Hot air goes up, and if your house is not properly insulated, you could lose as much as one
fourth of your heat through your roof. By insulating a loft or attic or even any flat roofs on
your home, you take simple and quite effective measures to cut down on that heat loss and
save money on your heating bills; this is even something you can do yourself.

Insulation in a loft provides effective heat loss prevention for at least forty years, and the
installation of such insulation will pay for itself many times over the course of those four
decades.

How Much Money Could Be Saved?

	Loft insulation  (0 -270mm)	Loft insulation  (100 – 270mm)
Approximate savings per year	Up to €210	€30
Up-front Installation costs	€120 to €420	€120 to €420
Time taken to pay for itself	Up to two years	From four years
DIY cost	€60 to €420	€60 to €420
Time taken to pay for itself	Up to two years	From two years
Carbon dioxide saving per year	About 720kg	About 110kg

These estimates are generated based on installing insulation a gas-heated, semi-detached
home that has 3 bedrooms, as compared to a similar home with an uninsulated loft, and
when insulation is upgraded from 100mm of insulation to 270mm. (270mm is the
recommended depth for mineral wool insulation, but other materials may require different
thicknesses).

Even if the loft of your home is already insulated, it would still be worthwhile to double-check to be sure the insulation is of the proper depth, just to be sure you have enough insulation to reap the maximum saving. If every homeowner in the UK installed 270mm thickness of loft insulation, we could save almost €600 million, plus eliminate 2.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually; this is the equivalent of eliminating almost 100,000 cars from the road.

Choosing the Right Loft Insulation

Easy Loft Access and Regularly-Spaced Joists
If your loft is easily accessible and does not have problems with dampness or condensation, it should be very easy to install installation—
this is even a job you could do yourself.

If there is access to the loft and the ceiling has regular joist, you can simply install rolls of
mineral wool insulation. To do this, simply roll out the insulation in the spaces between the
ceiling’s joists (the horizontal beams that constitute the structural strength or ‘floor’ of the
loft). After this, a second layer should be put down perpendicular to the joists to provide a
better seal and to achieve the required depth of insulation. This can be done by either a a
professional installer or a do-it-yourself-er.

Storage Space or Living Space?
If you will need to utilize your loft or attic as a storage space, you will need to build a floor
over thejoists.  Unfortunately, if you only install insulation up to the top of the joists, you
will not have the  necessary thickness of insulation needed to maximize the effectiveness
of the insulation. To solve this problem, you can:

• Use mineral wool to insulate the spaces that are between the joists and supplement this
  rigid insulation boards above it, and place the wooden flooring on top of that.  You can
  even buy insulation board that is pre-bonded to floor boarding to make the job even
  easier.  Or:
• Alternatively, you might raise the floor level higher to accommodate a sufficient thickness
  of mineral wool under the floorboards.

In either case, be sure you do not press down or flatten the mineral wool when you install the
floorboards, as this will decrease the effectiveness of the insulation.

If you would like to utilize the attic for a living area, it is possible to insulate the underside of the
roof rather than the floor. The best way to achieve this is by installing rigid insulation boards in
the spaces between the roof rafters. The insulation boards must be cut properly to ensure a
snug fit between the rafters. These spaces and the installed insulation can then be covered
over with drywall or plasterboards. The spaces between the rafters are not usually very deep,
so to attain the best insulation value it may be necessary to insulate on top of the rafters as well,
using insulated plasterboard.  If you do not have sufficient room to do this, be sure that the
insulation board you use is of the highest performance rating available.

Difficult to access the Attic
If it is hard to access your Attic, you can use blown insulation to create a heat barrier. This type of
insulation must be installed by a professional, who will utilize special equipment to inject loose, fire
-retardant insulating material made up of mineral wool or fibers of cellulose into the loft area. This
job can normally be completed in just a few hours.

Irregular Joists
In the event that you have an irregular loft space, incorrectly distanced joists for rolled insulation,
or other types of obstructions that making using rolls of mineral wool insulation impractical, you
can use loose-fill insulation. This type of insulation material is sold in bags, and can be made up of
mineral wool or cellulose fiber, cork granules, or vermiculite. To install this form of insulation, you
simply pour it into the spaces between the joists to the correct depth. You can do this type of insulation
yourself or hire a professional installer. It may be necessary to raise the height of the joist in order to
achieve the proper insulation depth.

