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Thursday, September 01, 2011

Michael and Mo’s low energy home – Part 1


Michael and Mo live in a 3 bed detached house built in 1935. With a floor area of 160m2, solid brick walls and almost no loft insulation or insulation beneath the ground floor, it was neither warm nor cheap to heat when they first moved in.

Three years on and a long list of improvements has made a significant difference. Further work is planned, but here is a summary of the changes so far (Part 1 to Part 4)

The loft

On moving in, the loft had a thin layer of glass fibre insulation, completely squashed by dust and rubble on top. This was no good at all, so it all had to be removed and replaced with a combination of 50mm thickness of Celotex boards (highly insulating PIR, or Polyisocyanurate) and 150 mm Knauf “SpaceBlanket” (protected glass - fibre insulation). Recycled laminate floor boards were placed on top of the Celotex boards to allow access and storage above the insulation.



Another neat feature of this loft is the insulated loft hatch. Michael did this himself. First he put draught-excluding tape around the hatch, then put an insulation board on top of the hatch. Over that he attached a “blanket” of “Thinsulex” quilt onto the top of hatch, extending beyond the hatch by about 50cm all the way around. When the hatch is closed, the insulation covers the hatch and the surrounding area. The draught-proofing tape within the hatch opening stops air flow between house and loft.


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