Cost Of Living: Insulation

Adding, updating or installing insulation can halve your heating bill – and reduce your carbon emissions. Around a third of all the heat lost from an uninsulated home is through the walls. Most UK houses have either solid walls, which can be insulated externally, or internally, with plaster board laminates backed with insulating material – offering annual savings of £380 and £360 respectively. Insulating cavity walls will give you a 15 per cent reduction in heat loss and savings of £120. There are even cheaper flexible linings, which can be applied internally. Installing them is a professional job as errors can lead to condensation and damp.

But there are alterations you can make yourself: filling gaps around skirting boards and floors with silicon sealant can save you £20 a year, while lifting floorboards and laying mineral wool between the joists will cut heating costs by £40. Fitting insular jackets around pipes and hot water tanks and laying loft insulation, without which you will be losing 15 per cent of your heating cost, are easy tasks.

A note of warning: don't cover airbricks when laying under-floor insulation – floorboards will rot without adequate ventilation. Also, when insulating a loft, care must be taken not to insulate below a cold water tank or to compress the insulation in tight corners or eaves.

Double glazing can reduce heat loss through windows by half, saving £110 a year. A cheaper option is to fit secondary glazing.

What it costs: If you are eligible for benefits, energy suppliers and local authorities provide grants to help you implement energy-saving measures in your home.

The following costs are based on insulating a two-to- three-bedroom, semi-detached house.

Boiler jackets – £12 – offer a 75 per cent reduction in heat loss
Insulation for pipes – £5-£10
External wall insulation – £4,500
Internal wall insulation – from £42 per square metre
Loft insulation – £500
Insulating gaps between floor and skirting boards – £20
To insulate underneath the floorboards on the ground floor – £90
Double/secondary glazing costs vary.

Figures supplied by The Energy Saving Trust: 0800 512 012; www.energysavingtrust.org.uk