Is floor insulation worth the work?

summereire

Hi, we're renovating and currently have concrete floors with lino/carpet directly on the concrete with no floor insulation of any type and are wondering if we should take the opportunity to add some.

Options are (a) leave it alone (b) have some form of smaller insulation and (c) put in substantial insulation and new concrete screed over it but that will definitely mean some fairly serious work to do with doors and windows etc.

From anyone who is familiar with it, does floor insulation make much difference, and is it worth the work and expense- i.e. should I go with a, b or c? Thanks

jack of all

If you decide to do a proper job and put in new screed on insulation this would have other benefits, in addition to improved thermal performance, namely:

Ideal opportunity upgrade the central heating system and make changes to plumbing and wastes, eliminate any existing surface mounted plumbing etc. Opportunity to look at underfloor heating, wet room, floor mounted socket or two, waste/ power/ water supply to island kitchen easy to do.

New DPM guarantees damp free floor.

You can modify screed thickness in rooms to suit proposed floor finishes and eliminate ugly threshold/ transition details to accommodate level changes.

A screed on insulation will be noticeably more resilient underfoot and easier on the feet.

If you have the floor to ceiling height to spare, the budget and stomach to do it, it would be the right way to go IMHO, not sure what the actual payback period would be though in terms of energy savings.....

jack of all

If you decide to do a proper job and put in new screed on insulation this would have other benefits, in addition to improved thermal performance, namely:

Ideal opportunity upgrade the central heating system and make changes to plumbing and wastes, eliminate any existing surface mounted plumbing etc. Opportunity to look at underfloor heating, wet room, floor mounted socket or two, waste/ power/ water supply to island kitchen easy to do.

New DPM guarantees damp free floor.

You can modify screed thickness in rooms to suit proposed floor finishes and eliminate ugly threshold/ transition details to accommodate level changes.

A screed on insulation will be noticeably more resilient underfoot and easier on the feet.

If you have the floor to ceiling height to spare, the budget and stomach to do it, it would be the right way to go IMHO, not sure what the actual payback period would be though in terms of energy savings.....

Bateman

Sorry to hijack thread but does anyone have a recommendation of a company to insulate under a suspended wooden floor?

masculinist

Is it true that heat rises or is it just hot air that rises ? If the former is true then I am wondering how important floor insulation really is? I cant imagine losing much heat towards the centre of the earth but I can visualise plenty of it leaving through the ceiling and roof etc

summereire

Yes that's what I'm wondering too. Heat loss charts seem to show a reasonably small amount being lost through the floor relative to the rest of the building and I'm used to old Georgian buildings basically just having tiles over earth on the lower ground floor. I always thought that the earth provided geothermal heat anyway so imagined it being if anything warm under there, and the above point about heat rising when produced internally. The points about underfloor utilities are valid and good suggestion, but it's the insulation that will really take up the height- does it make a big difference without?

mickdw

You need to look at the project as a whole.
If you significantly upgrade the insulation everywhere else, you could find the cold floor creating problems that didn't exist before.