The Best Insulation for Homes for Green Living Leigh

The Best Insulation for Homes for Green Living

What is the best insulation for homes?

The best insulation for homes for green living is non-toxic and durable insulation with high U values.

With around one third of the heat we put into our homes leaving through uninsulated walls, external wall insulation is a worthwhile investment.

The best insulation for your home will depend upon the type of house or flat you have and your needs. It will also depend to some extent upon your climate.

Here is an article about one the very best kinds of home insulation for modern homes.

The best insulation for the whole house, in my opinion, is external wall insulation. Here's why.

The best insulation for homes?

External wall insulation

External wall insulation can be added straight on to the exterior of your home. The process can take a few days to be installed. The cost is not cheap and you may have to search to find a competent supplier and installer, as this is not yet a very popular way to do insulation.

Picture thanks to Whetherby Building Systems This kind of insulation can also be eco-friendly because it can make it possible to rescue properties which might otherwise face demolition. Housing standards continue to rise and thermal performance is an important consideration.

This type of home insulation is becoming more common for new build houses and offices, but has not yet really taken off for retro-fitting older buildings. However, this could change as more people begin to understand the benefits.

This is how it works.

How it works

Suppose you are dressed warmly enough for inside your house but it is cold and windy outside. You put on a thick wooly sweater and over the top you add a breathable, Gortex-type coat over your clothes. Now you are well insulated against the cold and the Gortex jacket stops the wind chill. When you put external insulation on a house, this is pretty much what you are doing.

You add a dense layer of polystyrene insulation boards to the house wall. This is glued on with special adhesives - or sometimes it is mechanically fixed in place. A flexible mesh is then used to cover the insulation boards. This is then covered with a thin, slightly flexible base layer, which looks a little like traditional render. This provides a breathable surface which stops fast heat loss from the house surface. Over the top of this a thin layer of sharp, crystalline top layer gives the finishing touches.

The finished house looks a striking, clean white and you never need to paint it or carry out maintenance again!

The reason external wall insulation works so well is that it prevents most of the surface radiation and conduction of heat from the surface of the house.

What about other surfaces?

You can have coloured surfaces. If you want your house to look like a Suffolk farmhouse, with a deep pink hue, or you want your house to look as if it is made of brick, all this is possible. Brick "sl...

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