What's the Best Way to Insulate a Pre-existing House

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2. Energy Efficient Upgrades for Existing Houses
3. Insulating an Old House

Insulating an Old House - The Right Way.

So What exercise I Hateful When I Talk Near Insulating an Old House?

I know this is probably pretty self explanatory but bear with me. The 3 master areas to consider when insulating in an onetime or an existing house are:

• The walls - either solid construction or crenel construction.
• The loft - either an open roof void or a room in roof construction.
• The ground flooring - either suspended timber or solid floor construction.

There are potential pitfalls for each and some in my stance, may not be worth the hassle depending on the house, construction type, exposure and whether or not you'r prepared to embark on a major renovation of the belongings.

For instance a house with solid ground floors will not be easy to insulate as you'll have to dig up the floors, breach any damp proof membrane that may (or may not) be nowadays and then relay them forming a good seal betwixt the new damp proof membrane in the floor and the damp proof course in the walls (which will exist difficult and quite expensive).

Likewise room in roof construction, where you lot have a room in the loft area will brand information technology much more difficult to access the areas where you demand to install the insulation. Then unless you're most to renovate this surface area anyhow then information technology might be amend to wait until you are.

What exercise You Demand to Know Before Insulating an Old Firm?

• The pros and cons of the insulation cloth you're using.
• The correct fashion to install information technology.
• The additional materials you lot'll need to ensure the insulation performs as it should, such as vapour barriers, vapour control layers, air tightness sheets and sealing tapes etc.

What Will Insulating an Old Business firm Actually Achieve?

Provided information technology'southward carried our correctly:

• Information technology will improve the energy efficiency of the property.
• Reduce your heating bills.
• It volition let your home to hold onto its heat longer.
• You'll get in more comfortable to live in.
• Reduce your carbon footprint.
• You'll improve its EPC score and, hopefully, increase its value.
• It'due south usually pretty easy to do (keep reading to meet why I say commonly!)
• Reduce the chance of condensation forming on walls and ceilings and therefore reduce the chances of black mould forming.

Is Insulating an Old House Like shooting fish in a barrel?

Unfortunately there's no straight forward answer to this question equally it'll depend on the construction blazon of your house;

Cavity walls - normally they're easy to insulate by getting an insulation company in (information technology'southward not a DIY job), merely sometimes information technology can be ameliorate not to do it!

Solid walls - more difficult to insulate and can be quite expensive, just tin can certainly be done. At that place are ii types of solid wall insulation; internal insulation (cheaper option) and external insulation (more expensive just better performing).

Open up loft area - relatively easy to insulate and fairly inexpensive to do. Only in that location are some things yous'll demand to be aware of.

Room in roof construction  - This is where y'all accept a habitable room within the roof surface area and limited access to the underside of the roof. This type is much more difficult to insulate without spending a lot of money and major upheaval, unless you're about to renovate the area anyway.

Solid ground floor - very difficult to insulate, but not incommunicable (it will be expensive and confusing).

Suspended timber footing floor - relatively easy to do only if you lot do information technology incorrect you could cause as many issues as yous fix.

When Insulating an Old House, Is Insulation on it's Ain Enough?

Brusk respond is… No!

Traditionally if you wanted to insulate your underfloor or loft you just laid out some fibreglass wool (or equivalent) and that was it, job done! Old houses tend to exist a lot more than draughty than newer backdrop and even if you do the best chore always when insulating your old home in the traditional way and ensure there are no gaps, if at that place are draughts in the area (and there volition be draughts, they are a Edifice Command requirement in lofts and subfloor areas specially when increasing insulation) so the insulation won't do very much.

At this point it would be a skillful idea to understand the difference between controlled and uncontrolled ventilation. But I don't want to get distracted at this stage, so if you're not sure what they are follow the link and and so come back to finish this page.

Problems With Uninsulated Erstwhile Houses:

The about common issues I come across in old houses belonging to clients is condensation and mould. These are oftentimes directly linked to uncontrolled ventilation (draughts) and insulation, or the lack of insulation, in the property (albeit there are other factors in play as well such as relative humidity, air pressure level and sometimes damp walls (have a look at my article on Condensation for more information).

But suffice to say, if you can insulate and make the property as airtight as possible (in improver to providing controlled ventilation), y'all'll increase the surface temperature of the main external walls, floors and ceilings y'all'll reduce the risk of condensation occurring and therefore reduce the risk of black mould forming and brand it more comfy and cheaper to heat effectively.

Disadvantages of Insulating an One-time Business firm:

• Retrofit cavity wall insulation volition increase the chances of penetrating damp bridging the crenel. But there are certain products that in my opinion are meliorate than others when it comes to installing cavity insulation to an existing firm.
• Installing insulation in the loft area volition reduce the corporeality of storage space every bit stored items compress the insulation. Unless you utilize stilts etc. to raise a floored area above the level of the insulation so that it doesn't become compacted.
  


• Whatever insulation installed incorrectly or the incorrect type of insulation being used tin cause expensive problems which volition then need to be rectified at boosted and ofttimes considerable expense.
• Incorrectly fitted insulation can cause interstitial condensation to occur within the insulation which can cause rot in the worst case and reduce the effectiveness of the insulation in the all-time instance.

Other Articles to Read Before You Get-go Insulating an Former House:

• Adding Underfloor Insulation to Older Backdrop - if installed incorrectly this can cause rot to floor timbers, but thankfully it's pretty straightforward to practise correctly.
• How to Install Insulation in Your Open Cranium - as above this can cause issues if done wrong so check out this article to see the right way to do information technology.
• Best insulation for houses - this article looks at the various insulation materials and how well they compare to each other.
• How insulation works - this on'due east pretty self explanatory
• Vapour barriers - these barriers prevent water vapour getting into the insulation.
• Blow in Insulation - explains the nuts of retrofit cavity insulation and one type that I think should never exist used in cavities.
• Cavity fill insulation advantages and disadvantages - some reasons why you might want to install cavity insulation and some reasons you might not want to.
• Sheep'south wool insulation - a natural hygroscopic insulation that is bully for older properties
• Blue jean insulation - as it sounds recycled jeans to insulate your home.
• Foam spray insulation - this is a spray class of the rigid sheets that we all come across on edifice sites (the stuff with the foil backing). It's but mixed on site and sprayed on. But I'm not a huge fan, find out why hither!
• External insulation - typically used on houses with solid external walls merely can exist added to crenel walls also.
• Internal insulation - again typically used on houses with solid external walls simply fitted on the within of the exterior walls.

In conclusion, provided y'all use the correct method and the all-time insulation products when insulating an former house there's no reason why you can't insulate and draught proof your existing property and at the same time reduce your heating costs and make your home much more comfortable.

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Source: https://www.eco-home-essentials.co.uk/insulating-an-old-house.html

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