Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings
Insulation of solid floors
This guidance note provides advice on the methods, materials and risks involved with insulating solid ground floors. The energy saving resulting from insulating solid ground floors can in many cases be of marginal benefit when the cost and disruption to the building fabric are considered. However, where an existing floor is being taken up, replaced or repaired then it can be worth making use of the opportunity to improve thermal performance.
Although very few historic solid floors are insulated, they are not major sources of heat loss. This is partly because a typical solid floor has some insulative qualities, but mainly because the ground beneath is at a stable temperature of around 10ºC. This means that during the heating season the temperature difference between the internal space and the ground is typically smaller than that between the internal space and the outside air. For example on a cold winter day one could expect a 20 degree temperature difference in conditions either side of a roof or wall construction in comparison to a difference of perhaps 10 degrees between internal temperature and the ground. The biggest heat loss through a solid floor is usually around the perimeter, where the temperature of the upper layer of the ground will be closer to prevailing air temperature.
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