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.
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.
