Thermal insulation

Replacement boilers and alterations to electrical systems

These types of alterations are generally carried out by contractors who can self certify their work. You could use a contractor who is not registered with a self-certification scheme, but your local authority building control team will need a building regulations application to be submitted. It will then carry out the relevant inspections and issue a completion certificate when work has been satisfactorily completed.

Energy Efficiency Glazing

If you have old or poor quality double glazing, fitting new, high performance windows can cut heat loss through windows by half, making the room more comfortable and easier to heat. Many new windows have an energy label to help you compare their performance. The window’s energy rating will be somewhere between C and A++ – under the building regulations the lowest rating that an installer is allowed to fit is C, with A++ the highest rating currently available. Windows are normally fitted by a member of a relevant competent person scheme to make sure they comply with building regulations. By making more efficient use of energy and reducing waste we can all help prevent climate change and save money on bills. Almost half of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions come from energy we use every day, much of it in the home. So if you are thinking about an extension or a loft conversion in your home, it’s probably a good time to consider additional energy saving measures for your existing property too.

Energy efficiency

If you are having your windows replaced as part of a bigger refurbishment, your builder may be able fit the windows and ask your local authority building control team to approve them. There are ways to save energy from windows and doors.

Loft insulation

Insulating your loft is a simple and effective way to reduce your heating bills. The insulation acts as a blanket, trapping heatrising from the house below. Insulating a standard loft can be a fairly simple job if you are confident with DIY, but there are plenty of professional companies who will do the work for you. You can insulate a standard loft by laying mineral wool between the joists, the horizontal beams that make up the floor of the loft. Other flexible materials, such as sheep’s wool insulation, can be used instead of mineral wool but the installation of insulation in your loft must meet the minimum energy efficiency values as set out in the building regulations. A second layer of insulation should then be added at right angles to cover the joists, bringing the insulation up to the recommended depth of 270mm. If you have a flat roof, or a room built into your loft, then adding more insulation may be a bit more difficult. If you have a standard loft which is difficult to get into or has very limited headroom, then you may need to use a different approach. A specialist company may be able to blow loose insulation material into your loft.

Cavity wall insulation

Fitting cavity wall insulation is one of the most cost effective home energy improvements you can make and could reduce heating costs by more than a third. Filling the gap between the two walls of a house with an insulating material massively decreases the amount of heat which escapes through the walls. However, not every home is suitable. You may not have a cavity to fill, or you may have a cavity that isn’t suitable for insulating. Or maybe you have cavities that can be insulated provided you first carry out some extra work, or if you use a particular insulation material. Most houses built before 1920 will have solid walls – that is, the walls are made of brick or stone with no gap or cavity in the middle. During the 1920s it became increasingly common to build cavity walls. These have an outer leaf, usually of bricks, then a gap in the middle, and then an inner leaf made of bricks or concrete blocks. Most cavity walls can be insulated with mineral wool or polystyrene beads. These are the most common materials, and the cheapest, but they’re only suitable for cavities that meet certain criteria. You may not be able to fit standard cavity wall insulation if:

• Your house is particularly exposed to

driving rain

• Your cavities are too narrow
• Your cavities are uneven
• Your cavities are blocked with rubble
• You have defective wall ties
• Your home is prone to flooding.

A certified installer will check all of these criteria before deciding whether they can insulate your walls. The installation of cavity wall insulation is specifically defined as notifiable building work in the building regulations. If the installer is registered with the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) the installer will in most cases submit the building notice. In any case, building owners should always check that a building notice will be submitted. If your walls are not suitable for cavity insulation, then you could consider internal or external wall insulation. This can sometimes be the most appropriate option even if there is a cavity. Solid walls lose even more heat than cavity walls; the only way to reduce this heat loss is to insulate them on the inside or the outside. It’s not a cheap option, but you will soon see the benefits to your heating bill and it’s another way of playing your part in reducing carbon emissions. There are two types of solid wall insulation: external and internal.

