houses relatively cooler. Insulation has wider benefits, for instance, it aids as an efficient sound absorber by blocking a significant amount of unwanted noise it also provides a level of protection from the rain in the attic/loft space.

Insulation can be applied to all household types, be it a semi-detached, detached, or an apartment, the advantages that insulation brings to the home is important enough to consider. Insulation can be installed in the loft/attic space, for instance, or it can be inserted between floor joists. What is important is that insertion must be undertaken correctly in order to achieve high domestic energy efficiency savings and provide wider environmental benefits.

Fundamentally, three forms of insulation exist in the market; these are flexible insulation, reflective insulation and loose-fill insulation. Types of insulation vary widely, choosing a suitable kind of insulation largely depends on climate, often associated with a region. In other instances, the structural composition of a house would determine the best approach.

In many temperate regions, external walls are constructed using the cavity wall method. This comprises two skins or layers of brick, an outer and inner wall, with an air gap between to prevent damp seeping into the house. Cavity wall insulation involves the process of filling the gap with insulation often by way of injecting foam insulation into the cavity or inserting mineral fibre. Although both methods prove effective in reducing the loss of energy through the walls it is wise to ensure that a gap is maintained to avoid the problem of water seepage into the house causing costly repairs. With that in mind, it is better to consider foam insulation for the roof rather than the walls. Other types of insulation include.

In conclusion, choosing to insulate the home is an effective way of reducing domestic costs and can significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Choosing the right type of insulation can depend on several factors including location and the structure of a house. Whichever type of insulation is chosen, ensure that is inserted correctly to maximise efficiency.

A Guide to Insulation for Your Home

As energy prices increase, warming and cooling your home is becoming more and more expensive. Upgrading your insulation is one way to fight the increased costs.

Insulation acts as a blanket for you home. During cold winters, it serves as a barrier to keep as much of the warm air produced by your heating system as possible in the home. In summers, it servers the opposite role of keeping warm air out and cool air in. All and all, this makes it a pretty flexible building material when you think about it.

The key to keeping your heating and cooling costs down is to understand insulation and use the best possible type for you home. To assist in this regard, every community maintains building codes calling out for minimum levels of insulation. Unfortunately, these minimum levels often are insufficient, a particular problem with new homes given that builders use them as the standard to minimize the cost of construction. Nearly every home could significantly cut heating and cooling costs if they upgraded their insulation.

Insulation comes in three basic forms – flexible insulation, loose-fill insulation and reflective insulation. Flexible insulation is the most familiar, to wit, the rolls of pink stuff you see at construction projects. Loose-fill insulation comes in bags and is actually sprayed into walls. Reflective insulation is used like flexible insulation to fill stud walls, but works by using a material that reflects the radiating heat in a structure. There is also rigid insulation, but it is rarely used.

When considering insulation in your home, there are two key issues to address. First, the insulation in your home should have an “R” value, which represents the insulations resistance to the transfer of heat. If you really want to cut utility costs, you should replace your current insulation with a brand that has double the R value you currently have installed.

A second issue to consider is coverage. You might be surprised to learn that insulation is missing in certain key areas of your home. Heat rises, so checking the insulation in your attic should be your first step. You should also consider placing a seal around the entrance to the attic from the interior of the home. This space is almost always unsealed and acts as a highway for heat to escape.

Insulation is hardly a sexy topic when it coyour mes to home improvements. While it may be bland, improving it can save you thousands and thousands of dollars.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - visit us to find out more about building own home.