A poorly insulated home does not allow us to maintain a comfortable temperature neither in the winter months nor in the summer months. When we make a good insulation in our home, the environment is transformed, becoming healthier and more comfortable.
99% of homes in Spain lose heat unnecessarily. This is not only bad news for the coldest people who have to compensate for the lack of comfort by increasing the heating temperature, but it is also a problem in terms of energy expenditure.
Similarly, the opposite is true in summer. Cooling poorly insulated rooms translates into a greater energy effort to keep them cool.
In continental climate zones within the peninsula, insulation is critical due to the large temperature differences between summer and winter.
To avoid this problem, good insulation of the outside (the facade) of the house would be the first measure to prevent both cold and heat from penetrating the building without any kind of barrier.
Gas and electricity are constantly rising and in Spain we have the highest bills in Europe and all appliances to cool or heat the house either heaters or air conditioners consume a lot.
There are estimates that say that every degree of temperature that we raise or lower, alter our bill by about 7%.
To thermally insulate our homes we have several options.
As we have mentioned, the first and most advisable option would be to start with the exterior insulation of a house.
With this type of insulation we manage to create an outer layer that will not make us lose space inside and will block the entry of cold while slowing down the heating of the house.
With the constant evolution of construction materials, there are numerous possibilities when it comes to insulating homes from the outside. Solutions such as ventilated facades, special paints, or the use of insulating panels or foams are increasingly used to block the entry of cold or heat.
Roofs must also be insulated to prevent leaks. If they are flat, panels or plates are placed that can serve as flooring, first eliminating any existing humidity, and if the roof is sloped, it can be done from the inside with a false ceiling that has an insulating blanket.
In many newly built homes that we have for sale in Rea, in the area of La Moraleja, El Encinar de los Reyes or Ciudalcampo, green roofs are being put on, composed of a layer of earth that works as insulation and on which vegetation is planted.
If the floor of the house is directly on the ground we will have the sensation of a cold floor and for that not to happen a layer of insulation resistant to the weight of the house should also be placed, installing if possible under floor heating that works with aerothermal or traditional heating systems.
The disadvantage of external insulation is its cost. If it is not a question of newly built houses in which this type of actions has already been foreseen, it is expensive to insulate from the outside houses already built.
Therefore, we always have the option of improving the insulation of the house from the inside. A good thermal (and acoustic) insulation of a house not only results in greater comfort but also increases the value of the house.
Insulate from the inside:
Insulation from the inside is practically mandatory for houses built more than 30 and 40 years ago that were not built with insulating materials and whose comfort is left in the hands of energy-intensive heating or air conditioning systems.
There are numerous solutions to radically improve the comfort of the home by properly insulating all rooms.
You can choose either to inject insulating foams in the interior partition walls of the houses by adding panels or plasterboard or directly mount cellulose, mineral wool, rock wool or cork boards in partition walls and ceilings before mounting the plasterboard boards on the walls.
Although as a result of these interventions we will reduce a little the useful surface of the rooms (or the ceiling height) the result in comfort and savings compensates this small inconvenience.
Last but not least, it is essential to consider that the windows, doors and in general all the elements of the exterior carpentry of the house is one of the weak points of the houses and therefore it is critical that we opt for quality materials (both aluminum and PVC) with glass with sufficient thickness (depending on the climate of each locality) to prevent the leakage of heat or cold from the inside to the outside.
In addition to this, it is advisable to install shutters or blinds to add extra insulation.