Insulate Your Premises

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(Note: you may like to read the case study on this subject: Insulating Case Study - Boot & Shoe Cottage.)

You cannot be energy efficient unless you insulate your premises. 30% of a building's heat will go through its walls, and 15% through the roof. Single glazing loses twice as much heat through the glass as double glazing. And all that lost heat has to be replaced by energy consumption, just to keep temperatures acceptable.

Making sure your premises doesn't leak energy is an essential step - you cannot get grants for energy efficiency measures or renewable energy installations unless you've insulated first.

Essential insulating steps are:


Measure	Notes
Loft insulation	15% of heat is lost through the roof. Recommended depths of insulation are now 270mm. It's cheap and easy to fit - you can do it yourself.
Draft proofing	Use automatic closers on external doors. Use draft strips along doors and letter boxes. Seal any gaps around windows and use draft excluder strips. Fill or seal gaps in floors and floorboards.
Hot water tank and pipe lagging	Lag pipes and tanks (with a minimum 88mm jacket) to reduce energy loss by up to 20%.
Keep windows and doors closed when heating is on	Sounds obvious but doors will often get propped open for ease of access and windows can be accidently left open or may be opened if the overall temperature gets too high - keep it to 21º during the day and 16º at night.
Double or secondary glazing	Both double and secondary glazing have a big impact on heat loss, drafts and noise. Triple glazing (or secondary in addition to double) is appropriate in some areas/types of building. Secondary glazing can be as good as double glazing and is very appropriate for listed buildings - it can be nearly invisible when correctly fitted.
Cavity wall or internal wall insulation	Consider having walls insulated - 30% of a building's heat is lost through walls. Cavity walls can be injected with insulating rockwool or polystytrene cost effectively and very quickly. Internal walls or walls without a cavity can be relined with polystyrene or rockwool then plasterboarded.
Floor insulation	Good underlay and carpeting can make a big difference to a cold room. Polystyrene, rockwool or reflective sheeting underlay can be used beneath wood or laminate floors. Fill gaps between floor-boards with planed slivers of wood. Use beads of sealant to seal gaps between skirting boards and the floor or walls.

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