Insulation for Roofs and Walls

What is this?

Insulation helps to prevent heat loss from your walls and roof thus retaining heat and minimising the amount of energy needed to keep your house warm and cosy.

What's the benefit?

When it comes to improving your home, insulation is always the first step that we recommend you take. It is one of the most important ways of making your home energy efficient. It will reduce heating bills by retaining the heat that you produce. Exterior walls leak more than any other part of the house; over a third of all heat loss is lost straight through the walls in a poorly insulated house.

• 35% of heat loss is lost through the walls of un-insulated houses. Insulating your walls can save you around £130 a year and around one tonne of carbon dioxide.
• 26% of heat loss is lost through the roof and by insulation your roof you can save around £110 and 750kg of Carbon Dioxide.

Insulating your home is one of the cheapest and most cost effective ways of making your home more energy efficient. It has the shortest pay back turn around out of all of the green systems and we will always recommend insulating your house before purchasing any other form of energy efficient heating system.

How can Footprint Building help?

If you are considering having your house insulated then give us a call and we will be happy to come and do a free site viewing to discuss your individual requirements. We can recommend, supply and install a number of insulation materials. We also make beautiful sustainable casement and sash windows and doors in our joinery workshop, which exceed the required standards of thermal efficiency

Answers to frequently asked questions:

1. Are they suitable for my home?

Good insulation is needed for every home to make it more energy efficient. There are a number of ways that you can insulate your home.

• Cavity walls and roofs can be filled with a variety of different insulators such as recycled paper, lamb's wool, hemp and even grass.
• Walls can be also insulated by exterior rendering boards or interior insulating boards.
• Windows are obviously another large area where heat can escape. Draft proofing is an affordable way of preventing heat from escaping. Double or triple glazing can help to insulate your windows but you can also buy window film to help insulate your home in the winter and reflect UV rays in the summer to reduce air conditioning bills.

2. Do I need planning permission?

Planning may be required if it changes the appearance of the house e.g. if you are planning exterior insulating rendering boards then you may have to run it past planning first.
Interior insulation does not need planning permission, but should have an individual specification done on the property.

For more information on planning contact:

Bristol City Council Planning Services,
Email: customerservices.ptsd@bristol.gov.uk,
Telephone: (0117) 922 3097
Planning, Transport and Sustainable Development
Bristol City Council
Brunel House
St George's Road
BS1 5UY

For those outside Bristol, have a look here to find your nearest Planning authority.

3. Are there any grants available?

There are a number of grants available for insulation but most of them depend on your existing gas or electricity supplier. To check to see whether or not you are liable for a grant pop in and see us in our showroom or give us a call.

Footprint Buildings recommended product:

Warmcell 100, 200, 500

Warmcel is manufactured from 100% recycled waste newspaper and has extremely low embodied energy, requiring far less energy to produce than any other mainstream insulation material.

It does not contain any added formaldehyde and is free from CFCs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other toxic substances. And by reducing heating demand, Warmcel also plays a major part in reducing household CO2 emissions.

When, eventually, Warmcel insulation is removed from a building, it can be recycled again or disposed of safely, without creating toxic waste or biodegradability problems.

Thermal Performance

With an impressive thermal conductivity value (k) of only 0.036 W/mK, Warmcel's 'in use' performance is further enhanced by its ability to create a high level of air-tightness to prevent thermal convection currents.

The proven methods of application ensure the insulation provides a complete seal to minimise heat loss, eliminating gaps, cracks or other cold bridges.

Further information

There are other forms of eco insulation including hemp boards, sheep's wool and even grass boards. For more information on insulation please pop into our showroom on: 42 Pembroke Rd, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 or give us a call to discuss your individual requirements: 0117 3179571.