Insulate your floor
Last updated Wednesday 2 July 2008
Keep the heat under your feet
Everyone knows - or should do - about the importance of lagging your loft, but in fact we lose more heat through the floor than the roof. Insulating your floor and blocking the draughts they let in will save 350kg of CO2 a year and stop you hopping from foot to foot on cold winter mornings.
And the good news is you only need to insulate the lowest floor - where the heat is lost.
Read more below
Saves up to 350 kg of CO2 a year
76 Bloomers are doing this
CO2 reduction 
Cheapness
Popularity
Cost £10 - £90
In this article:
How will it make a difference?
Pub Fact
- Heat loss through floors can be reduced by up to 60 per cent by insulation
You have a choice between insulating underneath the floorboards and insulating between them and the carpet. Taking the floorboards up is obviously more disruptive but saves more CO2 and cash. You can do it yourself for about £90: you'll make the money back in two years and save 350kg a year of CO2.
How do I do it?
- Choose a material from the Energy Saving Trust's recommended products or from around the web. Natural insulation such as sheep's wool and recycled newspaper produced less CO2 when they were manufactured so have fewer embodied
- If you don't fancy pulling up floorboards yourself, get someone in - but make sure they're accredited through the National Insulation Association
- Under floor insulation will be easier if you have access to floorboards via an unheated basement
- If you still don't fancy having the floor up, add a fibreboard underlay over the existing floorboards, but under the carpet
- A cheap option (and therefore good for renters) if you have bare floorboards is to fill in the gaps between them and round the edges along the skirting board with thin strips of newspaper. Cover them in clear silicone sealant from a DIY shop. (See draught-proofing for more details)
- Carpets do insulate but if you're in love with the look of bare boards, rugs will help. (Beware - floorboards need ventilation, or they'll rot)
- If you have a concrete or solid floor, it's possible to add a layer of insulation on top but the process can get complicated. See page 19 of the Energy Saving Trust's guide for more details.
or
If you like this action send it to a friend
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
my parents have made the renovation in our flat,and have insulated the floor,now it's really more warm at home and even my uncle,who came to visit us,said that it's more warm in our flat!