Floor

The ground floors of older houses can become very cold and damp. Unlike modern homes that have solid floors made of a concrete slab, period homes have timber suspended floors above a basement or crawl space that itself is cold and damp.

• Up to 15 % of the heat in a ground floor room is lost through the floor.
• Floor insulation boards on the undersides of the ground floor are ideal.

The best materials for floor insulation are polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam boards, also called Kingspan or Celotex.

• Can be used on concrete and floors, on foundations and roofing as well as an overlay.
• Boards can fit snugly under the floor between joists.

N.B. Air bricks should be cleared, cleaned or replaced so that there is a good air flow under the floor to keep the area dry.

• Is there sufficient crawl space beneath the floor to carry out the job from below? If not, it may be necessary to lift up the floor in sections and fix the insulation on the underside.