Floor Insulation

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Many homes suffer from the effects of draughts coming up through the floors, or the transfer of cold through concrete floors. Gaps and draughts around skirting boards and floors are simple to fix yourself, with a tube of sealant bought from most DIY stores.

How does floor insulation work?

Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation, supported by netting between the joists. Alternatively, you can use a rigid insulation board such as Celotex or Kingspan and wedge this tightly between the floor joists. Most wooden or laminate floors come with recommended insulation that can go underneath them.

You can also use a regular tube sealant, such as silicone, to fill gaps between floorboards and skirting boards to stop draughts. A note of warning: don’t block under-floor air bricks in your outside walls. Floorboards can rot over time without adequate ventilation. Also, be careful of pipes and wires under the floor when carrying out this work.

Having good underlay and thick carpet can also help towards making the home warmer.

What does it cost?

A typical room may cost around £100-£250 to insulate with rigid insulation board, depending on which thickness you install (100mm is probably best), or around £50-£150 to insulate with mineral fibre and netting as a DIY job. Done professionally this will cost much more.

Filling the gaps in between the skirting board and the floor costs about £20.

What can I save?

Using a silicone sealant to fill gaps will save you around £20-£25 a year on your heating bills. Insulating underneath the floorboards on the ground floor will save you around £60-£75 a year. About half a tonne of CO2 a year can be saved in a 3 bed semi-detached house.

How is it installed?

Not all home insulation work has to be carried out by a professional. It may work out cheaper to do the floor insulation yourself, with materials from your local DIY store.

Failing that, you could contact a maintenance company, builder or insulation contractor to see if they can quote for the work. Always get more than one quote.

Floor insulation can be a disruptive measure, and is probably best done when you are replacing floor coverings like carpets, or carrying out general refurbishment works. Floorboards will need to be lifted, or the underfloor void accessed underneath the home if applicable.

Park Homes

It is possible to insulate under the floor of a park home, from the underside of the home. The materials used are either a spray-foam, a rigid insulation board or a multi-foil layered quilt.

Ridgewater Energy have a network of contractors across the South of England that can install this measure for you. We are also the park home specialist and deal with several schemes that may provide grants and ethical loans to assist with the costs.

Grants

It is unusual for grants to be available for underfloor insulation to standard homes, unless they are locally funded initiatives, you can contact us to get the latest information.

Useful Links

Download Floor Insulation PDF