External insulation

This involves adding a decorative weatherproof insulating treatment to the outside of your wall. The thickness of the insulation should be between 50-100mm and is usually installed where there are severe heating problems or the exterior of the building requires some form of other repair work.

Solid walls can also be insulated by applying internal wall insulation. Types include ready-made insulation plaster board laminates or wooden battens in-filled with insulation or flexible linings. Insulation/plaster board laminates usually consist of plasterboard backed with insulating material typically to a total thickness of up to 90mm.

Minimum energy efficiency values are set out in the building regulations. You may wish to consider improving on these level but there is a law of diminishing returns on recouping any investment on higher levels thermal insulation against the cost so you should carefully research each element, however there are many measure measures which are low cost

Floor insulation

Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying insulation supported by netting between the joists.

Heating and hot water

Using a high efficiency condensing boiler with heating controls could save £190-£240 a year in heating costs. It will also significantly cut your home’s carbon emissions as boilers account for around 60 per cent of all domestic CO2 emissions. As the current lifespan of a boiler is around 15 years, choosing a heating system with a high efficiency condensing boiler with the correct heating controls can make a huge difference to your heating bills over time. Choosing a heating system for your home can be complicated – you might want to consider renewable energy or other eco-friendly technologies. Before you consider the details you should also consider design, location, orientation, shading and fabric of your home as these have a huge impact, particularly on the need for any mechanical heating/cooling system.

Draught proofing

If you can feel cold air coming in around the windows or doors in your home it means warm air is escaping, in a typical home 20 per cent of all heat loss is through poor ventilation and draughts. Draught proofing simply fills gaps and decreases the amount of cold air entering your home. There are several types of materials available from brushes, foams and sealants to strips and shaped rubber or plastic. You can also use a regular tube sealant, such as silicon to fill gaps between floorboards and skirting boards to stop draughts. A note of warning, however – don’t block underfloor airbricks in your outside walls. Floorboards will rot without adequate ventilation. Tank and pipe insulation Insulating your hot water cylinder is one of the simplest and easiest ways to save energy and money. Fitting a British Standard ‘jacket’ around your cylinder will cut heat loss by more than 75%. If you already have a jacket fitted, check that it’s at least 75mm thick. If not, replacing the jacket will help to cut fuel bills.

Eco technologies

You may want to add some renewable energy options to supplement traditional energy sources in your extension or conversion. Solar panels (some produce hot water, whereas photovoltaic generate electricity), air and ground source heat pumps or generators, wood pellet/biomass boilers, log burners, wind and water turbines, and mini domestic combined heat and power generators are becoming increasingly popular. Some are very expensive to purchase and install so consider which will give you the best return over the period you expect to live in your house. You may also be interested in mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems (MVHR), the latest generation of really efficient gas boilers and smart control systems, low energy lighting and using energy efficient domestic appliances.

Lighting

It makes sense to fit the most energy efficient replacement bulbs possible to help reduce your energy bills. LED bulbs are the best option because they’re highly energy efficient. Although relatively expensive to buy, LEDs produce a negligible amount of heat and consume a fraction of the energy used by conventional bulbs and last up to 20 times longer – about 50,000 hours.

Underfloor heating. The most efficient means of delivering heat to a room is from the floor upwards. Hence underfloor heating (UFH) has the advantage that it requires much lower temperatures than radiator systems to achieve the same degree of thermal comfort. This means your existing boiler could operate more efficiently, saving money and energy.UFH is claimed to offer between 15-30%greater efficiency over conventional central heating, plus there’s the added benefit of freeing up wall space with no bulky radiators. The main type of UFH uses warm water pumped through plastic pipes laid in floor screeds over special insulation boards. This makes it less suited to retro-fitting because of the enormous amount of upheaval excavating floors. Even with a modest budget, thermal insulation should remain a priority and will ensure heat generated within your home isn’t lost. A well-insulated home will cost less to heat, cutting out the need for expensive heating systems to keep occupants warm.

Further information on energy saving measures in your home is available from

Energy Saving Trust: Energy at home

Please note for all new building works all the requirements of the building regulations will be applied.