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Ten things everyone needs to know about solid wall insulation

We all know that 25 per cent of an un-insulated home's heat is lost through the roof, but a further third of all the heat lost is through the walls. Homes that were built before 1920 typically have solid walls which can lose even more heat - up to 45%! These are not usually suitable for cavity wall insulation - where insulation is blown in to the gap between the internal and external walls - but homeowners can still stop heat escaping unnecessarily by installing solid wall insulation
Solid walls lose even more heat than cavity walls. The only way to reduce this is to insulate them on the inside or the outside, which needs to be done by a professional installer. Visit www.thinkinsulation.com for more on registered installers
External wall insulation involves adding a decorative weatherproof insulating treatment to the outside of a wall. This needs to be between 50 and 100mm thick, and it's a good idea to install it if some other exterior work is planned so that it's all done in one go
External wall insulation can save a whopping £400 a year on energy bills. This means that although it requires a significant investment to install, it begins to pay for itself immediately with huge money savings...and these will continue!
External wall insulation saves the average three bedroom semi-detached house around 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, making it one of the most impactful changes that can be made to a home. If all homes with solid walls in the UK were insulated properly, it would slash the nation's carbon footprint by a huge 46.2 million tonnes every year[1][1]
Internal wall insulation is a fantastic solution for any solid walled building, including period properties or listed buildings, that would require planning permission for any changes made to the outside, or where the owner wants to maintain the authentic appearance of the property
Systems such as Knauf Insulation's Internal Wall Insulation are ideal for insulating internal walls without losing a significant amount of usable floor area. This doesn't mean that because it's slimline it's any less effective; the water repellent insulation slab - which is made using recycled glass bottles - is extremely hard working, and is friction fitted between the ‘EcoStuds' (basically a timber frame that is attached to the inside wall) to prevent air movement and draughts
Installing internal wall insulation means that fittings such as electric sockets and skirting boards, and decorative features such as cornicing or picture rails, will need removing and repositioning. This makes it the perfect opportunity to give a room a fresh new look and investigate other energy saving measures such as light-reflective paints to make the room look brighter and more spacious
Internal wall insulation can save around £380 a year on energy bills, and an impressive two tonnes of carbon dioxide annually
Subsidies are available for both external and internal wall insulation, so it's well worth visiting www.direct.gov.uk to find the level of grant available for a particular property or area - it could be anything up to £3,500

For more information and advice, including how to find out if a property has cavity or solid walls, visit www.thinkinsulation.com.

N.B. The information contained in this story is provided by the supplier and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of lets-do-diy.com.

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