External wall insulation (House wrap)

We all want to save money on our energy bills, and to make sure the money we spend on heating isn’t going to waste. Draught-proofing can have some impact, but it is too focused and cost benefits can be quite hard to realise. The bottom line is that prevention is better than cure!

1. Improve the thermal comfort of your home:

Keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer

A common misconception around insulation is that it’s only really useful in the warmer months. As a matter of fact, insulation slows down all heat transfer – whether the heat is inside or outside. As we know, heat moves towards the cold. What this means is that in the winter months, the heat is stored inside your house and your insulation prevents it from transferring through the walls to the cold outdoors. In the summer, the opposite occurs – your insulation will prevent the heat from outdoors from entering your home so that your property will remain nice and cool on the inside.

2. Save money on energy bills by reducing heat loss through your external walls

During the winter months, homeowners lose up to 40% of their heat through their walls. External wall insulation dramatically reduces this and can therefore save homeowners up to £400 a year on heating bills. Although the initial cost of installing external wall insulation is high, the benefits are instantly noticeable, and it really pays for itself by reducing your heating bills every year.  

3. Reduce the amount of noise that enters your home from outside

When we talk about improving the acoustic capabilities of your property with EWI, we are talking about our mineral wool system. Mineral Wool (or Rockwool) is highly soundproof and is proven to reduce the amount of noise that enters your home. We really recommend our mineral wool system to those who perhaps live along busy roads/next to train lines etc.

4. Improve your property’s fire resistance

Another benefit of our mineral wool system is that Rockwool is extremely fire resistant (it’s made from volcanic rock). Installing Rockwool insulation boards onto the exterior of your property will mean that in the event of a fire, the Rockwool will prevent the spread of fire and could therefore reduce the amount of damage inflicted upon the property.

5. Save space: 

EWI is all external and does not reduce your internal floor space

For those who live in a solid walled property, the idea of installing insulation internally can seem really disheartening. The amount of insulation you would need to really make a different to the thermal comfort of your home could potentially lose you a lot of internal floor space, which would reduce the value of your property and the installation would be really disruptive. A lot of people turn to external wall insulation to avoid this because it will take up absolutely no internal floor space and the installation all takes place outside so your home won’t be in chaos from shifting furniture and re-decorating.

6. Increase the value of your property

External wall insulation can increase the value of your property in more than one way. EWI will give your property a total facelift, improving its outward aesthetics and making it look more appealing to potential buyers.

Another way it can improve the value of your property is by improving its energy performance. If you install enough insulation to improve your EPC rating, then the value of your property could increase. This is because in today’s housing market, people are looking for properties with a high energy performance rating. With rising household bills, buyers want a property that is cheap to run – your externally insulated property will be just that.

7. Protect the external walls of your property – thereby increases its lifespan

By installing EWI, not only are you creating a protective barrier around your property against heat loss, you are also protecting the actual external walls of your property against extremes of weather which reduces its lifespan. Therefore, in the long run your home will live an increased life due to the protection that the EWI offers.

What about loft insulation?

Many people think loft insulation is the best way to keep heat in the home. It’s certainly true that it can be a cost-effective way to insulate. However, what it fails to address is that most thermal energy is lost through the walls of a properly – roughly 35-40% in fact. With uninsulated walls, there is little slowing the movement of heat to outside.

How does external wall insulation work?

Both solid walls and cavity walls can be insulated externally. This involves installing an insulating material and rendering over the top. It’s not cheap, but it is an effective and long-lasting way to insulate your home. With external wall insulation installed, walls store warmth and slowly release it back into the home. 90mm of EPS attached to a traditional 9-inch solid brick, will reduce the U-value (which is a measure of how much energy is lost) from 2.2 down to just 0.3 per m2K, bringing it in line with a brand new wall built today.

So there you have it: reduce energy bills by up to 40% and benefit from a warmer, more comfortable living environment