The Most Cost-effective Insulation: Wall Insulation
Insulation is incredibly important when it comes to reducing your home’s energy costs and consumption. By upgrading your home’s insulation you could make significant savings on your heating bills, as well as your household’s carbon footprint.
Cavity wall insulation is by far one of the most cost-effective ways to insulate your house. Insulating them is simple and consists of injecting insulation material directly into the cavity.
Contents
- What is it?
- Is it right for me?
- Financial help
- Other
1. What is it?
A cavity wall is the gap between an outer and an inner leaf of the wall. It can be filled with insulation to make the house more efficient.
If your home has cavity walls, and they're suitable for insulation, then you'll need a specialist company to insulate them.
The most common materials for insulation are:
- Mineral wool – like loft insulation rolls, but chopped up so it can be blown into the cavity
- Polystyrene beads – small spheres of expanded polystyrene. A bonding agent is added so that the beads will stay in place.
- Sometimes foam, a more expensive material is used, and this then sets rigid inside the cavity.
2. Is it right for me?
If your house was built between 1920 and 1995, it is likely that it was built with an uninsulated cavity in the wall, and it may be suitable for cavity wall insulation.
If your house was built after 1995, it probably has cavity walls and likely already insulated. Adding further insulation would not likely be worthwhile.
Cavity wall insulation is usually not suitable for houses
- not built of standard brick, stone or concrete block.
- with very narrow or uneven cavities
- with areas of high exposure to driving rain
- with areas of a high risk of flooding
3. Financial help
The scheme Energy Company Obligation (ECO): Help to Heat might be able to help you with the cost of installing cavity wall insulation. Check our article for ECO details.
4. Other
Once your walls are insulated, the only difference you should notice is that your home is easier and cheaper to heat.
Keep on top of standard home maintenance jobs to make sure that your roof and walls don’t leak and your gutters are working properly.