by Mark Row

With a goal of reducing energy consumption, loft insulation is becoming an increasingly important issue in the UK today. The UK government's attention turned to the idea of helping home owners and construction industry build energy-efficient homes as a way to conserve energy on a large scale. Buildings are responsible for about 50% of total carbon emissions and with new building codes that percentage can be seriously reduced.

For further reading see Conservation of fuel and power (including thermal insulation) - new dwellings and Conservation of fuel and power (including thermal insulation) - existing dwellings.

 

About Building Regulations

In 2006, the UK adopted new Building Regulations (parts L1 and L2) which are enforced in the building industry. These regulations deal with the conservation of fuel and power, and with isolation. The actual regulations require that loft insulation should be at least 270 mm thick and must have good thermal properties. Building Regulations does not determine which material must be used but it stipulates what qualities it must posses.

As with every law, everyone must follow these regulations during the construction of new facilities. However, homeowners who only want to renovate their homes usually are unsure whether these rules apply to them or not. Without the doubt, all adaptations must meet these building regulations no matter how small they are.

As I stated in the previous article about How to chose between different loft insulation materials, the most commonly used insulation materials are glass and rock wool, and rigid insulation boards. And remember, you are not doing all this work only for the sake of the law, you are also helping the environment and saving a significant sum of money as well. 

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