Insulation for year-round comfort
Home insulation is an easy, technology-free way to influence the temperature of your home.
Good insulation slows down the transfer of heat, meaning it can help to keep the heat in the home during winter, and out during a heatwave. It therefore reduces your reliance on a heating or cooling appliance.
Houses built these days will typically have loft insulation that’s at least 270mm thick. If you have 100mm or less, consider getting it topped up. Unless you have a room in the loft, it’s best to lay the insulation on the floor.
To avoid potential damp, make sure there are no gaps in the insulation. The loft should also be adequately ventilated. Be aware that, if you use your loft for storage, you may need to relocate your belongings or add boards between joists. It’s important that you don’t squash the insulation!
Many homes are built with a double layer of brick separated by a gap. Newer homes (from about the mid 1980s onwards) incorporate insulation into the construction itself. Older homes often need insulation added.
You might have a Cavity Wall Insulation Guarantee Agency certificate to certify that your home had cavity wall insulation installed. Or, you might see traces of drill holes in the mortar between the brickwork. If you don’t have these, and your Energy Performance Certificate suggests your walls are not insulated, ask a professional for advice. There are a small number of properties that aren’t suited to standard insulation materials.
Southampton was one of the first areas in the country to introduce cavity walls in the late 1800s. Homes built before this time had solid walls, and some newer homes also have solid walls. Solid walls are more difficult and expensive to insulate than cavity walls. They can either be insulated from the outside, by attaching insulation boards to the wall and covering them with a render/cladding, or from the inside by adding insulation to internal walls and finishing with plasterboard.
If your home is heritage-listed, you may not be able to get external wall insulation. Internal insulation can be a bit more disruptive since door frames, electrical sockets, skirting boards and other fittings will need to be adjusted, and some of the room space will be lost to the additional insulation. Internal wall insulation, however, allows you to tackle the project room-by-room.
