Energy at home

Home insulation to reduce home heat loss

Reducing home heat loss means improving insulation and sealing gaps to keep heat in, making your home more efficient and cheaper to heat.

At a glance

The hub covers key measures like insulation, draught proofing and improving different parts of your home.
Even small improvements can reduce heat loss and make a noticeable difference to comfort and costs.
A well‑insulated home needs less heating, helping cut your carbon footprint and improve overall energy efficiency.

If you want to reduce your carbon emissions and keep your energy bills low, installing insulation or draught-proofing will reduce heat loss.

There are many simple yet effective ways to insulate your home, which can significantly reduce heat loss while lowering your heating bills.

Even little fixes around the home can mount up to significant savings in your energy bills. Fitting your hot water cylinder with an insulating jacket will save you £40 a year in Great Britain (GB) and £35 in Northern Ireland (NI). You’ll also lower your annual carbon emissions by 160kg in GB and 230kg in NI.

Whether you’re looking for quick wins around your home or a professional to install insulation, our advice will help you keep your home cosy.

News: how will the Warm Homes Plan impact insulation?

The Warm Homes Plan is set to invest close to £15 billion in improving the UK’s homes to cut energy bills.

For people on low incomes, there’ll be fully funded government support to install insulation.

There’ll also be low and zero-interest loans available for homeowners regardless of income.

We’ll update this guide when we know more.

For more information, read our blog on what the Warm Homes Plan means for you.

How do homes lose heat?

If your home is poorly insulated, you’re probably losing a lot of heat. This means you’ll need to keep your heating on for longer to maintain a comfortable temperature. This leads to higher energy bills and emits more CO₂ depending on how you heat your home.

A typical uninsulated home loses about:

25% of heat through the roof
33% through the walls
10-20% through the floor

Improving insulation or draught-proofing means you home can keep more heat in and save money on your energy bills.

What options are there for home insulation?

There are a number of different areas of your home you can insulate.

Advice

Roof and loft insulation

How else can I reduce heat loss in my home?

Here are other ways you can cut the amount of heat that escapes form your home.

Advice

Draught proofing

Advice

Energy efficient windows and doors

Advice

Insulating tanks, pipes and radiators

Advice

Radiator reflector panels explained

How do I insulate an old house?

It’s often possible to insulate an older or listed building in some way, where it’s appropriate to do so.

When considering wall insulation for any property you should seek professional advice. It’s particularly important to seek advice if you have a listed building or live in a conservation area.

If your home was built before the 1920s, its external walls may be solid. Walls from that era were usually made of brick or stone, but they could also be made of earth.

Find out more about internal and external wall insulation for solid walls.