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Save energy with loft insulation

Written by Jerry Livings
Monday, 28 May 2007
If there's only one piece of advice on how to save energy you decide to act on, it should be this: insulate your loft. A huge amount of heat leaks out of your roof if the loft is not insulated, around 30% of what you have already paid for. Loft Insulation is relatively easy to do (you could probably do it yourself), and grants are available from the UK Government for you to take advantage of. If your loft is not already insulated, you'll be looking to pay around ï¿½275 for the insulation material. But you'll save approximately ï¿½200 per year in reduced heating costs. Therefore, only 18 months down the line, you've got your money back, and every year after that, you'll be saving a significant amount of money on heating costs. It is recommended that the minimum thickness of Loft Insulation should be 200mm (8 inches in old money). Mineral Fibre or Fibreglass matting comes in rolls of either 100mm or 200mm thick, the thinner 100mm version being used to lay over existing, older and therefore usually thinner insulation. This type of insulation is most often used by homeowners confident enough to undertake the work themselves. An alternative is Loose-fill loft insulation, used where the spacing between joists is irregular, or in places where it is difficult to reach to install roll-based insulation. However, in both cases, the job of installation may not be quite as easy as first thought. The depth between joists is often lower than the recommended depth of insulation, being 200mm, and some initial preparatory work will therefore have to be completed before the insulation work can be started. This is often achieved by raising the height of the joists with additional timber to the required depth.It's also quite a precarious position up there in the loft, and very easy to overbalance and end up in bed a lot faster than coming down a ladder... Joists are very narrow to walk on, in fact, you shouldn't attempt to walk on a single joist at all, but instead cover the area in boards resting on the joists on all four sides, to distribute your weight more evenly. Ladders of course are not the safest of things, particularly in the often small and dimly-lit conditions of a loft. There are also hazards in laying the insulation itself, Mineral Wool insulation for instance can irritate your eyes and throat, and protective clothing should be worn to avoid contact with the skin. On balance, I would recommend using a professional to do the work for you; yes, it's an additional expense, but when you consider the considerable savings you'll be making on your heating bills, it's well worth getting the job done properly and safely. And anyway, it's all about how to save energy, right?If you can afford to, get someone else to do it! Jerry Livings www.renewable-resource-domestic-energy-savings.com Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?

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