Does your home suffer from chilly floorboards, or do you have draughts coming up from beneath the house? You may be missing out on the benefits of floor insulation.

Why Do You Need Floor Insulation?

  • Save on your energy usage – Floor insulation can prevent unnecessary heat losses and heat gains! You could see a 10% reduction in your energy bills from underfloor insulation alone, and this is a conservative estimate.
  • Reduce your monthly energy bills – Installing underfloor insulation batts improves your homes thermal envelope and gives you better control over inside temperatures. This means you can operate indoor heating and cooling appliances at a lower setting.
  • Homes with ‘suspended floors’ can experience cold floors and air draughts entering through the floorboards. Installing insulation in your floor can reduce cold air draughts from entering your home via cracks or gaps in your floor and help it stay warmer during the winter months.
  • Floor insulation can minimise the transfer of impact noises such as footsteps across the floor and dampen vibrations from appliances such as washer and dryer, giving your floor a more solid feel.
  • Insulate under heated floors to reduce heat loss from the heating elements to the concrete slab underneath. This will greatly increase the energy efficiency of the heating system and enable you to operate it at a lower energy input.

5 Ways To Insulate Your Floor And Warm Up Your Home

  1. Adding an insulating layer under your carpet enhances its performance, increasing the comfort and thermal properties of your floor.
  2. Between 15-25% of heat loss or heat gain can occur through unsealed cracks in your home. Seal cracks and gaps between floorboards, skirting boards and walls to prevent unwanted draughts.
  3. Carpet and rugs can add an insulating barrier to your home and create a warm feel to your floor.
  4. Consider installing underfloor heating in living rooms or bathrooms where the floors tend to be coldest. Hydronic underfloor heating tends to be the most popular however electric systems are on the incline.
  5. Underfloor insulation batts can be installed during the construction phase of new builds, extensions or retrofitted in existing homes. Cheap underfloor insulation is available at Pricewise Insulation and is available in a variety of sizes and R-values.

Difference Between Suspended And Solid Floors When Insulating

Suspended floors consist of floorboards nailed to joists. Insulating these floors will improve its thermal performance and greatly minimise draughts. The easiest way to install underfloor insulation is to gain access underneath the floor and fit the batts between the joist spacing supported by the timber frame. If there’s no access from below, you may need to lift carpet and floorboards to gain access to the stud area underneath. Insulating from above is more complex and often results in damage to the floor area.

Solid floors made from brick, tile, concrete, or stone can be cold to touch and are difficult to thermally insulate. Ensure that solid floors can ‘breathe’ to minimize dampness and moisture complications in your home. In most cases, laying a thermal underlay carpet on top of the solid floor is the easiest way to improve the floors thermal performance. Another option is to place a layer of solid insulation directly on top of the solid floor and then add carpet underlay etc.

What Other Areas Should You Insulate In Your Home?

Insulating your floor is a step in the right direction, however greater savings can be made by insulating other important areas of your home. Pricewise Insulation offers a huge range of cheap underfloor insulation products as well as other insulation product types.

External walls

You can reduce your energy bills by up to 25% when choosing to insulate the exterior walls of your home. Consider upgrading to a higher R-value for wall insulation, as a higher R-value will give you greater thermal performance.

Internal Walls

When insulating between rooms in your home it is important to consider the acoustic properties of insulation. Acoustic insulation is denser than regular insulation batts and ensures comfortable noise levels within your home. Rest assured acoustic insulation has both thermal and acoustic properties to create optimal temperatures and noise levels within your home.

Ceiling

Installing ceiling insulation can reduce heat losses and gains by up to 45%! Choosing the type of insulating material and R-value for your ceiling will depend on your climate zone and construction type.

Concrete Slab Insulation

If you are creating a concrete slab for the first time, try to install it in a position where it can receive the northern sunlight. This will allow the slab to heat up during sunlight hours and slowly release heat to your home in the evening. When insulating a new concrete slab consider both underneath the slab and on the edges. It is said that up to 80% of heat loss can occur from the edges of concrete slabs. Overall, up to 25% of a buildings heat can escape through uninsulated areas below such as foundations and concrete slabs. It is important to choose slab or floor insulation that is water and moisture resistant and able to quickly dry.