 Case Study: Underfloor insulation in a 1930's Semi
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Underfloor Insulation - Why Bother?
In the Winter of 2008, SURE inspired me to tackle the last area of the house where there was no insulation – the floor.
Why, you may ask, would anybody bother?
Well, various sources estimate the heat lost through un-insulated floors to be about 15%, plus another 5% lost from draughts around the skirting and floor boards.
A 20% saving in fuel is better than I could get by changing to a condensing boiler and wouldn’t cost as much.
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What to Use?
After some research I decided that the best way to insulate under the floor is to use pipe-wrap for the pipes and ordinary loft insulation between the joists, held in place by netting. This gave the best combination of cost, ease of use and effectiveness.
So How Easy Was It?
Well, to be honest, it was not at all easy in my house because the gap between the dirt and the floor required me to move about commando style at all times, dragging insulation, tools, etc over the rubble. Dust also added to the problems, so I wore a dust mask.
I had deliberately chosen to use the loft insulation made out of recycled plastic bottles to avoid having any problems with that itchy fibreglass dust.
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Did it Make a Difference?
It’s a bit early to tell because we haven’t had a winter yet to test it in. But, I did measure the temperature of the carpet on the floor in the dining room before the insulation went in as 14°C, with a room temperature of 19°C.
After the insulation was put in, the carpet temperature was 17°C.
Doesn’t sound like much, but walking on it in bare feet, you can really tell the difference.
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Jump in -- join the team -- share your ideas -- let's do this together
info@SURE-energy.org.uk
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