I love insulation
Ok this is going to sound really, really sad and you are going to think that I’m a bit weird, but I’m going to declare here and now that I love insulation. Honestly, I can’t get enough of it. Why? Because it is very cheap and it keeps your home incredibly warm during cold weather and keeps it cool in hot weather. It is, without a doubt, the most affordable way of making your home ‘environmentally friendly’.The building regulations have improved a lot over the last fifty years and for some time it has been a requirement to have insulation in all new external walls, roofs and floors, but unfortunately I don’t think the standards for insulation go far enough.
Save money
When you do renovation work I believe that you have to set your own standards and when it comes to insulation you should go way beyond the standard asked for by building regulations. If you do it means you will need even less heat to warm your home, you will save money on your energy bills, while at the same time, having less impact on the environment. It’s a win, win, win situation.
I recently renovated my new home in London and decided to put insulation in every single available space; not just in the external walls and floors, but in every internal wall and every internal floor as well as additional insulation in the roof. 
Remember, heat rises and its often the case in poorly insulated homes the room downstairs are not warm enough because most of the heat has escaped to rooms upstairs, making them too warm. Putting insulation in all walls and floors stops heat moving from room to another in the house and keeps the heat where you want it most.
All of this insulation (and there is a lot of it!) cost me around £1800 and I calculated that I will recoup all of this money in just 3 years through savings in my heating bills. I can honestly say it is the warmest house I have ever been in. I’ve lost count of the number of times my wife has walked through the door on a chilly day and asked why the heating is on so high and me (in a very smug manner) letting her know that the heating isn’t on at all! Its brilliant!
If you have an existing lofty space that doesn’t have any insulation in it then now is the time for me to tell you off. There is no excuse for it. The majority of heat from a home is lost through the roof so please put in loft insulation as soon as possible. Honestly, it will save you a fortune in heating bills.
Do it right
It’s very important to remember that because most insulation is often sandwiched between walls of plasterboard or between floor and roof joists, it is very difficult to add insulation at a later date. It is something that you have to think about whenever any new construction is happening on your home and don’t cut any corners. It’s not worth it.
Contact your local building control officer or go online to www.energysavingtrust.org.uk to find out the minimum insulation requirements for the part of your home you are looking to improve. They will let you know what U-Value (a figure which states the thermal performance of building construction) you need to achieve through any wall, floor or roof construction.
With this information you should then contact one of the large insulation suppliers, such a Celotex (www.celotex.co.uk). Their technical advisors will discuss the best insulation products they have to achieve the required U-Value and what options are available to you if you want to go beyond the building regs.
Insulating your home to a high standard is critical. It keeps you warm; it reduces your energy bills while helping the environment.
Don’t let the government’s low standards hold you back.
sarah folwell
on Jun 11th, 2009
@ 10:17 pm:
Insulation distress call! I live in a small, end of terrace house in a village with no gas. It’s the coldest modern house I’ve ever lived in. Loft is really well insulated with double layer. However, downstairs floor is solid concrete with carpet, but feels soooo cold with the storage heaters struggling to heat the space. Is it worth considering laying some form of floor insulation and underfloor heating to supplement the the temperature? If so, what would you recommend? Thanks sarah
George Clarke
on Jun 12th, 2009
@ 11:49 am:
Hi Sarah. There is nothing worse than a cold house! I often specify ‘polyplumb’ who have what is called the ‘polypipe’ system. If you visit Polyplumb’s web site they have many types of systems to suit your specific needs and floor construction. Their pipe systems are often integrated with an insulation panel to make the heating even more efficient. I love underfloor heating so if I were you I would definitely go for it! George x
sarah folwell
on Jun 16th, 2009
@ 9:45 pm:
Hi George, Thanks for the advice on Polyplumb. Had a quick look at the website and the links and I think (unless I’m being particularly dense) you need to have a boiler/heat pump to use their systems. Unfortunately, I live in a village that doesn’t have gas and as a consequence I don’t have a boiler! I assume I would need to consider an ‘electric’ system with a different form of insulation beneath. sarah
George Clarke
on Jun 17th, 2009
@ 6:58 pm:
Yes you would….there are hundreds of electrical systems around as it has been around for longer…just make sure you go with a company will a long term guarantee. George x
Rachel
on Jun 29th, 2009
@ 9:05 pm:
First of all, congratulations George on creating a really useful and informative website!
We live in a Victorian mid-terrace house. Loads of character, good sized rooms for the price, beautiful brickwork, but unfortunately only a single skin of it in places (the front and back of the house). In an effort to be environmentally friendly we insulated and boarded out the loft well when we moved in, but we must be losing loads of heat through the thin walls. What can we do?
