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Attic Insulation Thermal Response Heat Retention Window Insulation
Up to half of the heat-loss from a house occurs through the walls and a poorly insulated attic roof. By insulating the walls and the attic space in a professional manner you can retain up to 70% of heat loss.
This is a staggering figure, quite common in older homes. Consider the fact the average house in Ireland costs €3,500 per annum to heat. This means if your house is not properly insulated, you are literally burning nearly €2,500 every year. Think about that! You would buy a lot of other necessities for the home with that money. It is the same thing as standing in front of the fire and throwing fifty €50 euro notes into it!
Most houses built before about 1980 have no wall insulation.
Many (though not all) houses built during the 1980s have some wall insulation. Houses built since the 1991 Building Regulations came into effect are required to have wall insulation.
Insulation may be placed on the outside, in the cavity or on the inside of a wall, without altering the overall insulation properties.
External or cavity insulation allows the internal wall to act as a thermal store, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night-time, reducing fluctuations in room temperature throughout the day. Internal insulation isolates the thermal mass from the room. This reduces both the response time of he heating system and the energy required to reach comfort levels in the room. Occupancy patterns, the response time of the central heating and its controls, and the optimal thermal ass of the building will determine the appropriate action.
In attic conversions, you create effective thermal response by first ensuring the culprit for most of the heat loss is the roof. You need to solidly insulate between roof battens and seal with plasterboard.
You then need to ensure that all points where roof hips meet are packed with fibre-wool insulation as board sections are difficult to cover these awkward angles, tucked into hard to reach areas. Laziness is the worst trait here as having done everything else right, it is foolish not to vigilant in preventing heat from this last escape route.
Heat escape is little like water qualities in reverse - it will always seek to travel upwards as water seeks to follow gravity downwards. Once the flooring area of the attic is then insulated efficiently, your thermal response time will go up – a nice way of saying your new attic room will heat more speedily and stay that way!
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