How to insulate your house - five cheap ways to slash your energy bills for under £50
INSULATING your home is the key to making it more energy efficient - something all of us should be doing to cope with soaring energy prices. These are the easiest ways to insulate your home - all for less than £50.
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Improving the energy efficiency of your property is crucial if you want to make significant savings in your energy bills, but you don’t have to spend a fortune on costly insulation to see a difference. Luckily there are plenty of cost effective ways to keep your home warm while working to a tight budget, but what are the cheapest options available? These are the five best ways to insulate your home without leaving you out of pocket.
How to insulate your home cheaply
Poor insulation will drive up your energy bills by allowing precious heat to escape from your home.
While it’s tempting to simply increase the temperature on the thermostat, investing in insulation provides a long term solution which will effectively refund the cost of the materials, by reducing your energy expenditure over time.
Cavity wall, floor and loft insulation are three major forms of household insulation, but these costly options aren’t the only way to trap precious heat in your property.
To keep costs low, start by making a list of the coldest and most drought-prone areas around your home before choosing the best budget remedy for the problem.
READ MORE: Interior tips: Create a ‘hotel-style’ bedroom on a budget
Change your curtains or blinds
Repairing poorly insulated windows can be a costly venture, but a simple change in your blinds and curtains can easily reduce heat loss.
Switch thin materials for thicker fabrics or consider thermal fibres for even better insulation.
This method is available to almost anyone and is a surefire way to keep your house that little bit warmer.
BlindsDirect offers a free thermal lining upgrade on any made to measure curtains, while Dunelm thermal curtains retail from as little as £35.
Use your drapes wisely
Keep drapes and blinds wide open on bright sunny days to make the most of the natural heat from the sun.
You should close them as soon as the sun begins to set in order to retain as much solar energy as possible.
Use internal and external draught excluders
Once you have identified the key problem areas around your home, use draught excluders to plug internal draught.
According to AXA Insurance, taking this simple step can save between £10 to £50 per year on your heating bills, and an extra 10 percent during the coldest months.
The key is to draught proof your home from the inside out, so start by filling the following areas:
- Where pipework leads outside
- Gaps around electrical fittings
- Gaps around the loft hatch
- Gaps around ceiling and wall joints
- Space between the floor and a door
- Cracks around window ledges
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Draught excluders are easy to make using clothes or fabric, such as tights, socks, jumper sleeves or even a pair of jeans.
Stuff the fabric with sand or dried goods such as rice or baking beans and sow the openings up.
Place the draught excluder at the foot of doors or in the corners of window sills to trap heat and save precious energy.
Reseal gaps around window fittings and plug your chimney with plastic bags while not in us.
Alternatively, you can buy draught excluders for as little as £4.
Cover the floor
An estimated 10 percent of all heat is lost through the floor of a property, but there is one simple fix that could help to reduce this costly figure.
Cover solid hardwood floors with soft rugs to trap heat which could otherwise be lost through the cracks between each floor board.
Suspended flooring (flooring which is raised off the ground) should be insulated with a batt of insulation or spray expanding foam between the joists.
Professional installation costs for suspended flooring insulation range from £30-£40.
Keep doors closed
It's common knowledge that leaving external windows and doors open will make your home colder, but the same is true for internal doors too.
While using your central heating, try to keep doors closed in order to trap radiating heat in each room.
This is particularly important if you are spending time in just one room, as it will reduce the need to heat every room in the house to a higher temperature.
Keeping your thermostat low and doors closed in unused rooms will have a significant effect on your energy bills, and it costs nothing at all.