Flat Roofs
It is always preferable to insulate a flat roof by installing the insulation from above. This can be done
by adding rigid insulation board directly on top of the roof timbers with the weatherproofing layer on
top of the insulation, or on top of the existing weatherproofing with a second layer of weatherproofing
on top of that. The best time to do a job such as this is when you already need to replace and existing
roof covering. In fact, to comply with Building Regulations, you must replace your insulation when
your roof covering needs to be replaced.

It is also possible to install insulation for a flat roof from the underside, but if this is not done properly
it will probably lead to problems with condensation. Either way, insulating a flat roof is a job that is best
left to a professional.

Installing insulation on a flat roof could save you as much as €216 and 800kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually if at least half of the area of your roof is flat;  these savings will vary based on how much of the roof area is flat.

Damp or Humid Attic
The purpose of insulation is to help contain heat and prevent its loss from living areas, so your attic
willbe cooler as a result.  If you loft already has problems with dampness and/or condensation, these
problems could get even worse. Seek the advice of a professional before doing any installation of
insulation to see if it is possible to address the dampness issues first.

Pipes, Water Tanks and Loft Hatches
Adding insulation to the spaces between the joists in your loft will increase the warmth of the living areas
of you home, but it will make the loft space itself cooler. Water tanks and/or pipes in the loft space are at
an increased risk of freezing as a result, so these will need to be insulated. If water tanks in your loft are far from the access hatch, there will be an additional need for a safe walkway for when you need to get to them.

The cooler attic air that results from attic insulation could cause cold drafts to enter your home via the
attic access hatch. To address this issue, install an insulated attic hatch and weather seal around the frame edges with strips of draught-excluding material.

An un-insulated home loses around a quarter of its head through the roof. By simply
insulating an attic or loft you will effectively save energy and lower your heating costs
significantly, which translates into a savings of money and a reduction in the demand
for fossil fuels. Over the years, insulation will pay for itself several times over. Installing
insulation in your home can also be a DIY project.

Why Insulate?
Should your home’s loft already be insulated, it is still wise to check
whether it is sufficiently insulated to guarantee maximum savings
on your energy bill. One interesting fact: if every one in the United
Kingdom had 27mm f loft insulation, almost £500 million could be
saved in energy costs every year, not to mention the 2.7 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that wouldn’t be leaked into
the atmosphere. This is the equivalent of removing almost 100,000
automobiles  from the road!

Choosing Your Loft Insulation
Lofts with easy access, regularly joist placement, and few dampness or condensation issues are normally quite easy to insulate using mineral wool. This  material comes in a roll that
can be laid in a layer between the loft’s joists, which are the horizontal beams composing
the loft floor. Once  this has been done, another layer can be laid at perpendicular angles
to cover up the joists and bring the insulation’s depth up to the desired depth.  This should
be done by a qualified individual, whether it is a DIY project or a professional job.

Insulating Attic Living Spaces
If your loft or attic is a living space, a flooring of boards will need to be laid overthe joists.
However, only insulating between joists prior to laying this flooring won’t give sufficient
insulation depth. To ensure proper depth, take these measures:

• Lay mineral wool insulation between joists, then place rigid insulating board atop
  this, with wooden floorboards atop those. Purchasing pre- bonded insulation
  boarding makes the job even easier. Or, you can:
• Raise the floor level to fit sufficient boards on top.

Regardless, do not squash or compress the mineral wool when mounting the floorboards,
as that will reduce the value and effectiveness of the insulation. The floorboards must be
measured and cut to the proper width, ensuring that they will have a snug fit between the
roof rafters, and then plasterboard can be placed on top. Rafters are not normally deep, so
in order to get the best level of performance you might need to insulate them correctly, using
insulated plaster board.

Insulating Lofts and Attics with Difficult Access
Hard-to-access lofts and attics may need blown insulation, which must be installed
professionally. This installation requires specialised equipment , which blows a loose,
fire- retardant cellulose or mineral wool insulation material into the loft space. This
installation normally only takes a couple of hours.

Irregular Joist Placement
Should your loft have irregular joist placement, meaning they  are too close or too
far apart to place rolled mineral wool or that there are too many obstructions to lay
matting, loose-fill insulation is an option. Loose -fill insulation is sold in bags, and
is comprised of granules of  cork, mineral wool, vermiculite, or cellular fibres, all of
which can be poured between roof joists to the desired depth. This is a project  suited
for DIY-ers or for professionals. Loose-fill insulation may require increasing the joists’
height to make sure the insulation is deep enough.

