Just before Christmas 2007 we had our loft insulated with a spray foam system, and I didn’t really expect it to make much difference as previously we had a huge amount of the old fibre glass stuff up there, it was amazing the amount of stuff that they actually took down. So, as they had removed so much insulation and replaced it with just a few inches of this spray foam I didn’t think I would notice any difference.
How wrong I was!
During the coldest part of the year I normally have to keep a wood fire burning 24/7 to keep the house really warm and help cut the bills. Last winter after having the new insulation I found that burning a wood fire made the house feel like a sauna and that everything was way too hot. So for the first time in 10 or 12 years I just used the central heating with the thermostat turned down to around 17 deg and found that the whole house was lovely and warm. It also has the added bonus of securing the tiles to the roof in a very permanent manner, which means they are less likely to blow of in a gale, living as I do near the coast we have more than our fair share of strong winds, gales and storms.
Bearing in mind that I am here most of the time, I don’t ‘go out’ to work, the energy bills I had for the winter were the smallest bills I have ever had in may years.
I know it isn’t the cheapest option, but it has made so much difference to the comfort of the household and the cost of our energy bills that I would recommend it to everyone.
It was such a success that I am now turning the loft into an art studio, installing some daylight lamps and shifting all my equipment up there.
The only real problem I have had is keeping the cats out, I didn’t realise until it was too late, that they can actually climb ladders, and it took quite some time to entice them back out of the corners to where I could get hold of them.
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