DIY Home Insulation

The cost of heating our homes in the 21st century is on the rise. By insulating our homes we can save money on energy bills and enjoy a better living environment, with fewer drafts, less dampness and less noise from outside. A well-insulated home will be warmer in winter and also cooler in summer. Good insulation can even increase the value of our house.

The ideal reader of this series will be a homeowner with a reasonable set of tools and enough DIY experience to wire a socket extension, dry line a wall or do basic carpentry. A few specialist skills, such as plastering, may either have to be farmed out or acquired on the fly, although I have also given some pointers to aid the novice, should they wish to give it a go. No obscure materials are required - everything needed in this series of books will be found in DIY shops and builder's merchants.

This series uses British houses as its base, but the content is as internationalised as possible. The principles of good insulation are universal. Although construction methods differ between, say, Europe and North America, you can still encounter structural panels, timber, stone and brick walls anywhere in the world. Providing the correct insulation materials are chosen, the designs here can be used for most building types anywhere. Measurements where given are written in both millimetres and inches.

This book complements Book 1: External Wall Insulation and Book 2: Attics & Lofts. It explains how to re-insulate our homes from the inside and below the attic level. It introduces the latest thinking about moisture barriers and ventilation and shows us how to avoid common wall lining pitfalls, of which weak mountings and trapped moisture are the two most common.

This book is in two parts. Part I explains in detail how to insulate and line the insides of our walls. This is probably the most effective insulation task we can do in a house. Yet, wall insulation is often overlooked in favour of attic lining or window replacement: "How can it be," we ask, "that I have a well-insulated, up-to-date house, yet it is still cold?" The answer is in the walls. Part II of this book adds methods for adding insulation underneath floors, and ways of adding insulation to windows. It also discusses the sealing up of draughts and the opposite issue, that of ensuring adequate ventilation.