External Insulation

External wall insulation is designed to increase the energy efficiency of the property – 10cm of PIR insulating board added to the walls of a house will take the u-value down to less than 0.28

The current building regulations for walls are not actually as stringent as this, so the energy savings will be substantial. We normally look at about a 35% energy saving if all the external walls are insulated.

External wall insulation also improves the wall’s ability to withstand the elements. The layer of insulation sits on top of the brick, protecting the brick work beneath it. This means that any planned remedial work (like pointing between bricks) can be put on hold – although if there are any structural issues these should obviously be sorted before insulating. The insulation will cover cracks, or any poor rendering– in fact in many cases it improves the external appearance of the property.

External wall insulation also prevents penetrating damp entering the home, although it will have no impact on rising damp. In most cases the external wall insulation installers will remove the wall furniture (e.g. guttering) so for many people this provides a good opportunity to check the integrity of it at the same time, resealing any leaks and replacing old pipework, before reattaching it to the wall. This is a nice added benefit of getting external wall insulation installed!

Those who live underneath a flight path or on a busy road will know how a well-insulated house muffles the noise entering the home. External wall insulation is a fantastic way to help reduce the amount of noise entering the home.

A really key benefit of external solid wall insulation, often overlooked, is that the walls will continue to get warmed by the heating system. This means than when the heating is turned off, this stored warmth will be slowly released back into the home, meaning that your home is kept at a more even temperature. It also means that you won’t ever get condensation on the walls – which is obviously a huge benefit.

We have already mentioned that external wall insulation can give your home a face lift. In most cases the home is rendered to finish it, and a nice feature of this is that you can get the render in any colour you want.