Real Estate Search Direct

Is your house leaking heat? Do you even know? If you live in an older house, the answer is, “Probably.” However, even new houses and house owners can suffer due to this problem. If you were careful with the insulation, you are in better shape than most people, but air can still flow without your consent or knowledge. It flows through the doors and windows and can subtly shift the temperature of your house. This leads to extra costs that will add up over the years–both monetarily and environmentally. You should really look into the environmental benefits of draught proofing your sash windows.

When I say “insulation, ” your first thought is probably heat in cold weather. This is only one half of the problem, the other half being unwanted warm air entering a house in the summer. If your house is well-protected, it will be several degrees cooler in the summer than it is outside. It will also make sure any cool air produced by air conditioning does not just float right out of your house. Remember entropy when you think about air currents; air wants to spread out. Don’t give it the chance.

Most people are familiar with the results of draughts: you will inefficiently attempt to change the temperature of your house and it will not work well. This will lead you to paying more than you need to. You will also be increasing the carbon in the air, no matter what your method of heating or cooling is. If more people paid attention to their frivolous energy expenditures, global warming would not be to such an extreme.

So what is to be done? Using renewable heating sources, like solar heating, is a good start but it still won’t make you warmer. Not using air conditioning at all is ideal (since CFCs and HCFCs, which are what is produced by air conditioning, are both particularly nasty for the environment). But that won’t keep you cool in the summer. The answer is therefore looking to your insulation.

The problem can be nipped in the bud at the beginning stages of a house. If you plan on building, give double the time to currently plan to spend on looking at the insulation. Not everyone has the luxury of starting from scratch, though. So take care of what you have. Don’t let your sash windows fall into any state of disrepair. If you notice wood damage or chipping flakes, call someone to repair it immediately before problems escalate.

Don’t waste your time double-glazing your windows. Attack the problem head on. Make sure a professional attends to all repairs. Use heavy curtains; this will not stop the air flow entirely, but it will slow it down and decrease it. Secondary glazing focuses on the sash and can solve almost any leakage problem. Check any loose putty in the windows and replace it.

If you are plagued by draughts and nothing seems to work, you could do a lot worse than putting towels against the leak; it is surprise how effectively these work. It is an old method and is often times unsightly, but weigh the benefits. Some companies also make special weighted cloths that are more stylish than a bunched up towel. These cloths attach to doors or windows and provide a nice buffer for any leaks.

Seeking affordable sash window draught proofing? If you need proofing and window insulation in London and Brighton, make sure you hire the best company for the job. Find our more now!

Comments (3) Dec 31 2009

When a person is looking at homes to purchase, one of the most common factors that are overlooked is the type of roof insulation installed. Roof insulation should be inspected before a home is purchased. There are many things that can go wrong after purchase if the proper precautions are not followed.

Roof insulation has several important jobs. The first job of any type of roof insulation is to trap heat in order for a home to keep warmer. No matter what type of roof insulation which is used, it will be located directly under the material which makes up the outer side of the roof. The type of insulation which is sold in rolls, gets rolled into the roof between the rafters, and then is attached most likely by staples.

Between the rafter and the underside roof is the area most likely taken up by roll in roof insulation. This allows the space of the attic or crawl space to be adequately used as a handy storage area for seasonal items such as Christmas decorations and other small items which are used annually.

When a crawl space or attic is accompanied by the type of roof insulation that gets blown into place by a person using a machine, the amount of storage space diminishes completely. The blown insulation sticks to anything, such as materials, and generally even is placed on the floor of the attic or crawl space. This type of insulation is the easiest to install, but is not the best space saving method to use.

Also, most roof insulation is not very flammable. Which means if a wood stove is the only method of heat, and the roof insulation is installed correctly, a chimney fire will not spread as quickly as it would if there were no roof insulation present in the home.

Also, when air conditioning is used inside a home regardless of the source, the cool air will be pushed downward into the living area of the home, because good roof insulation traps heat, and causes the cool air to stay in the home.

In conclusion, a prepared visual inspection before home purchase will save a sufficient amount of living costs when using insight. As a matter of fact, a successful inspection on the purchaser’s part, could request the seller replaces the roof or the roof insulation in order to gain the sale of a home.

April Kerr owns blog Types of Roofing where you will find details on cheap flat roofing materials plus cheepest vinyl rain guttering.

Comments (2) Dec 15 2009