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INSULATION
Spray Foam Insulation reduces high energy consumption
I
nstalling better insulation and preventing air leakage are two of the most important steps that homeowners can take to reduce energy bills and improve comfort levels. With fuel costs going through the roof, what are the practical steps homeowners can take to bear down on energy consumption? Here we take a look at how the owners of an attractive, traditionally built home in Stockbridge, Hampshire tackled the issue of escalating running costs. Originally
built in the late 1980’s the
house had been extended in the year 2000 to provide fi rst fl oor bedrooms over the existing attached garage. The modern, very comfortable looking property has oil fi red central heating but fuel consumption was felt to be high.
In 2020 the owners engaged Abingdon based energy effi ciency consultants, Sustainable Lifestyles Ltd to undertake a thermal imaging survey to assess the property and suggest options for improvement. Their survey highlighted a poor standard of insulation and air tightness and recommended a programme of remedial action to improve the thermal performance of the house.
Poor performance of UK housing stock
On a wider perspective, the property is typical of many of homes in the UK. The Government
estimates that roughly 12
million of the 29 million homes in the country fall below C grade on the Energy Performance Certifi cation (EPC) scale which is graded from A-G. The closer to A, the more effi cient the home meaning it should have lower energy consumption and a smaller
Originally built in the late 1980’s, the property has oil fi red central heating and suffered high heating costs
carbon footprint. Grade G is at the other end of the scale with C being just above average. With around 20% of UK carbon emissions generated through domestic heating, hot water and cooking, the scale of the problem is clearly enormous. A “Fabric First” approach to improving the
effi ciency of walls and lofts is being proposed in the UK and the Government acknowledges the importance of this methodology in its Heat and Building Strategy, published in October 2021. So far, £3.9bn has been earmarked to support low emission homes and, according to Jan Rosenow of the clean energy think tank Regulatory Assistance Project, investing in insulation is “critical” if Britain is to cut energy consumption and meet climate goals.
Better insulation and improved air tightness
According to Paul Buckingham, of
Sustainable Lifestyles, going hand in hand with better standards of insulation is the need
to reduce air leakage – draughts to you and me. “Up to 40% of a buildings heat loss can be attributed to air leakage,” said Paul. “So it’s vital that reducing air leakage is included in any programme of measures to improve a building’s thermal performance,” he added. At the Stockbridge property, Sustainable Lifestyles recommended a programme of improvements to the insulation including the replacement of the existing cavity wall insulation from areas where it had sagged and become ineffective. They engaged a specialist insulation contractor, Prize Spraying from nearby Swanwick, Southampton to inject closed cell cavity wall insulation and apply open cell spray foam insulation to the roof and fi rst fl oor voids.
Prize Spraying Ltd is part of Huntsman Building Solutions’ qualifi ed network of authorised contractors. HBS manufactures a range of high-performance spray applied insulation and coating systems for many building applications including roofs, fl oors and walls.
Roof tiles and membrane were stripped back to allow access for spraying of insulation
Existing timber cladding was removed to allow disposal of the original failed insulation
Huntsman H2Foam Lite is applied using a pressurised gun system [Library]
ADF07_Icynene_Insulation_DPSAdv.indd 2
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
04/07/2022 11:59 ADF JULY 2022
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