SUSTAINABILITY
advice, support and consumer protections whoever supplies the services.” Prior to the Green Deal, homeowners
have a raft of energy advice and assistance – some free, some paid for – that they can access. The Government has always targeted loft and cavity wall insulation as priority areas for Britain’s draughty homes. Additionally, there are more than six million dwellings in the UK that are deemed ‘hard to treat’ because they have solid brick walls (with no cavity that can be filled). Hard to treat homes generally pre- date 1920 in the UK.
DIY INSULATION – SIMPLE! In an uninsulated home a quarter of heat is lost through the roof. Insulating the loft is a simple and effective way to reduce heating bills and is a do-it-yourself job. Currently, the recommended depth for mineral wool insulation is 270mm (most homes have around 100mm – between the joists – however there are other materials that require different depths). The Energy Saving Trust claims that to increase loft insulation thickness from zero to 270mm will save around £145 per year; the installed cost is around £250, for a less than two-year payback. Loft insulation is effective for at least 40 years, and it will pay for itself over and over again in that time. There are grants available for many people and not just those deemed ‘in need’ (www.energysavingtrust.
org.uk/)
Around one third of all the heat lost in an uninsulated home is through the walls. Insulating cavity walls reduces heat loss and can save around £110 a year on fuel bills. If a home was built from 1920 onwards, the chances are that its external walls are made of two layers with a small gap or ‘cavity’ between them. This means they are ‘cavity walls’. Cavity wall insulation is an effective way to save energy and money at home.
The Energy Saving Trust estimates
having a cavity wall filled costs around £250 and saves 560kg of CO2 annually (the average home in the UK emits 6 tonnes of CO2 annually). The payback time is therefore around two years if one saves approx £110 per year once the cavity walls are filled. These are estimated figures based on insulating a gas-heated, semi-detached home with three bedrooms. The installed cost includes the subsidy available from the
20 NOVEMBER 2011 PROPERTYdrum For these installers, the job is simple,
quick and makes no mess. Typically, a home will take around two hours to insulate, depending on how big the house is and how easily accessible its external cavity walls are. For those with solid brick walls, there
are essentially two options. External wall insulation and internal wall insulation. The National Insulation Association
Loft insulation: an average £250 investment and a two year payback.’
major energy suppliers under the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT); the typical unsubsidised installed cost is around £500.
Those on benefits, and the elderly are eligible for a grant to have their cavity walls filled. (see http://www.
energysavingtrust.org.uk/) Filling cavity walls is not a DIY job;
installation must always be carried out by a registered installer e.g. a member of: 1. The National Insulation Association (NIA) 2. The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA)
3. The British Board of Agreement (BBA) Two key things to look out for when
considering an installer: 1. They sign up to a code of professional practice like those provided by the NIA
2. The installation is guaranteed for 25 years by CIGA.
www.nationalinsulationassociation.org.uk publishes information on insulation solutions, and has a register of associated member installers who are able to provide quotes for homeowners. Tanya Adams, a registered DEA and
NDEA energy assessor and director of not-for-profit energy and environmental awareness social enterprise Green Home Zone (
www.greenhomezone.org) said, “As a general rule, internal insulation
systems are considerably cheaper than external cladding techniques. Payback periods vary upwards from around 15 years based on the installation cost versus space heating bill savings.” The following is an approximate price
and savings guide for the most common insulation applications for dwellings with solid brick walls: Flexible Thermal Lining (internal) costs approx. £35 per SqM. Can save between £90 and £190 per annum on heating bills. Rigid Thermal Board (internal) costs approx. £40 per SqM. Can save between £210 and £260 per annum on heating bills. External Cladding/Render costs from £2,000 upwards depending on the size of the house. Typical costs are £80-100 per m2. Annual savings are, on average, between £220 and £270.
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