What constitutes a ‘healthy’ home?
Health is really important to all of us, yet many of us live in houses with poor internal environments. Some of this is our own fault – we clean using dangerous chemicals; we allow properties to get into a poor …
Tag: wood fibre
Vapour Control Layers in Insulation
From RIBA The pressure for energy saving in solid walled buildings is real and tangible. Green Deal and rising energy bills are encouraging us to insulate our walls. Where we have external features / facades that we want to keep …
How much insulation is it best to use on solid walls?
Wood fibre board insulation being used externally Many of you will be aware that I am slightly reticent in recommending certain insulation types on older buildings. This is because of the risks associated with damp, thermal bridging and structural failure. …
How much insulation is it best to use on solid walls? Read more »
Definition of Economic
There was a great presentation at a Wales Zero / Low Carbon Hub meeting this year and it mentioned the original definition for Economic. It comes from the Latin Oeconomicus and means management of the household. This is obviously quite …
Hot loft conversion this summer?
When we think about insulating our lofts we only think about keeping them warm in the winter. However, with summers projected to get warmer, we also need to start thinking about keeping them cooler in the summer. So insulation works …
Internal Wall Insulation on Solid Walls
This is a typical industry standard way of insulating solid walls internally (IWI). Use a high performance insulation board (or between stud) with a vapour control layer. This appears to give a great new U value (better insulation) for the …
How to improve insulation in the loft when you have it full of stuff already.
This is a big problem. Insulation companies will not remove all your stuff to install new insulation, so effectively by having a load of storage in the loft, stops you from having a grant for additional insulation. So your choices. …
How to improve insulation in the loft when you have it full of stuff already. Read more »
Alternatives to plaster boards
Plaster boards are a sandwich of paper and gypsum that are commonly used as a finishing board for walls and ceilings. They are then skimmed with gypsum / thistle plaster for a really fine finish. The final smooth and flat …
Insulation – U values vs decrement values
There are a range of issues with insulation and a major overlooked factor is decrement. Insulation values are normally measured in U (the lower the U value the better the insulative properties). This measures the thermal resistance of products from …
Insulating solid walls
Old houses are seen as being a real problem with regards to carbon emissions. Their walls are seen as being really inefficient and difficult to treat. When we use computer programmes to calculate how efficient our homes are we use …