Insulating Damp Lofts
Your insulated loft will be a lot cooler, since the insulation keeps heat from escaping
the  living spaces—which can also aggravate pre-existing dampness or condensation
issues.  Consult with a professional prior to installing insulation about whether the
dampness problems can be fixed before installing the insulation, to prevent exacerbating
the situation.

There are many ways homeowners can save money, such as by reducing energy loss.
If you live in a home that was built after 1920, it probably has exterior walls that are comprised
of two layers, with a small cavity between.

Walls lose about a third of all the heat energy in un-insulated homes; by insulating cavity walls,
you can save about €140 in fuel costs per year. Here is some practical information about cavity
wall insulation that will help you save money and reduce energy consumption, which is better for the environment.

Why Insulate Cavity Walls?
Insulation keeps a home’s temperature steady: in winter, it keeps the warm air inside, and in summer, it keeps the hot air out.
A well-insulated home is more energy efficient, thus saving money on heating and cooling costs. By reducing energy, our consumption of fossil fuels is reduced as well, so there are less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions released into the atmosphere.

Since CO2 is a greenhouse gas, contributing to climate change, it behooves us all to conserve energy and reduce these harmful emissions, such as by insulating a home’s cavity walls. If all UK homes with cavity walls installed insulation, there would be a gross savings of about £690 million per year, as well as almost four million tonnes of CO2. The nice byproduct of this that your energy bills will be lowered, too.

Estimated Savings
The estimated annual saving per year for insulating cavity walls is about €150 (based on a three-bedroom, semi-detached house that uses gas heating), while the estimated cost for installing the insulation is about €320. You can see that the insulation will more than pay for itself in less than three years, and around 560 kilograms of CO2 is saved as well. In order to find out about the grants available to help pay for the installation of cavity wall insulation, see here.

Is Cavity Wall Insulation Appropriate for My Home?

Your home will likely benefit from cavity wall insulation if:

• The exterior walls are unfilled cavity walls
• The masonry or brickwork is in good repair
• The interior cavity is 50mm or more

Homes built in the last decade probably already have insulated cavities.
Those walls which are exposed to heavy rainfall could also be unsuitable.

Always check with a registered installer, who can provide a knowledgeable assessment of whether your home meets the cavity insulation requirements. If your home doesn’t meet the requirements, you could consider solid wall insulation instead, which does have energy-saving benefits as well. Cavity wall insulation is an affordable and easy way to save money, increase the value of your home, and contribute toward the greater well-being of the planet.

 

Summers seem to be getting warmer every year. Many people have installed central air conditioning systems into their home and use them as an attempt to beat the heat. While they can work well they do cause a jump in a home’s hydro usage. If you are looking for a way to keep your home comfortable without a corresponding spike in hydro usage here are some alternatives that you may want to consider.

Tried and true designs may make for cooler homes
Some traditional design methods can actually help keep a home cool naturally. They were used for many years although they have become much less popular in the last century or so. If you are building a new home or are renovating an existing structure you may want to work them into your design.

Ventilation can be the key to a cooler home
Do not underestimate the impact that ventilation can have on your home. In the past, homes were designed and positioned so that they took advantage of the natural airflow around them. These worked for several reasons. The first is that they helped evaporate moisture (in this case, sweat) off of the skin. This makes people feel much cooler. In order to take advantage of this in your own home you should position the building or the windows in such a fashion that there is a decent amount of air flow in a home.

In older homes, there were often large windows that were positioned across from one another. Copying this design can help ensure your home is cooled down naturally. Placing windows on adjacent walls can also help to increase air flow although it will not be to the same extent.

The stack effect can cool your home
You may also want to consider using something known as the “stack effect” to cool your home naturally. Heat rises and taking advantage of this tendency can help keep a home much cooler. In order to take advantage of the stack effect it is important that you place openings at the top and bottom of an area. This allows air to move in lower down and push hot air up and out of a room.

Energy efficient windows can also help you keep your home cooler
You can also help to reduce your home’s energy use and increase the cooling effect by installing energy efficient windows. These will help trap more cool air inside a home and may reduce how hard your air conditioning system needs to work in order to keep a home at a comfortable temperature.