We have one year old twins and most of what would have been our disposable income will have to go on nursery fees and the luxury of working part-time until they start school in three or four years time. So although we have grand designs for the house, these will have to wait until we have saved up in a few years (hopefully your show will still be going then and we can write in with a respectable sized cheque!).
Please let me know if you can recommend any low budget ways of improving heat insulation, either as a temporary (three year) quick fix or for the long term?
Many thanks for any advice you can give (even if it’s move!)
Rachel
Jason Simpson
on Jun 30th, 2009
@ 10:31 am:
Hi George – how about sound insulation? I live in West London and can be affected by aircraft noise from Heathrow. I’m considering converting my loft. Do you think that the current heat insulation requirements will also give me sufficient sound insulation or should I consider extra sound insulation?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes, Jason
George Clarke
on Jul 3rd, 2009
@ 8:10 pm:
Jason, the flight path is a nightmare. Everyone tells me you get used to it but I’m not convinced. No, the current heat insulation requirements will not be enough to kill the sound. It definitely worth looking into more effective sound insulation techniques. Visit the following company websites, ‘Kingspan’, ‘Celotex’ and also ‘British Gypsum’. The combination of more effective sound insulation and the use of special plasterboard products can have an enormous effect in reducing noise. Good luck! George
Justin Davey
on Jul 14th, 2009
@ 1:30 pm:
Hi George
Firstly, am an enormous fan of “The Home Show” and “Build A New Life….” !
Just come across your website and it is excellent. I have just about completed building a home garden office and agree with what you say about insulation. This is just a timber frame building but I lined the floor with 90mm Celotex and the roof rafters with 70mm (to allow sufficient ventilation across the roof space). I was going to use Celotex for the walls, but as I wanted better sound isolation, I went for an acoustic grade Rocksilk (RS60). It’s not perfect but due to costs it’s the best I could go for. I would have ideally gone for double or triple layers of plasterboard, but didn’t want to spend anymore! I haven’t quite met the required building regs U values, but for a home office in the garden I am really pleased with how it’s turned out. Also, from looking at companies building home offices, to a similar spec to mine, I’d pay around £15000; I built this for just over £4k.
Pictures (if you are interested) can be found on my blog at http://www.mountstudios.co.uk.
Many thanks for your time. Justin Davey
stuart
on Jul 15th, 2009
@ 10:06 pm:
Looks like I have joined the realms of the ‘wierd’ also. I read this article and it definitely made me think! – I always thought the 100mm of insulation placed between the rafters in my loft was sufficient; visually it actually seems quite a bit of insulation. So I’ve packed about anoter 300mm of space blanket insulation in the loft & have booked for a cavity wall inspection, so see if those need filling. Thanks for the prompt George and keep up the good work!
lucie
on Aug 5th, 2009
@ 9:15 am:
Hi Jason,
We lived in army quarters in Somerset, where we had harrier jump jets, helicopters and other fast jets flying literally past the windows every day and on regular night flight practice.
They had a window system (George I know you don’t like UPVC) I think that may have been German where it was triple glazed so once you shut the windows, you couldn’t hear a thing! In addtion, to help cool the house so you didn’t have to open the windows in summer, we had a ventilation system in the attic which allowed old air out and fresh in. It worked a treat…………………unfortunately, our last house, on the airfield from which they fly the army’s Apache helicopers, weren’t tripple glazed and I didn’t get used to it. I would definitely look into windows as well as insulation.
marioshea
on Aug 24th, 2009
@ 11:35 am:
Hi George, I live in Spain and I don’t think the Spanish builders know much about insulation! In the summer the house is like an oven and in the winter I freeze! I’m pretty sure it’s just brick and render with no cavity insulation. Apart from knocking the house down and starting again, how do i go about fixing this problem?
Mari
Amax
on Sep 19th, 2009
@ 7:54 am:
Hi George
I am reasonably good at DIY but never done any major insulating.
I am in the process of building a workshop / art room in the garden for my kids (and myself!) which we intend to use all year around.
Basically it is a glorified shed which I intend to insulate and I am getting my electrician to run electricity to it so that it can have light and heating in the winter evenings.
It is quite a big shed (6.0 x 3.6 x 2.6m) with 15mm T&G Shiplap on the outside, heavy duty felt on an apex roof and 45X34mm framework and a wooden floor on bearers. It will sit on a concrete base.
I want to insulate it as effectively as possible. I intend to clad both the walls and ceiling/roof on the inside with pine tongue and groove and put flooring ontop of the wooden floor of the shed.
