By the time you read these words, October should have just about arrived – which means that winter should be just around the corner.At this time of year, the temperature becomes considerably cooler – and while it might seem trite to make this observation, few of us really give the problem the attention that it deserves. With so much heat energy being frivolously wasted across the country, it’s worth taking the time to consider how we might go about keeping the insides of our homes toasty warm without wasting hundreds of pounds keeping the outside warm, too.
Let’s examine some of the ways in which various technologies might help to address this particular problem.
Double glazing
Windows are without doubt the most vulnerable areas of a building as far as heat escape is concerned.They’re far thinner and less substantial than walls, and so transfer of energy from one side to the other occurs far more easily – if you want proof of this, you need only look at the typical household on a thermal imaging camera.
Double glazing works by placing two panes of glass parallel to one another, and removing the air from the intervening space.This hugely reduces the ease by which heat can transfer from one side of the glass to the other.Filling the space with an inert gas like argon reduces it still further.
Note that planning permission for some sorts of double glazing might not be easily obtained in period properties, as when viewed from outside the glass can take on a distinctly bowed and warped appearance over time, which can somewhat sully the look of such properties.
Loft insulation
Let’s consider again the thermal images we might have seen of homes.We’ll have seen that heat escapes a great deal from windows.But we’ll also have noted that it rises through the roof, too – unless some obstacle is placed in its path.That’s where loft insulation comes in.By simply cramming the interior of a loft with insulating material, we can prevent that heat from escaping so quickly – and reduce the amount of money we spend on it.
Cavity Wall insulation
After a certain period in history, all houses built in the UK come with not one, but two outside walls – one slightly within the other as with the panes of glass in a double-glazed window.The principle here is the same – two barriers with a space in between them can retain heat far better than just one can.But just as we can improve the efficacy of a double-glazed window by filling it with argon or boron, we can improve the efficiency of our walls by filling them with insulating material, of the same sort we might use in our lofts.
Pipe insulation
Hot water is a fantastic means of heating a home – simply pipe it through a radiator, and the surrounding air will begin to gradually heat, until your living space is nice and toasty-warm.But there’s a condition, here; we only want heat to escape from the pipe when it reaches the radiator, and not before.
This means cladding pipes in a suitable insulating material – either with expanding foam, which can be injected into an interior wall, or in the form of a foam jacket that will sit around an exposed pipe and keep the heat inside it.You’ll be able to find either from a suitable supplier of building materials in North Wales.
Pipe insulation isn’t just good for ensuring that heat reaches your radiator before it escapes.It will also assure the longevity of the pipes themselves.During especially frosty spells, there’s a considerable risk that water may become frozen inside the pipe.This will create a blockage; and the next time you come to turn on your water, the resultant pressure will cause the pipes to come under strain.Eventually, they’ll burst within the wall – a problem which can be very costly and irritating to fix.By shielding your pipes, you’ll minimise the likelihood of this happening.
Underfloor heating
Underfloor heating is a luxury that many are attracted to, because it removes the problem of those freezing tiles on a kitchen floor on a winder morning (when you might be barefoot).
Though underfloor heating is expensive to install, it offers marginal efficiency gains over competing technologies, as the heat will rise upward through the space in an even manner, rather than being limited to just the side of the room where the radiator is.North Wales flooring specialists are able to offer quality underfloor heating at competitive rates, and so the investment is well worth considering.