Not surprisingly, a lot of heat escapes through walls. If you have cavity walls - and about half the houses in this country do, (if your home was built after the early 1930's you probably have a cavity) - the answer could well be cavity wall insulation. However, this is not a job you can do yourself.
Ask a reputable contractor who specialises in cavity wall insulation to carry out a survey on the suitability of your house for cavity wall insulation. Be sure that the firm you ask is on the British Standards Institution's Registered Firms List, undertakes to carry out its survey and subsequent work to British Standards BS 5617 and 5618, or can show you a current Agreement Board Certificate for its work.
If, when the contractor has surveyed your house, he finds that because of the location, or the nature of construction of the external walls, it is not suitable for insulation, or it is suitable only for particular insulation materials, it is his duty to tell you.
Insulating cavity walls is a straightforward job which can be done in a day. The professional installer will use specialist equipment to inject insulating material form outside into the cavity by drilling small holes in the wall. It should cause little disruption, and best of all, is surprisingly inexpensive considering the amount it will save you in the long run. In most cases you can recover the cost within four years or less. Installing cavity wall insulation can save around £90 a year on fuel bills.
Many firms give guarantees but be sure to read the small print. The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) gives a 25 year guarantee that any defect in materials or workmanship, in connection with the installation by a member installer, will be rectified without charge to you. There may be circumstances when the Local Authority's permission is required before the work can be carried out, so be sure to tell your local authority before work starts. Most installers give the proper notification automatically. Make sure that the one you choose gives you a copy of his notification.
If you have cavity wall insulation installed at the same time as a heating system, it may be possible to save on the size and cost of the latter.
How soon you get your money back depends on the size of your house; how many outside walls you have; which part of the country you live in; how expensive your fuel is and how much you use.
A lot of heat can be lost through the roof of your house if it is not insulated. A typical pre-war semi-detached house may lose up to 15% of its heat through its loft, so insulating your loft is a very important job which will help save you money.
Loft insulation is one of the easiest and most cost effective energy efficiency measure you can take. Your home may already have some loft insulation, but how much money it is saving you depends on how thick it is. If you already have some loft insulation and add 200mm(8") to an existing 50 mm (2") you could save £20 to £30 a year. Where no loft insulation is present, installing 250mm saves £80 to £100. The ideal thickness for loft insulation is 270 mm, so if yours is 100 mm (4 inch) or less it could do with a top up.
One result of laying insulation in the loft is that the loft itself will get colder. Tanks and pipes will be more liable to freeze up in cold weather, so you must also insulate these. All cold water storage tanks in the loft, including central heating expansion tanks, and all water pipes including overflows, must be insulated. The recommended thickness of at least 25 mm (1 inch) for water tank insulation and 32 mm (1.25 inch) for water pipe insulation should greatly reduce the risk of freezing in normal circumstances. Hot water pipes lose heat everywhere, so insulate them wherever you can reach them.
You can usually feel when there is a draught blowing in through the windows or doors, but what most people do not notice is the warm air being drawn out. This means that your heating appliances have to work harder, wasting fuel and money. Draughts are caused by unused open fireplaces, gaps between floors and skirting boards, pipe openings in walls and ceilings, ill-fitting doors, window frames and ceiling hatches.
As much as 20% of your heat can be escaping, but this can easily be saved by draught proofing. However, it is important to make sure that you leave enough ventilation if you have solid fuel, gas, oil or especially paraffin or bottled gas heaters, both of which tend to produce a lot of condensation.
Balanced flue appliances do not need extra ventilation, but ask your fuel supplier for advice if you are not sure what to do. You also need ventilation to prevent your house becoming stale and stuffy.
The rooms where you need most ventilation are usually kitchens and bathrooms. By all means draught proof internal doors, but leave kitchen and bathroom windows alone to keep condensation under control.
Windows and doors can be draught proofed by the application of suitable seals, of which there are many kinds available. Where possible use materials which meets the standard BS 7386.
You could save between £15 - £25 per year on your annual fuel bills.
Half of the average home's energy bill goes on central heating and water. It is possible to save up to £130 per year (this figure is based on a typical 3 bedroom semi-detached house).