I have been searching the net to find info on the correct way to insulate it but can’t seem to find a definitive guide just lots of different bits of info. Any chance you can advise please.
Do I use a vapour barrier on the walls and ceiling? What about the floor? What is a vapour barrier? Is there a specific make that is good? If so what thickness and does this go between the outer wall and the insulation or the insulation and the inner cladding.
Do I follow the same method on the ceiling?
What insulation should I use for the walls and ceiling?
How do I insulate the floor? What insulation should I use? Should I use a vapour barrier here? Should the vapour barrier be on top of the existing shed floor before the insulation or after the insulation but before the flooring? Any advice on product?
Thanks very much for your help in advance.
Patricia
on Sep 29th, 2009
@ 9:15 am:
i was thinking about getting cavity wall insulation in my flat, my down stairs neighbour is all for it, but a few people i have spoken to about it have said its not a good idea, saying the cavity space between the walls is there for a reason, whats you take on it
Jeannie
on Nov 7th, 2009
@ 6:03 am:
Hi,
One of my family members bought a new house, less than 2 years old at the time. They bought it from first owner, not builder. During the investigation of a defect which was raised in the first two years with both the builder and the NHBC, it has been established that the builder has not put any floor slab insulation in. Neither under or at the edge. It is a in situ concrete floor slab. Also DPM is breached as there is no sand blinding between MOT1 and DPM. It is a Timber frame house with floor slab and first floor way off the level.
If worst case they need to do the insulation and Fix DPM in some way themselves, do you have ideas of how they can do this without it costing the earth and without it taking inches off the floor to ceiling height? Also, any other useful information or knowledge you may have in general about this situation would be gratefully received.
Jeannie x
Ryan Johnson
on Feb 6th, 2010
@ 10:38 am:
Please can you help ? I am looking at designing my own camp site and from what I can see most of the up to date sites seem to have leave good design at the main gate. I was looking to contact George Clarke to get some input. Many Thanks Ryan Johnson
Jitka
on Apr 8th, 2010
@ 9:09 pm:
Hi George (again),
Following on from the query that I left you on the heating page, we have a small (8sq m) cold bathroom, with high ceilings (3m+). We are investigating how best to insulate the room and most people are recommending to put seperate insulation on the internal walls, we are worried that we will lose a lot of space if we do this. We are also worried that if we do this in the bathroom we could get moisture into the cavity and being retained in the room and that this will lead to mould etc. We were also thinking about dropping the ceiling level (a bit) but again we’re worried about moisture getting trapped in the cavity here. Can you give us any advice on how best to insulate the bathroom and protect against dampness/moisture causing mould etc.
Cheers
Jitka
Sonia
on May 2nd, 2010
@ 5:04 pm:
Hi George
We are about to embark on renovating an old stone building (originally 4 weavers cottages) into a family home with grandad annex. We are keen to use renewable energies but the stumbling block seems to be getting our insulation right . We are currently looking into ‘Spacetherm’. Have you had any dealings with this product or are there any alternatives products out there which will insulate whilst allowing our walls to breathe.
Kind regards
Ruth Mathews
on Oct 12th, 2010
@ 3:05 pm:
Hi George. We’re currently building our new house and have tried to do it to a fairly high spec. We have 120mm insulation in the floor and are pumping in 150mm bonded bead insulation in the wall. However, when it comes to the roof we seem to be slipping back to the old rockwool option. We were looking at putting on spray foam but our Engineer doesn’t like the stuff (says it hasn’t been proven enough) and it’s expensive. Any recommendations. We have installed underfloor heating throughout and have a Heat Recovery system installed. It’s a 2 storey house with a ground imprint of 133 sq m.
By the way I love your show. I met you this weekend at the Grand Designs show and my birthday present from my husband was a pic with you. Thanks. Ruth
keith nuttall
on Jan 22nd, 2011
@ 7:13 pm:
george my teenage son is moving into the bedroom above the living room what insulation/ sound proofing can i use in the void between the cealin and floor boards
maria
on Mar 8th, 2011
@ 12:05 pm:
Hi George, We had a damp course fitted a couple of years as ago.We had terrible condensation on the walls afterwards and still have problems on an interior wall in the kitchen.We were advised when damp course was fitted the interior wall didn’t need it. We have since had damp patches halfway up the wall above the radiator. Have you any ideas what could be causing this?
We were advises to have a Drimaster 2000-35 fitted in the loft.
Our house was built in the 1940′s, and we are thinking of having cavity wall insulation fitted by Bgas.
I would appreciate your advise on this as I have heard conflicting reports about cavity wall insulation eg:such as damp patches on the walls.