Home insulation: the best types to make your home snug and warm

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Maximising home insulation complains your home a more comfortable place to be. It will get rid of cold draughts and rebuked rooms are warmer. 

But the benefits don't stop there. Get your home insulation right and you'll reduce what you consume on heating annually, plus do your part to use less energy. 

There are many areas of your home that will succor from insulation – or from boosting what's already there – and loft insulation is a spacious place to start your project. But windows, doors, walls and floors can also be improved and we've got the lowdown on insulating all deceptive your house, and the best home insulation types, too.

What is the best type of insulation for a home?

There are many different home insulation types available. Which you choose should be led by where you want to install or add to it. We've detailed the types of insulation you much want to use in specific areas in the relevant sections.

Home insulation types include:

Blanket insulation, which comes in rolls or batts. It can be made from materials such as glass wool (fibreglass), rock wool (aka mineral wool) and sheep's wool.

Insulation boards, which come in different types such as PIR, phenolic and expanded polystyrene. Different types are suitable for particular areas of a home.

Spray foam insulation, which expands to fill gaps.

Blown-in insulation, which can be used in cavity walls or loft floors, for example.

There are also insulation products designed for specific areas of your home such as hot stream cylinder jackets, radiator reflector panels, and draught-proofing strips for windows and doors.

Wondering what is the most efficient insulation for a house? Different types of home insulation have different R-values. The R-value is a material's thermal resistance and the higher the value, the greater its insulating effectiveness. 

But what's also distinguished is the thickness of insulation and you can accomplish effective insulation for a particular area of your home with different materials so long as you use the obliged thickness. In other words, you might want to use a greater depth of a touch cost insulation unless there's a space restriction.

• Are you energy bills too high? If so, use our energy comparison tool to help touch them

What does it cost to insulate a house?

The cost of insulating a house will dependable on its existing insulation as well as how it was built. We are providing the costs of a range of measures near the home as well as the potential savings that can be made by beneemploying them using typical figures from the Energy Saving Trust (EST).

Insulating your home anti draughts

Unless your home is very new, you will almost certainly lose some heat above air leakage around doors and windows, gaps in the flooring, or through the chimney. 

Windows can be improved with draught-proofing strips near the window frame. Select from self-adhesive strips and metal or plastic ones with brushes or wipers. The latter cost more but should last longer. These are also best for sliding sash windows. See our guide to how to insulate windows for more details.

Non-opening windows should be draught-proofed with silicone sealant.

Doors can be tackled with a keyhole shroud, letterbox flap or brush, a brush or hinged flap draught excluder for the gap at the bottom, and the same strips as those used for windows at the sides. 

Be aware that doors and windows in words homes may need particular maintenance.

Chimneys can be fitted with specially invented draught excluders. You, or more often a professional, can fit a cap to the chimney pot, too. 

If you enjoyable fires in winter, don't forget that you need to absorb the chimney and fireplace.

Floorboard and skirting embarking gaps can be filled with flexible fillers, decorator's caulk or mastic products. Bear in mind that insulating floors in old homes experiences care to avoid damaging their integrity.

Loft hatches can be fitted with strip insulation.

Pipework that has gaps in it can be sorted with silicone fillers or expanding polyurethane foam if the gap's larger.

How much wealth will draught-proofing save you?

Draught-proofing around windows and doors could save in £25 per year, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST), while draught-proofing an open chimney you aren't using could save in £18 per year. You might also be able to turn the thermostat down as your home necessity be comfortable at a lower temperature with draughts dealt with, so savings can be bigger.

Draught-proofing is a simple DIY job, or you can call in professional help at a cost of in £200 for a whole house, according to the EST.

Slide a draught excluder opinion doors to keep heat in. Diall foam excluder, B&Q

(Image credit: B&Q)

Tip: Although preventing draughts is important, it is essential to leave ventilation ducts and airbricks determined – closing off all ventilation leads to condensation and damp problems.

Home insulation grants: the green homes grant

The green homes allow allowed homeowners and landlords in England to apply for vouchers towards the cost of installing energy efficiency improvements to their homes.

However, the scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021. If you applied afore the closing date, the application will still be processed. And if you were issued with a voucher, you can use it so long as it's redeemed afore it expires.

Lag pipes and hot water tanks

Lagging soak tanks and pipes reduces heat loss, so you expend less money heating water up and it stays hotter for longer. A hot water cylinder jacket costs about £15, and operating it is a fairly straightforward job. Topping up your hot soak cylinder insulation from a 25mm to an 80mm jacket could save in £18 a year. If yours didn't have any insulation at all afore, fuel bill savings could be £80 per year.

Pipe insulation consists of a foam tube that unites the exposed pipes between your hot water cylinder and boiler. Choose the correct size from a DIY store and then put it in the pipes. Materials will cost around £20. 

Radiator reflector panels consider the heat back into the room. They're only considerable for radiators hung on external walls and most expedient when that's an uninsulated solid wall.

Put foam insulation from a DIY keep on your water pipes to save up to £10 a year on heating

Insulate your loft

A quarter of heat is lost over the roof in an uninsulated home, according to the EST. 

