A new year begins and so the coldest time of the year. If we add the hard January Christmas, we will realize how important it is to have chosen a house with a good insulation. This will depend not only on our comfort, but also on our pocket.
When choosing a home, as important as the location, aesthetics or price is the way it has been isolated. After all, a building with poor insulation will increase heating costs during winter up to 50%. In fact, each degree increased on the heating thermostat, the power consumption will raise more than 6%, increasing our monthly bill.
In contrast to what we might have thought, a poorly insulated house is not only the result of poor installation of doors and windows, but the structure of the house. To a correct installation of these two elements or the application of corrective measures such as installation of weather stripping, we must add another set of considerations.
If in summer you notice that the rooms are overheated or in winter, as is the case, you suffer the so-called ‘cold walls’ effect, it is that during the construction phase it was not rigorous enough. Let us not lose sight on the fact that the energy consumption of Spanish homes represents around 20% of the total consumption of the country.
Where do heat leaks occur?
The roof is one of the ways where a large thermal leak can occur. Sometimes, it is not only a matter of not having the insulation correctly installed, but water leakage happens when it rains, which causes that insulation to end up getting wet. It is crucial, therefore, to safeguard the impermeability.
At the same time, the walls of the house must also have been properly insulated by installing materials such as fiberglass or wood, cellulose insulation or rock wool, among other materials used.
However, even if when you acquired the house where you live, you did not pay attention to this circumstance and now you suffer from heat loss, it is possible to tackle the problem. Thermally rehabilitating a house is not as complicated or as expensive as it may seem at first.
There are simple and clean rehabilitation ways to have an effective isolation. In addition, it is possible to take advantage of any modification works of the interior coverings (ceilings, walls, floors) to place thermal insulation.
Although this kind of rehabilitations are especially indicated for buildings prior to 1980, whose isolation tends to be very deficient, it is also developing in more modern homes.
A matter of health.
If we take care of the isolation, either when buying/building a house or in a later reform, the benefits will soon become visible. To the reduction of the costs associated to the heating/cooling of the house and a greater energetic efficiency, add positive effects on our health.
Correct insulation offers anti-condensation properties it is capable of allowing access to water vapor while blocking external moisture. As a consequence, the harmful effects of a superficial condensation are eliminated, which may end up evidencing in the appearance of mold and the pathologies that this may bring. In addition, the improvement of thermal comfort will be accompanied by the acoustic, as noise from the outside is also noticeably reduced.
Prevent your home from being an energy predator and remember that an average thermal reform is amortized in a very short time, considering the long midlife of the insulation, to the point that can save between 8 and 9 times more the cost of all the rehabilitation.
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