Underfloor Insulation

What is Underfloor Insulation?

Insulating a floor means adding an insulating material beneath the floorboards, thereby reducing heat escaping through the floor into the ground. Approximately 15% of heat is lost from a house via this route. Insulation also acts to prevent draughts coming up through the floorboards.

Underfloor insulation is most commonly done when putting a new floor in place, but most floors can be retrofitted with insulating material, and this will make a large saving to your overall heating bill. 9 times out of 10, most people will insulate the ground floor of their property because this is where you’ll feel the cold.

If you install the underfloor insulation yourself, the costs will obviously be less because of the saving you make on professional labour charges, meaning around £100 would insulate a suspended timber floor in an average sized room.

If the job is undertaken by a professional, it will probably cost at least double this amount. If you are having a solid floor installed by a professional, the cost will normally start at around £900 for an average sized room.

Underfloor Insulation Benefits

The benefits of underfloor heating can be significant. 10-20% of heat loss from a building can be through the floors if they’re not insulated to a reasonable standard. Installing underfloor heating, you will gain access to the following benefits:

• Prevent Heat Loss – Introducing underfloor insulation into your property means that your home or office is going to be more thermally efficient. This basically means that it will be able to retain desirable temperatures all year round organically, without the excessive need for heaters and coolers.
• Reduced Artificial Air – When your property is more self-sufficient in maintaining comfortable temperatures, you cease to run heaters and coolers as much. For obvious reasons, it’s much better to utilise these less.
• Savings – Once you make less use of your energy units, like heaters and air conditioning, you will naturally receive smaller bills from your gas and electricity companies. This translates to more money in your pocket and becomes a way for you to recoup your initial investment in underfloor insulation.
• Prevent Cold Air – Cracks and holes in floorboards allow air to creep in through the floor, making a home colder in winter. By installing underfloor insulation, you are essentially creating a layer between external temperatures and your floorboards, which prevents air from creeping in through the floors.