How Much Can You Save With Home Insulation?

With winter approaching, a warmer home and lower heating bills is a very attractive prospect. If your home is like most in the UK, there is still a lot that can be done to lessen heat loss and wasted energy spend, meaning you could have a warmer and more comfortable home while wasting less money on heating.

Heat leaks out of houses from roofs, floors, doors, windows and walls meaning that a portion of your outlay on oil, or gas, or even on your new renewable heating system is being wasted. With better insulation and draft prevention you could have a warmer, more comfortable home while spending less.

heat-loss-graphic

Costs and Savings for Typical Insulation Measures

Detached House Semi Detached House Mid Terrace Bungalow
Loft Insulation Cost  £395  £300  £285  £375
Savings (£/Year)  £240  £140  £135  £200
Loft Insulation Top Up Cost  £310  £250  £240  £295
Savings (£/Year)  £25  £15  £15  £20
Cavity Wall Insulation Cost  £720  £475  £370  £430
Savings (£/Year)  £275  £160  £105  £110
External Wall Insulation Cost  £5,000 –
£18,000
 £5,000 –
£18,000
 £5,000 –
£18,000
 £5,000 –
£18,000
Savings (£/Year)  £455  £260  £175  £180
Internal Wall Insulation Cost  £3,000 –
£14,000
 £3,000 –
£14,000
 £3,000 –
£14,000
 £3,000 –
£14,000
Savings (£/Year)  £455  £260  £175  £180
Solid Floor Insulation Cost  £950 –
£2,200
 £950 –
£2,200
 £950 –
£2,200
 £950 –
£2,200
Savings (£/Year)  £70 – £90  £40 – £55  £30 – £40  £65 – £80
Wood Floor Insulation Cost  £300 – £750  £300 – £750  £300 – £750  £300 – £750
Savings (£/Year)  £75 – £95  £45 – £55  £30 – £45  £65 – £85

Note – Cost and savings figures as reported by the Energy Savings Trust.

Insulation offers a number of easy wins for the homeowner and relatively simple and low cost ways to get a warmer home and save on those ever increasing energy bills. A simple measure like insulating your hot water cylinder with a jacket could save you over £100 a year on an uninsulated tank. Even topping up the insulation on your hot water tank by replacing 25mm with an 80mm jacket would save between £25 and £35 per year. That’s more than the cost of the jacket saved, in the first year.

A measure like topping up your loft insulation is more costly but the Energy Savings Trust estimates that loft insulation is effective for at least 42 years. With 25% of your heat loss escaping through your roof, you can start enjoying a warmer home this winter knowing that reduced bills will more than repay your investment over the coming years.

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