Are you plagued with high gas bills and excessive energy usage? Then your home could be in need of a little extra insulation.
The average household loses as much as 50 per cent of its heat through the walls, floor and roof, so it’s incredibly important that key features of the home are sealed up, insulated and ready to stop that valuable heat from escaping.
In this article, the expert energy saving team at Danford, Brewer & Ives give their top tips and tricks to reduce your home’s gas bills.
Insulation Is Key to Reducing Gas Bills
Gas central heating systems are one of the primary methods of household heating across the UK. Gas is used as fuel to heat homes, but if your home isn’t adequately insulated, every time you turn on the heating you’re just burning gas away.
Without insulation, the heat produced by the gas heating system in your home escapes to the outside. This means the heating system has to use more gas to keep the temperature constant, and that means you are going to spend more money on higher gas bills.
Insulation is key. But given the many different forms of insulation available for homes, we always recommend having an energy-saving survey of your home carried out by a specialist. A professional survey identifies areas where heat is escaping, and pinpoints the best areas to focus on and insulate.
Insulate Solid Walls to Lower Gas Bills
If your home is an older house dating back to the 1920s or earlier, then it’s likely to have been built with solid walls rather than cavity walls.
Solid walls are a single layer of stone or brick masonry and they offer very poor insulation. When a room is heated, a solid wall provides no way to trap that heat inside. Instead, the heat from the room easily escapes to the outside, ensuring that your gas bills increase.
To lower your gas bills, the solid walls of the house have to be insulated. This is a task that can be completed either internally or externally, with the goal being to add a cavity space that can be filled with an insulating material.
When the heating is on, the heat is trapped in the cavity between the solid wall and the secondary layer that’s been built. The insulating material holds the heat for much longer than the solid wall could, and so your gas bill will be pleasantly lower than before.
Flooring Has to Be Insulated
If the flooring of your home isn’t insulated, then you’re going to have higher gas bills. A large percentage of heat can be lost through the floor, but with adequate insulation you’ll be able to save heat rather than letting it escape.
Floors are generally either concrete or timber, and the easiest form of insulation is to install a secondary layer of flooring that can be filled with insulating material. Multi layered timber flooring can also be filled with insulating material, while any gaps in the floorboards must be filled or repaired.
Don’t forget carpet also works as a great insulator, much more so than tiles or wooden flooring which allow cold spots to form.
Don’t Forget the Loft!
Homes lose the vast majority of their heat through the walls, floor and loft. If you want to lower your gas bills, then don’t forget to insulate the loft and roof.
Thankfully, insulating a loft is often the easiest way to save money on gas bills. If the loft space isn’t in use, then it simply needs to be filled with rolls or boards of insulating materials. This will trap the heat as it rises from the rooms below, thereby lowering the quantity of gas needed to heat the entirety of the house.
If you’re using it as a storage space, then a second layer of flooring can be added, which needs to be filled with insulating materials. If the loft is also used as an extra room, then the roof will need to be insulated as well to stop heat from escaping.
Draught Proof Your Home to Lower Gas Bills
Unwanted draughts are a big cause of unnecessarily high gas bills, but luckily draught proofing your home doesn’t need to be difficult.
When the heating is on, make sure you keep the doors closed and the windows shut. If you only keep the heating on in particular rooms, then close that room’s doors to contain the heat and stop it from dissipating throughout the house.
To prevent draughts, you need to also ensure that the windows and doors are fully sealed. Draughts can cause heat to escape through even the smallest holes or breakages in the windowsill or doorframe, so it’s good to be thorough and carry out regular inspections.
Heat can escape through the most seemingly insignificant of places too, including keyholes and chimneys. Have an energy-saving survey carried out to identify the most comprehensive draught proofing measures in your home.
Damp Proof Your Home
Damp proofing is vital for the long-term stability of any house, but did you know that thoroughly damp proofing your home also helps to keep it insulated?
Damp-proofing techniques commonly involve sealing up gaps in masonry walls or adding a waterproof damp-proof course to the walls or flooring.
While the main aim of damp proofing is to keep the water outside, it also helps to keep the heat inside a home. Other major insulation works can be carried out at the same time as damp proofing, ensuring less disruption and lower overall costs for the homeowner.
Contact Danford, Brewer & Ives to Find Out More About Reducing Your Gas Bills
For more information and advice on reducing your home’s gas bills, then please contact our friendly team on 01765 804050 or fill in our online contact form. Our experienced specialists will be on hand and ready to offer expert advice tailored to your property.