Energy bills are getting more and more expensive each month. People are trying to find ways that they can save a large amount of energy and attempt to accomplish this through the use of energy efficient appliances and by changing the way that they power or heat their home. What they, and you, may not realize is that a lot of energy can be saved simply by stopping the slow drain in your home.

Power bars can use energy even when they don’t appear to be on
The power bars that we plug our appliances and electronic devices into actually use a small amount of power on a continuing basis. This is what allows us to turn our devices on without waiting for them to power up. Over time this energy usage can add up. If you want to stop this slow leak of energy you need to do one of two things.

The first thing that you can do is to physically turn the power bar off. They come with a switch that allows you to turn them off and then they will not drain any more power. The second is to use power bars that operate on a timer. This allows you to set the bar to be off at certain times and on at others.

Check windows and doors
Your home can use a lot of energy in order to keep the air temperature comfortable. If you want to make sure that your home does not waste energy you need to check your windows and doors. Small gaps or spaces around windows and worn out weather stripping around doors can allow a significant amount of loss in terms of heated or cooled air.

If you want to make sure that your home is as energy efficient as possible you need to make sure that your windows are new and that you have ensured that the weather stripping is in good condition.

Insulating your home can reduce your energy use
It is important to have a qualified professional look at the amount and type of insulation in your home. If you have an older home it may not have the level of insulation it needs in order to be truly energy efficient. If you are finding that your home is overly cool in the winter and overly warm in the summer you may want to find out whether your home is insulated properly.

By checking all of these areas you can be sure that your home is as good at conserving energy as possible.

If you are interested in making sure that the home you will be living in is as environmentally friendly as possible, you have two choices. One option is to purchase an existing property and retrofit key areas using green technology. The second option is to purchase a plot of land and build from the ground up. While this may be too expensive for some individuals, doing so can afford you the most control over the items that are used to build the home that you will be living in.

If you do decide to start from scratch, here is some information on environmentally responsible choices. They can help you construct a home that is comfortable and which leaves as little impact as possible on the world around you.

At ground level and below

Traditional foundations used cement as their main ingredient. While cement can make a very durable base from your home, there are ways that you can make the foundation more environmentally friendly. One is to use straw or earth in the construction. This is a natural insulator and will reduce your energy bills. As it looks much like a standard foundation, it will not look different enough that it would affect the resale value of your home.

You may also want to build into an existing hill or install a heat pump system when building the foundation. Earth is an excellent insulator and at deep enough levels will stay at a fairly constant temperature. Using a geothermal heat pump will allow you to draw on this warmth and harness it to warm your home.

Which way should your house face?

Deciding which way your house should face is important. By orienting it to the south, it will be possible to use passive solar energy to heat your home. This will further reduce your heating bills. Passive solar systems allow heat to enter a home through large, well insulated windows. The heat enters but cannot escape. Also, by maximizing the amount of natural light available in your home you may also be able to reduce your electric bills as well.

Green Insulation options

If you are putting in new insulation you may want to consider using environmentally friendly insulation instead of the standard fiberglass materials. Options include spun glass insulation that is made from recycled bottles, or blown insulation that is made from a type of paper.

Once you have the basic structure determined you can then begin to look for other elements that will help make your home feel comfortable. Whether you paint with low VOC paints or choose recycled and repurposed items will be up to your taste and your budget.

If you know that you are going to be staying in your home for quite some time to come, it is not as important whether the green updates or changes to your home are as attractive to buyers. If, however, you are trying to find a way to use environmentally friendly items and technology in a way that will increase your home’s resale value, you may need to be more cautious.

Why you need to be careful about the changes you make to your home
It is important to be careful about the changes you make to your home because if a home seems overly unique, it may be difficult for buyers to picture themselves living comfortably in your property. While many people are fairly aware of the advantages that green technology can bring them, others may be more interested in homes that look and feel traditional but which utilize environmentally friendly items that will make their home more energy efficient.

Potential buyers may not see certain elements as a benefit to the environment but if you can offer them savings on heating and energy bills. If you can show them that your home is much less expensive to operate and maintain than other homes that are similar, you have a much more realistic chance of getting the sale you are after.

What does this mean for renovations?
If you are trying to pick and choose which areas to renovate first you need to choose items that have the most visible and immediate impact. For example, renovating a kitchen or bathroom to make it more eco-friendly or replacing an older, worn out roof with a material that is durable as well as eco friendly will likely give you the best return for your investment.

