Floor Insulation
If you’ve ever stepped from your bed in the morning still half asleep only to leap back in again as soon as your warm pinkies touch the icy cold floor you’ll know how a draughty home feels. Gaps and draughts around skirting boards and floors are simple to fix yourself with a tube of sealant bought from most DIY stores.
Timber floors can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between the joists.
You can also use a regular tube sealant, such as silicon to fill gaps between floorboards and skirting boards to stop draughts. A note of warning, however – don’t block under-floor airbricks in your outside walls. Floorboards will rot without adequate ventilation.
Using a silicone sealant to fill gaps will save you around £20 a year on your heating bills. Insulating underneath the floorboards on the ground floor will save you around £50 a year.
About 380kg of carbon dioxide (CO 2) a year can be saved by combining both these measures in a semi-detached 3 bedroom house.