Insulate your home and save money
Reducing the amount of heat lost around your home is easy and together we can reduce our carbon footprint and save lots of money on our energy bills at the same time. For example, if everyone in Scotland were to install loft insulation then the total financial saving would pay the yearly fuel bills for 47,000 families and save around 330,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
See what you can save by insulating your home
Click on an insulation tip to see how much on average you can save. Savings are based on a 3 bed semi-detached house with gas central heating.
Loft insulation
Possible annual saving
£150 by installing 270mm loft insulation where none currently exists
£45 by topping up existing insulation from 50mm to 270mm
If your home has no insulation at the moment, 26% of heat is lost through the roof. Loft insulation is an effective way to save energy and money and a well-insulated home keeps warmth exactly where you need it – indoors. So, insulating your loft or topping up any existing insulation can help heat your home more efficiently and stop money going through the roof.
If you don't currently have loft insulation you could save around £150 a year on your energy bills by having it installed, and the savings will last for 40 years.
Get help and advice about insulating your home and find out if you're eligible for a grant or loan.
Tanks and pipes
Possible annual saving
£35 by adding a hot water tank jacket
£10 by adding primary pipe insulation
Both tank and pipe insulation keep your water hotter for longer by reducing the amount of heat that escapes.
A new 75mm thick hot water cylinder jacket will save you around £35 a year and the jackets themselves cost less than half that, meaning that you can save the initial cost in less than 6 months.
Insulation for hot water pipes will cost around £10 and can save you around £10 a year, which means you should recover the cost of fitting within a year.
Get help and advice about insulating your home and find out if you're eligible for a grant or loan.
Wall insulation
Possible annual saving
£115 by adding cavity wall insulation
£400 by adding external solid wall insulation
£380 by adding internal solid wall insulation
Around a third of all the heat lost in an un-insulated home is lost through the walls.
If your home was built from 1920 onwards, the chances are that its external walls are made of two layers with a small gap or cavity. Filling this gap can reduce the heat lost. If you have a property with solid walls you can either insulate them with external or internal insulation.
Insulating cavity walls doesn't have to be expensive, as there is financial help available to many people, and with the savings made on your heating bills youíll reap the rewards in only a couple of years.
Cavity wall insulation costs around £250 and saves you around £115 a year – it will pay for itself in a couple of years.
Insulating solid walls is not cheap, but can make a substantial difference to your heating bills.
Solid wall insulation costs from £5,500 to £14,500 depending on what kind you have installed, and can save you around £400 a year.
Get help and advice about insulating your home and find out if you're eligible for a grant or loan.
Draught proofing
Possible annual saving
£25 by installing draught proofing measures
Using strips and excluders to draught proof around leaky door and window frames can save around £25 a year on heating bills. It simply fills gaps and decreases the amount of cold air entering your home. There are several types of materials available from, brushes, foams and sealants, to strips and shaped rubber or plastic.
Draught proofing is an easy and cost-effective way to reduce heating bills for owners and tenants with most materials available from DIY stores. Many of the sealant strips are self-adhesive and fitting brushes to doors or letterboxes is a simple DIY task. If you live in rented accommodation, ask permission from your landlord before doing any work.
Get help and advice about insulating your home and find out if you're eligible for a grant or loan.
Floor insulation
Possible annual saving
£50 by adding floor insulation
£20 by filling skirting board gaps
Insulating beneath floorboards will reduce heating bills and improve the comfort of your home. You could save around £50 a year by insulating your floors. Gaps and cracks around floors and skirting boards are easy and cheap to fill yourself using a tube of sealant – reducing heating bills by around a further £20 a year.
Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between the joists. Be careful not to block under-floor airbricks in your outside walls as areas under floors require ventilation to prevent damp and condensation.
Get help and advice about insulating your home and find out if you're eligible for a grant or loan.
Insulating your home is easy
The Energy Saving Trust can provide help and advice about how to insulate your home. You may even be eligible for a grant or loan.
useful links and information:
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