Some popular green updates that appeal to buyers
There are many green updates that you can add to your home that will appeal to buyers. Tankless hot water systems, for example, are appealing because they can give an almost unlimited source of hot water for any room in the home. They can be easily maintained by new owners as well. Energy efficient windows that will reduce the amount of heat loss are also appealing to buyers as they may not want to have to replace older model windows when they move into a home.

Heating and insulation can also make a home appealing
Heating systems and increased insulation can also be appealing to a buyer. If you add energy efficient insulation and a heating system that will drastically reduce a hydro or energy bill you will create an environment that a buyer may be much more willing to move into.

Only you will know which areas of your home need to be updated first. Obviously, if your home has obvious issues you should consider correcting them first before moving on to any cosmetic updates. An advisor that has experience retrofitting homes in your area should be able to look at your home and tell you where your renovation dollars will have the greatest impact.

In a house where there is not sufficient insulation 30% of the energy generated can be lost through walls, roof, floor, pipes, windows and air leakages. To prevent this loss adequate insulation should be applied where necessary. Here are some insulation recommendations:

Walls:

Cavity wall insulation

If your home was built after 1920 but not in the last 10 years then it might be an un-insulated cavity wall house. If there is a small gap or `cavity’ between the two layers of walls, they are `cavity walls’. Cavity wall insulation means that, the gap between the walls is filled with an insulation material and it blocks the heat transfer between the house and the outside. Cavity wall insulation can also help to reduce condensation inside the house if it is a problem on external walls. Heat always flows from a warm area to a cold one. In winter, if outside is colder, you are going to lose the heat you generated in your house more rapidly. Cavity wall insulation slows down the rate at which heat is transferred and keeps as much heat as possible inside your home for as long as possible. How does this happen? Insulation makes it much more difficult for heat to pass through your walls by filling up the cavity with a material with lots of air pockets in it. These pockets significantly reduce what is known as your walls’ U value – which is a measure of how quickly they lose heat – from around 1.5 to 0.5 W/m2K . The lower the U value, the slower heat is lost – and the less energy you will need to keep your home at your desired temperature. You may sometimes see references to an R-value. This is a measure of thermal resistance and is the inverse of a U-value – the higher a U-value is the lower the R-value is.

Solid Wall Insulation

Solid walls can cause even more heat loss than cavity walls; the only way to reduce this heat loss is to insulate them on the inside or the outside. This will help stop heat being lost from your home and help to prevent condensation on the walls and ceilings. There are two types of solid wall insulation: external and internal.

• External wall insulation
  It is adding a decorative weather-proof insulating treatment to the outside of your wall. The thickness of the insulation needs to be between 50 and 100 mm and is usually installed where there are severe heating problems or the exterior of the building requires some form of other repair work providing the opportunity of adding insulation.
• Internal wall insulation
  Solid walls can also be insulated by applying internal wall insulation. Types include insulation/plaster board laminates or wooden battens in-filled with insulation. Insulation/plaster board laminates usually consist of plasterboard backed with insulating material typically to a total thickness of up to 90mm. The construction of the laminates reduces the amount of heat which would otherwise pass through into the wall and outside.

Floor Insulation
Another location where you lose heat is the floor of your house. You lose the heat you produce directly to the foundation of your house or in other words to the soil or the gap between the soil and your house. Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between the joists.

Roof Insulation
In an un-insulated home a quarter of your heat is lost through the roof. Insulating your loft is a simple and effective way to reduce your heating bills. Without proper insulation a lot of the valuable, expensive energy you use to heat your home will be lost through the loft. Loft insulation is an effective way to save energy and money at home. A well insulated house keeps warmth exactly where you need it – indoors.

Draught Proofing
If you can feel cold air coming in around the windows in your home it means warm air is escaping. In draught proofing simply gaps are filled and the amount of cold air entering your home is decreased. There are several types of materials available from brushes, foams and sealants to strips and shaped rubber or plastic.

Hot water tank and pipe insulation
Insulating your hot water cylinder is one of the simplest and easiest ways to save energy and money.

Both tank and pipe insulation keeps your water hot for longer by reducing the amount of heat produced. So you can consider lower bills for water heating.

Double Glazing
Double glazing can cut heat loss through windows by half. Double glazing works by trapping air between two panes of glass creating an insulating barrier that reduces heat loss, noise and condensation. So you will reduce the amount of heat you lose through windows.

