Make your home comfortable this winter

This could mean that the roof space is not well insulated and that heat is escaping through the loft, with a simple solution being to make sure that loft insulation is installed and fitted correctly.

But what about the rest of the house at this time of year?

We are all familiar with the challenges of achieving winter comfort – low temperatures in rooms, cold internal surfaces, low thermal comfort, and unwanted cold draughts.

Combine these factors with humidity, bad indoor air quality, condensation on internal surfaces and increased heating costs and homeowners may have a recipe for a particularly expensive, unhappy, and unhealthy winter.

The solution is to keep internal surfaces warm, provide additional heat and fresh air in indoor spaces, and limit heat losses as much as possible.

As winter causes external temperatures to be lower than those indoors, the whole building envelope needs to have good thermal insulation – and good glazing if possible – to prevent heat leaking through walls, roofs and floors. For example, an uninsulated house can lose up to 60% of heat through external walls, doors and windows and up to 30% through roofs.

When improving the thermal characteristics of a building, following a clear sequence of measures, starting with the airtight installation of modern windows and doors followed by the professional installation of thermal insulation on external walls and around windows, is ideal.

Good thermal insulation on the external side of walls, supported by heavier building material layers on the inside will achieve the most stable indoor temperatures.

These measures should be followed by the installation of thermal insulation in the roof or loft and then insulation in the ground floor or basement ceiling if applicable. As a general rule, external wall insulation should be thicker than basement ceiling insulation and roof or loft insulation thicker than that of the walls.

Download our Insulation Solutions Guide to learn more about different solutions for walls, roofs and floors.

To learn more about how insulation can make your home more comfortable, not just in the winter months, read our blog ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Insulation – Comfort in Your Home’.