Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Anything is better than nothing. Even something thin will make it feel warmer underfoot. The thicker, the lower the losses.
- Thread starter DAPPH
- Start date
Anything is better than nothing. Even something thin will make it feel warmer underfoot. The thicker, the lower the losses.
Pigeon_Droppings2
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We did our exterior walls with insulated plasterboard (was only 25mm insulation)...that also made a big difference. In winter when I touch the wall it isn't cold (1930s solid brick). Reckon even 20mm on the cement floors would make a difference.
Grandad was well ahead of his time. He lined the insides of his house with polystyrene sheets in the 70s and then papered over it.
Morrisman
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My folks did the same, back in 1971, using rolls of 1/16" polystyrene. The walls felt warm to the touch, despite it being so thin. They also did the ceilings with12" square polystyrene tiles.
Nobody had heard of loft insulation back then, but my dad got something from the RAF where he worked and rolled it out in our lift.
He also made his own double glazing, using sheets of perspex screwed to the inside of the window frames. It made a difference.
The house was but a year old when they bought it, and it had no heating upstairs, but electric underfloor heating downstairs. And a fireplace. After the first winter the electric under floor heating was disconnected, never to be used again.
No mains gas in the village, so 2 Calor gas bottles were stowed out the back of the house, and a gas fire fitted where the coal fire had been. That was our only heating for many years.
Kids of today have no idea.....
Gareth J
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The first few mm are the most valuable. Diminishing returns the thicker you go. That's not to say that beyond an inch of insulation is pointless but that you'll notice the benefit of the first inch more than the second etc. Regarding floors, in a solid floor, apparently you loose a lot more heat from around the sides than the middle. Makes sense as the ground below won't cool so much as an icy gale outside.
Cobbler
Codger bodger
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From what I recall, the original polystyrene wall insulation was called Kotina, my father also swore by it & also my father in law covered every surface of their house with it, what he couldn’t cover he did with polystyrene tiles. He was about the worst DIYer going, so it looked awful.
With fuel it's got its own set of variables to make it less predictable. Oil being all sold in USD so the exchange rate impacts it, plus they always over-produce to try to ensure sticks & supplies at the pumps - so they have to sell off any surplus - which gets sold on the spot market in Rotterdam (or at least it used to). Anyone with the money and the shipping can buy off the racks in Rotterdam, and generally pay less for the surplus.
(We had a couple of entrepreneurial types doing that in Wales back in the 89's - if anyone remembers the "Action" Brand and the rash of "Action" Petrol Stations that appeared? He was buying Spot Fuel from Rotterdam and undercutting all the big brand Forecourts - and made a killing).
Anyway - oil price yo-yo's daily and is affected by so many global factors.... but let's hope it drops (though I've filled up and won't need any for 6-9 mths)
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Think it's £400.
Any ideas how it will be paid? If you already have enough oil how will that work i wonder?
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Yep, I've between 2 and 4" of perimeter insulation in my retrofit floor build up.
I removed the existing floor and dug down. Then compacted stone:
On that I put a sand blind:
Followed by 25mm of polystyrene. I carried this up over the squared up footings and up the walls.
Then a thick gauge DPM and 150mm of Celotex:
The DPM connects to the vcl that goes up the walls and across the ceiling. Basically this area then got filled up with 100mm of concrete with UFH in. I also fitted a corrugated expansion strip around before concreting.
Just the rest of the house to do now...
One of my unfinished drawings, something like this:
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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A tad off topic but I mentioned earlier a couple I know built a house exceeding passive spec. Comments have been made about the look of them. They can look however you want. Though they've moved now and taken the blog down (in deference to the new buyers) I found these pictures. Basically a concrete slab sat on 300mm of insulation. Then a timber frame filled with 350mm of Icynene spray insulation. Outside that from memory was 50mm Rockwool batt. You can see the old, asbestos ridden bungalow to the left. They Freecycled, Freegled the old bungalow, all the timber, tiles, oil tank c/w oil, gave most of it away. Lovely people. They did pay I think it was £5K for a specialist to erect a "tent" over the old place and remove the asbestos.
You use a long flexi saw to trim the Icynene level with the stud frame.
The finished article:
Others have built them with solid outer walls in flint, local stone etc.
If they had stayed they'd have added PV.
You use a long flexi saw to trim the Icynene level with the stud frame.
The finished article:
Others have built them with solid outer walls in flint, local stone etc.
If they had stayed they'd have added PV.
Very nice looking too.
addjunkie
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That spray insulation is very american, but in reality they just self build a well insulated timber frame house. Instead of buying insulated sections and assembling.
I used 25mm king span round the edges of the slabs in both my house and holiday cottages to help reduce heat loss and allow for thermal expansion due to the under floor heating.
I used 25mm king span round the edges of the slabs in both my house and holiday cottages to help reduce heat loss and allow for thermal expansion due to the under floor heating.
Pigeon_Droppings2
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I'd have one of those...but there's not really many places you can actually build them I reckon unless you buy an existing house/plot and knock the house down. Shame really...better insulation is really obviously the way out of our current energy problems!
T689
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I live in Devon,
Boiler juice quoting 87.89ppl this morning: Southern Fuels quoting 80.75ppl
Big difference! - make sure you also phone some other companies direct in your area as well before you order, I normally phone a few up and go with the cheapest as they deserve the business.
Boiler juice quoting 87.89ppl this morning: Southern Fuels quoting 80.75ppl
Big difference! - make sure you also phone some other companies direct in your area as well before you order, I normally phone a few up and go with the cheapest as they deserve the business.