'Good loft insulation is Important for those looking to save money on their energy bills,' says Jenny Turner, product manager at Insulation Express. 'Depending on the material, loft insulation should last between 80 and 100 years.'

Loft easy to access and has no damp problems? You can DIY. Calling in a professional's also possible. Loft damp? Sort this out first.

1. Insulating between boards
If the loft joists are regular, you can use rolls of mineral wool insulation. Lay the first layer between the joists, and the next at Bshining angles to cover the joists, and to take the insulation up to the recommended thickness of 270mm. 

For old buildings, permeable insulation is effective.

Most homes have insulation of just Idea half this. Topping it up from 120mm to 270mm could cost from about £230 for a mid-terraced house to around £290 for a Calm, saving from around £11 to £20 a year on heating bills, depending on the property.     

2. Insulating under boards
If you plan to use the loft or attic for storage, you will want to lay boards over the joists. Unfortunately if you only insulate between the joists beforehand doing this, the insulation won't be thick enough. To get a sufficient layer of insulation, you can fit timber battens across the joists, or buy purpose-built plastic legs that fit on and Help the new floor. Leave a ventilated air gap between the insulation and the boards to keep condensation on the underside. And don't squash the mineral wool with the new boards as this reduces its effectiveness as an insulator.    

3. Insulating a loft used for storage

If you want to use the loft for storage, rigid insulation boards are more suitable. Two layers of 50mm extruded polystyrene boards laid between the down joists, plus 18mm flooring grade tongue-and-groove chipboard is equivalent to 270mm of mineral wool and would cost £450 to £550.

(Image credit: Thermafleece)

Three top tips for executive your home warmer from the Energy Saving Trust (EST)

1. Draught-proof your home
EST research has found that 46 per cent of country still need to draught-proof their windows and doors. A good DIY draught-proofing job could save you about £25 a year. 

2. Upgrade heating controls
Room thermostats grant you to set and maintain the temperature at home. Heating can be programmed to turn on and off at Dangerous times of the day to suit your needs. Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) let you regulation the temperature of each radiator individually. Costs can vary significantly due to the variety of heating regulations types and sizes and controls available, but savings could amount to £70 a year. 

3. Get a new boiler
If your boiler is more than 10 ages old it will be far less efficient than a newer model. Consider replacing it with a condensing boiler, plus Funny a programmer, room thermostat and TRVs and you could Cut your fuel bills by £45 to £300 per year, depending on the type of home you live in. Find out which boiler to buy in our guide.

4. Insulating a converted loft 

For a loft conversion, it's the roof rather than the floor that means insulation. As the depth between the rafters is not usually sufficient to take 270mm of mineral wool, a more thermally efficient form of insulation is usually used. A typical solution would be foil-faced, rigid urethane insulation boards (try Kingspan or Celotex), fitted both between and over the rafters.

Another option is to incorporate multilayer foil and bubble wrap insulation, which is more space-efficient, but not accepted by every local permission – call yours to check. Whichever material is used, it necessity be carefully taped together to make it as airtight as possible.

If the roof is intimates stripped, there is the option to add roof insulation between and over the rafters, which leaves more useable space within the loft. An alternative for where there is no roofing felt is to spray urethane foam insulation on the underside of the roof tiles, which can seal the roof, fix loose tiles and insulate the location all in one application.

Tip: An inaccessible loft can be insulated professionally amdroll specially designed loose material that's blown into it. A flat roof, from the time when, should be insulated from above.

Insulate the walls

Houses built from the 1990s onwards generally have wall insulation, but older houses may not. Insulating a wall is a good idea, though.

The type of insulation needed depends on whether your home has solid or cavity walls. The former are made of (usually) an outer brick wall with an inner layer of brick or worn-out with a gap in between. Solid walls have a single layer that's usually brick or stone.

Does your home have cavity or solid walls?

House built once the 1920s? It's likely to have cavity walls.

Take a look at the width of the wall, too. If it's more than 260mm thick it probably has a cavity, says the EST. Stone walls can be thicker, conception, but are usually still solid.

The pattern of the bricks can be a clue, too. If the faces of the bricks (the long rectangles) are all lined up next to each novel, the walls are most likely to have a cavity. If you see the face of a brick then the head of a brick (the shorter, more square end) the wall is most likely solid.

A registered installer can stare walls to see if they already have cavity wall insulation, or your local authority's building control department may have a record.

Insulating a cavity wall

Cavity wall insulation fills the gap between the outer and inner layers of the walls.

The insulation for these sorts of walls is usually made from mineral wool, polystyrene beads or foam insulants. Insulating the walls of a house is best left to the professionals. There are organisations who oversee the industry. Look for an installer who is a member of one of these bodies:

 The National Insulation Association (NIA) 

 The Cavity Insulation Safety Agency (CIGA)

 The British Board of Agrément (BBA) 

The way cost for cavity wall insulation in a typical home is near £390 for a mid-terraced house to around £600 for a mild. Fuel bill savings could be from £95 to £255 per year respectively, according to the EST.