Briefly, providing insulation at all points that you may lose heat will have significant benefits regarding your heating costs. Insulation job can for small applications be a DIY job but for larger applications such as double glazing, cavity wall insulation etc. you need to consult an expert. If you want to get information about our solutions for insulation all around your house you can contact us here.

In some houses, external walls are made of two layers with a small gap or `cavity’ between them. This means they are `cavity walls’.  The main reason for building cavity walls is that they provide resistance to rain penetration and provide sound insulation. The cavity serves as a way to drain water back out through weep holes in the base of the wall system. However, a cavity wall system may cause energy losses. If your buillding has two wall layers with at least 50 mm gap between them then you should consider having cavity wall insulation. Homes built between 1930 and 1995 generally require cavity wall insulation. Those built later commonly have insulation and those built earlier generally have solid walls. However, for the certain answer you should ask an installer. Cavity wall insulation is an effective way to save energy and money at home. A well insulated house keeps warmth exactly where you need it – indoors. While you are spending a considerable amount of your annual income on heating expenses keeping the heat gnerated in the house would be the besst way of effective heating.

Cavity wall insulation can also help to reduce condensation inside the house if it is a problem on external walls. You can save typically 40% by just cavity wall insulation. Cavity wall insulation is so cost effective that it will pay for itself over and over again. The better insulated your home, the less energy you need to keep it warm – and the more money you’ll save.

Common materials for cavity wall insulation are:

• Mineral wool, spun from glass or rock
• Urea formaldehyde foam
• Expanded polystyrene beads
• proprietary brands, made from recycled newspaper

Cavity wall insulation slows down the rate at which heat escapes, keeping as much of it as possible inside your home for as long as possible. Insulation makes it much more difficult for heat to pass through your walls by filling up the cavity with a material with lots of air pockets in it.

Cavity wall insulation has some more additional benefits.

a)      They provide extra sound insulation

b)      In addition to this, as you will be burning less fuel for heating the carbon emission of your house will be less and so does your contribution to global warming.

c)      The building energy rating of your house will increase. In Ireland it is now a must to have a BER assessment for all houses to be sold or let.

d)     Having a higher BER the market value of your house will increase as the new tenants or buyers will not need to spend much on energy efficiency issues.

Having cavity wall insulation is not something you can do on your own. You need to find a registered installer for cavity wall insulation. They are going to assess yuour building and your needs so your cavity wall insulation is not going to be a problem when it needs to be a relief.

If you want to benefit from the services offered by our expert team you can contact us here.

Unless you live in a tropical climate, there will be times that you need to make your home warmer than the exterior temperature would normally allow. While it is important to choose environmentally friendly heating methods for your home such as solar energy or biomass heating systems, it is also important for you to keep that heat inside your home. Your fuel usage will be much lower and your heating bills will as well.

Some insulation is made from synthetic materials. While they can be quite effective at preventing heat loss, their production may release waste products that can harm the environment. There are insulating products that are made from environmentally friendly materials. It is up to you to learn more about them and choose the ones that will work best for your home.

How insulation works to keep your home at a steady temperature

All insulation works in essentially the same way: by trapping air. Heated air cannot move through insulation and so remains inside your home. As a result, your home stays warmer longer than it would if there was no insulation in place. Because moisture can also collect where warmer, moist air meets cooler walls, a proper amount of insulation can also help to protect against the growth of mold or other harmful elements that may flourish in dark, damp conditions.

Insulation tends to come in one of several different forms. Batt insulation is usually made of spun fibers that trap the air. Blown insulation consists of smaller pieces of insulation that are blown into cavities in walls or into attic spaces in your home. Foam insulation tends to be piped into an area. It will harden and prevent treated air from escaping, thereby keeping the internal temperature at a more consistent level.

Natural insulating materials

In the past, the majority of insulation was made from synthetic materials such as fiberglass. Mineral wool was also often used to insulate homes but mineral wool is also synthetic and may create pollutants when it is being produced. The following materials are all natural alternatives that you may want to consider for your home:

• Warmcel. This material is fiber based and is a great substitute for mineral and fiberglass woll insulation
• Thermafleece is a product made from sheep wool. It can absorb moisture when placed into a home. It also requires very little energy to produce and is a great environmentally friendly alternative
• Eco-Wool. This material is actually made from recycled plastic bottles. It also can be used in many of the same areas that other synthetic wool insulation has been placed

A qualified builder should be able to look at available options and help you choose the one that is right for your home.