How Much Money Do You Save Insulating The Floor Joists In Your House

Benefits

Save around £75 a year
Reduce draughts
Make your domicile warmer

Insulating your ground floor is a cracking manner to keep your property warm. Generally speaking, yous only demand to insulate the ground floor. If you're on an upper flooring, you don't normally need to insulate your floor space.

However, you should consider insulating any floors that are above unheated spaces such as garages, as you could be losing a lot of heat through those.

See our guide to draught-proofing, or read on for more than near floor insulation.

What type of floor do I take?

Many homes – peculiarly newer ones – will have a ground floor fabricated of solid concrete. This can be insulated when information technology needs to be replaced, or tin take rigid insulation laid on summit.

Older homes are nearly likely to have suspended timber floors. If you lot have air bricks or ventilation bricks on the exterior wall(due south) of your house that are below floor level, you lot probably have a suspended timber flooring.

Do NOT block upwardly air bricks in your walls. They are needed to assist ventilate the space under your floor and stop your floorboards rotting.

If you have a basement or cellar beneath your house that you tin can get into safely, take a expect downwardly at that place to see what type of floor y'all have. If the flooring is a suspended wooden flooring, yous will probably be able to see wooden joists and the undersides of the floorboards.

If you don't have admission to the space underneath your business firm, you volition need to lift a corner of the carpeting and underlay to have a wait.

Timber floors tin can be insulated past lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between the joists. Insulating under the floorboards on the ground floor could relieve you about £75 a year in an average belongings, or up to £130 if you live in a detached house.

Alternatively, a recent innovation involves a robot applying spray cream insulation to the underside of the floorboards, which would avert the need to accept them up altogether.

How much can I save?

England, Scotland and Wales

Northern Ireland

DIY or professional?

Not all home insulation piece of work has to be carried out by a professional; it may work out cheaper to do the smaller jobs yourself.

You tin seal the gaps between floors and skirting boards to reduce draughts yourself quite hands, with a tube of sealant bought from any DIY store.

It'southward even easier to insulate your timber floor if you have an unheated cellar or basement infinite underneath that you tin can get into. Check that the joists supporting the floorboards are in good condition and don't show any signs of moisture or dry out rot.

If the joists are okay, you lot can fit insulation in between them and hold it in place with netting if necessary. The basement'southward 'ceiling' should then have plasterboard fixed directly to the undersides of the joists, to provide burn resistance – and you can then fit more than rigid insulation underneath the 'ceiling' to benefit from even more insulation.

Try to seal up any gaps between and around the floorboards when you put them back.

Rugs and carpets on the floor volition also assist your anxiety feel warmer, which might mean you don't feel the need to put the heating on as much. We've got more information nearly energy saving dwelling house improvements here.

Professional flooring insulation

If you don't feel confident lifting your floorboards yourself, you can get a professional person to do this equally well every bit fit the insulation and supercede the boards afterwards. Costs will vary depending on how big your house is and how piece of cake the floorboards are to lift and replace.

For solid concrete floors, brand sure that if they need to be replaced, your builder puts in insulation – y'all have to insulate a flooring when it is replaced in club to comply with edifice regulations.

Solid floors are insulated using rigid insulation foam, which can be fitted either above or beneath the concrete. If the concrete is to a higher place the insulation it can sometimes store heat during the day, which helps go along the room warm at night. If the insulation is above the concrete the room volition rut up more than speedily in the morning.

Yous can still insulate your solid flooring even if it doesn't need replacing. Rigid insulation can exist laid on top of the original flooring, then chipboard flooring can be placed over it. This will enhance the level of the floor, so you will need to brand sure doors are trimmed shorter to make room for the insulation. Skirting boards and some electrical sockets may need to exist moved.

Finding an installer

If you are looking for someone to insulate your flooring, Energy Saving Trust recommends y'all await for an installer who is a member of the National Insulation Clan.

If you lot want to insulate your floor as part of a bigger refurbishment task, you volition probably desire to use your existing builder.

Complying with building regulations

If you are calculation extra insulation to your floors, the work will demand to comply with the relevant building regulations for where you live. Although your installer volition normally adjust this for you lot, it is your responsibleness to comply.

If you live in England or Wales, the floor should accomplish a U-value of 0.25 W/m2K or less, if possible. The U-value is a measure of how quickly heat will travel through the floor. To accomplish this standard, you lot volition usually need at least 70mm of high-operation cream insulation, or 150mm of mineral wool, only this will vary depending on floor type, shape and size.

If you lot are replacing at least half of a floor and then you have to insulate to these standards whether you planned to or not.

For further information, and for regulations in Northern Ireland and Scotland, contact your local Building Control Function or Building Standards Department before starting work.