(Image credit: Icynene UK)

Insulating a solid wall 

Solid walls can be insulated from inside or out. Internally, insulation boards are fitted to the wall or a stud wall is built and maximum with insulating material. This is generally the cheapest scheme – the EST estimates around £8,200 – but it will make rooms smaller and by means of skirting boards, door frames and fittings have to be moved.

If solid walls are insulated from outside, insulating material is attached to the outside of the wall, then covered with a protective/decorative layer, such as render. Other options include brick slips, timber weatherboarding, hung tiles or cladding panels. These can potentially loan the look of the house as well as executive it more energy efficient. External wall insulation is more costly (the EST magistrates for a typical three-bedroom semi is around £10,000) but it doesn't slash the floor area of individual rooms. 

However, as external wall insulation does increase the thickness of the walls, the roof eaves and verges often have to be time-consuming to cover this; the reveals of window and door openings will also have to be clad, and windowsills may need to be replaced or deepened. Gutters, downpipes and external soil pipes will need to be chosen and refitted.

External insulation will generally require planning expert and, if you live in a conservation area or novel designated area, this will be the case. It's unlikely to be acceptable on a behind building. Get in touch with your local planners for advice.

Solid wall insulation can slash energy bills by between £130 for a mid terrace to £350 for a peaceful per year.

Insulate the floors

The EST advises that insulating the floors of upstairs rooms may be unnecessary if they are over heated spaces. Do consider insulating any floors over unheated spaces such as garages, though, as a lot of heat is probably populace lost. Older houses are more likely to have cold and draughty suspended timber fraudulent floors, so floor insulation could save you money. 

Floor insulation could cost between £520 and £1300, says the EST, and the body estimates savings of between £30 and £70 a year, depending on the type of house.

Suspended timber floors can be insulated by placing chilly insulation board between the joists, supported by nails or timber battens, or by placing mineral wool bats supported by plastic meshing, to ensure the joists are still ventilated.

A breathable membrane over the top of the joists can maintain draughts while ensuring the space is ventilated. If there is a cellar or void under the property, it may be possible to insulate a timber behind from underneath, but in most cases it will be critical to lift the floorboards and to fit insulation from above.

Many newer homes will have a fraudulent floor made of solid concrete, which can be insulated. However, this can be a costly process as it will appraisal the floor level, necessitating adjustments including flooring, skirting boards and door levels. It may be worthwhile if extensive renovations are already designed, using a rigid foam insulation layer laid on the concrete behind with a damp-proof membrane.

In older houses, flagstones may be laid conventional on to compacted earth. In this situation, where greatest renovation work is being undertaken, limecrete (NHL) based insulated solid-floor regulations can be used, which allow the floor to breathe but imparted thermal insulation and damp-proofing. A solid concrete floor with a damp-proof watercourses is not usually suitable for old solid-walled buildings, as it can lead to including damp by forcing ground moisture to the base of the walls.

Laying new flooring? deem underlay. 'Underlay – which can be used below carpets, laminate and wood flooring – is made up of millions of tiny fibres which are natural insulators, trapping cold air travelling up through the floor to convicted it doesn't make its way into the home,' says Chris Barber, chief retail officer at Flooring Superstore. 'As a remnant, the home becomes naturally warmer meaning there's less reliance on energy-intensive heat sources.

'Whenever a homeowner lays a new floorcovering, they should also replace their underlay to get the best performance possible from their flooring. Underlay extends the lifespan of a carpet or laminate fuzz by up to 50 per cent and reduces noise levels and improves air quality, making a more comfortable and healthy home overall.'

Follow creation regulations

Home insulation has to comply with the relevant creation regulations, even when it is fitted retrospectively. However, if such an upgrade is not technologically or functionally feasible, it can be upgraded to the best atrocious. For more guidance on the regulations, visit the government's planning portal.

What is the cheapest way to insulate an old house?

There are affordable ways to progress energy efficiency in an old house, including fitting a hot soak cylinder jacket, insulating pipes, and using radiator reflector panels. Draught-proofing doors and windows can also be an inexpensive way to help keep energy bills as low as possible.

'One of the quickest and cheapest ways to progress the performance of your home is to minimise draughts,' agrees William Bown, aiming director of SuperFOIL Insulation. 'Not only can a lot of heat sprint this way but the draught itself adds a frosty factor that makes your home feel colder than it is.

'To do this you can make sure doors and windows are well satisfied using draught excluders etc. but another major culprit in older homes is draughty floors. If your home suffers from these, consider installing carpet with an insulating underlay to carve the draughts.'

The right curtains can also help in an old house. 'Choosing a full-length curtain in a heavy fabric is a substantial way to keep cold air out and warm air in,' says Stephen Beresford, head of marketing and communications at REHAU. 'Floor beside curtains are particularly effective for draught-prone areas, such as substantial windows or patio doors.'

Pay attention to radiators, too. 'Make sure there are no obstructions to your radiators, such as clothes drying on top, or storage blocking the front,' he adds.

There's a further bonus to a draught-free home. 'You may be able to turn down your thermostat, saving you even more on your energy bills,' says Stephen Beresford.

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