How can you save this amount - simple: when it is time to buy a new heating system, or to replace your existing boiler, fit a modern boiler - today's boilers are not only smaller, neater, and so take up less space, but they are more energy efficient and use less fuel to produce the same amount of heat.
Many people only decide to change their boiler when their existing one packs up - usually in winter, and more often than not at Christmas. Unless you like nasty surprises this is not a good idea. So if your boiler is over 15 years old, getting expensive to run or causing you problems, do something about it sooner rather than later. Other ideal times to replace your boiler are when your existing model needs a major repair or if you have your kitchen or bathroom refitted.
If your boiler is 15 years old or more, replacing it with a new, correctly sized condensing boiler will save you up to 30% on your fuel bills straight away, and even more if it does not have modern controls and you upgrade those as well.
Condensing boilers convert an average 85% of fuel into heat, compared with 65 - 72% for standard boilers. (Older boilers are much more inefficient). As you may expect, they are more expensive than standard boilers - typically £250 to £400 more - but you should get your initial investment back in 3 to 4 years. Condensing boilers, on average, can offer savings of up to £110 per year on fuel bills.
High Efficiency boilers are designed to fit homes of any size. They are available in conventional or combination system (where the boiler does the work of both a central heating boiler and a hot water cylinder, excluding the need for a separate hot water cylinder) types. They can be wall mounted or floor standing. They come in a range of finishes and are easy to fit into your existing system as any other boiler. Your installer will advise you on the right high efficiency boiler for you.
Low energy light bulbs are compact fluorescent lamps, or CFL's. They produce light output very efficiently and come in all shapes and sizes. They use approximately a fifth of the electricity of a normal light bulb and last about 10 times as long.
Using one low energy light bulb could save you as much as £8 a year off your electricity bill. For best effect, make sure that low energy light bulbs are installed in the light fittings you use most. This is likely to be the hallway, stairs or living room.
Low energy light bulbs can be used almost anywhere, but they will not work with dimmer switches or certain other electronic switching devices and timers. Always read the manufacturers instructions.
Not many people think of insulating their floors, but you can lose as much as 15% of your homes heat underfoot - hot air rises, but heat also escapes through floors. Insulating under the floor boards on the ground floor will make the room feel warmer and can save up to £30 per year. Gaps between the floorboards and skirting's are the chief causes of heat loss through timber floors. Filling the gaps between your skirting boards and floor boards can save you up to £20 on your annual fuel bill.
There are several ways of dealing with this: you can fill them with beading, papier mache or plastic wood, and some form of floor covering - ideally with a good felt or rubber carpet underlay - helps reduce heat loss particularly with a concrete or tiled solid floor. A few sheets of newspaper under the carpet will also help stop draughts. However, if you have a concrete or solid tiled floor, be particularly wary of completely sealing off the gap between the skirting and the floor - for if you do so you are creating a path for the passage of moisture upwards into the walls of your home.
The underfloor air bricks in the outside wall should not be blocked up either, as these provide the necessary ventilation for floor timbers. Solid concrete floors can be covered with cork tiles or carpet and felt or rubber underlay.
Heating water can account for a major part of your fuel bill so it is vital that you get advice on the right hot water system for your needs.
If your hot water cylinder has no insulation, then it could be costing you as much as £2.50 per week in wasted heat. Alternatively if you have a thin lagging jacket around the cylinder (1 inch - 3 inches thick), then it is not adequately insulated. It will pay you to buy a thicker jacket if there is sufficient space to fix it.
Insulating your hot water cylinder in a really thick jacket can cut heat loss by 75% and therefore pays for itself in a matter of weeks.
Double glazing is one of the most popular forms of home improvement. The average house loses between 10% and 15% of all its heat through the windows - double glazing can halve this loss.
Double glazing replacement windows look better and cut down on maintenance and noise problems. It can cost £2,500 - £6,000 for full replacement sealed units with the savings around £20 - £40 per year; it would take over 50 years to recover the cost of full replacement double glazing on fuel savings alone.
However, double glazing is more than just a form of heat insulation; it can cut down unwanted noise coming into your home. In nearly all cases the method of installing double glazing is by fitting replacement windows. As two of the most popular framing materials are aluminium and uPVC, you will be acquiring windows that for all practical purposes are maintenance free.
