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Floor it! The race to insulate is on after new study on raised timber floors
Posted by Sam Tonge on 1 September 2017 at 11:03 am
New research has provided some food for thought when considering heat loss from within the floor of your home. Suspended timber ground floors in the study were found to lose twice as much heat as had been previously estimated. This means that if you live in an older property it’s likely tha…
Carbon Coop leads the way to new models of retrofitting
Posted by Károly Gergely on 7 July 2017 at 11:30 am
Community Green Deal, a project by Manchester-based social enterprise, Carbon Coop has provided useful learning in three areas: technical, social and business-models. A summary of the report can be found here and the full report here. Our Community Green Deal project ran f…
Condensation and ventilation: preventing damp in your home
Posted by Anna Carlini on 20 June 2017 at 4:50 pm
Ventilation is a surprisingly important element in keeping your heating bills down. How? Because a home that can’t “breathe” is one which traps moisture on the inside and causes damp. Even if a home has high levels of insulation, a damp wall can lose up to 40% more heat than a d…
Is it true that people in passive houses roast in summer?
Posted by Joanne Spurrell on 2 May 2017 at 2:45 pm
Passive House is a voluntary energy performance standard that results in buildings that are extremely airtight and have good levels of insulation. In such buildings, little energy is required for space heating and cooling so you can do away with conventional heating systems. But this begs the que…
External vs internal wall insulation: Which is best?
Posted by Aderanti Kudehinbu on 7 March 2017 at 10:05 am
Heating a house with solid walls can be quite a challenge. Solid walls lack a cavity, so the most common form of wall insulation isn’t viable, but they can still be insulated with either internal or external insulation. The effectiveness of an insulating material is represented by a U-v…
Earth sheltered houses: Past, present and future
Posted by Alex Barrett on 1 December 2016 at 12:40 pm
We have a long history of living in earth sheltered houses. Some of the earliest human dwellings made use of caves, and throughout human history there have been occasions where building your house into a hillside proved far more effective than leaving it exposed. The ground is a good insulati…
How will degree days help you measure energy savings from heating and insulation improvements?
Posted by Alex Barrett on 14 November 2016 at 11:01 am
Suppose you are retrofitting your house, improving its insulation or installing a more energy efficient heating system. You will want to know how much energy you are saving, but with heating costs this can be tricky to figure out. This is where "degree days" can help. Temperature, a…
Draught proofing - how much could you save?
Posted by Alex Barrett on 14 October 2016 at 1:40 pm
Leaky buildings cost a lot of energy. Draughts allow hot air to escape from even the best insulated houses, and can be uncomfortable for those inside. Historic England report that older buildings lose 15-20% of their heat through draughts [1]. Fortunately this can be solved by draught proofing, w…
There is magic to the fabric: going all out with insulation
Posted by NEF Gabby on 13 September 2016 at 9:55 am
As summer fades into the distant past we all know that the cold months of the year will soon be upon us, but turning up the heating isn’t the only action you can take to keep warm at home this winter. In a recent interview with SuperHome owner Ian Mawditt, he told us how he took a fabric-fi…
What works when planning a major refurbishment project?
Posted by Idalia Dawidowska on 30 August 2016 at 11:30 am
My partner and I bought our three bed end of terrace Edwardian house in Chorlton cum Hardy, Manchester, in February 2014. The house had a reasonable Energy Performance rating of 58 (band C) but was in need of a major refurbishment. At this point we weren’t thinking much about energy efficie…
What can you do to make an old cold home a cosy home?
Posted by NEF Gordon on 24 August 2016 at 1:45 pm
AgeUK estimate every winter in England and Wales 25,000 older people living in poorly heated homes succumb to the cold. The onslaught of cold conditions can often take many by surprise and can leave us feeling poorly prepared and suffering as a result. Leicester homeowner, Zina Zelter, believes t…
Is boarding a loft with LoftZone the easier option?
Posted by Alex Barrett on 23 August 2016 at 9:45 am
Loft insulation is a vital component of any energy efficient house, but installing the recommended 270mm of loft insulation can cut into storage space. One way to get around this is to add extra joists, or to use a dedicated system like LoftZone, so you can board above the recommended depth of in…
Could home refurbishment be the key to a comfortable retirement?
Posted by Richard Vale on 29 July 2016 at 2:50 pm
As a generation of baby boomers look towards retirement, new thoughts and concerns begin to fill their minds. One consideration that should not be missed is the need to keep warm, healthy and comfortable at home. Keeping out the cold, or rather, keeping in the heat, has been at the forefront …
Retrofit Pattern Book shares details it's vital we get right
Posted by Anna Carlini on 27 May 2016 at 11:50 am
The Retrofit Pattern Book is bringing tried and tested retrofit techniques out into the open. An online, open-source site for technical information, it is designed as a platform for designers and manufacturers to show their best practical detail to others. I had a phone call with Charlie Baker of…
Airbricks, Flooding and Cavity Wall Insulation
Posted by Jason Ramsdale on 6 January 2016 at 4:45 pm
Airbricks are hollow, vented blocks that are placed into walls to allow for air circulation in the subfloor of houses with suspended timber floor. This air circulation is designed to prevent the underfloor space becoming damp and stale. Damp problems can occur if airbricks are blocked, flooded, c…
Sagging cavity wall insulation: why it happens, how do I know and what to do?
Posted by Helena Ripley on 13 July 2015 at 12:30 pm
Installing cavity wall insulation (CWI) can help to stop heat leaking through your walls and therefore decrease your spending on heating by up to £270 (based on an average gas heated detached home). However over time the insulation can sag or degrade. Gaps in insulation can cause nearly…
Solid wall insulation - What shall I tell the neighbours?
Posted by Gabby Mallett on 5 June 2015 at 3:45 pm
I am sure you are already thinking, why tell them anything? The answer is that this may be more disruptive to them than you think. Clearly there will be different implications for the neighbours depending on whether you are doing internal (IWI) or external (EWI) solid wall insulation, but the fol…
Green Open Homes: visit for inspiration in spring and autumn
Posted by Gordon Glass on 18 May 2015 at 10:30 am
This month is a busy one for Green Open Homes with events all over the country, from West Cornwall to Yorkshire. An estimated total of 200 homes are being opened up this spring for visitors, showcasing both low cost energy efficient improvements and larger more expensive options. Event locations …
Can you have both cavity wall insulation and external or internal wall insulation?
Posted by Tasha Kosviner on 7 May 2015 at 9:35 am
Got a cavity wall? Fill it. Got a solid wall? Then add internal or external wall insulation. This is the standard advice for people looking make their houses snugger and more energy efficient. But there are those who go one step further. Having filled the cavities in his mid-century detac…
Green Deal Home Improvement Fund runs out again!
Posted by NEF Gordon on 27 March 2015 at 5:55 pm
The latest release of Government money to fund home improvements via the Green Deal has once again run out of money. The finance is released on a quarterly basis with this release of £70million opening on 16 March 2015. Whilst this is a great display of how popular the scheme is, …
