It’s getting easier to go green with loft conversions

Posted on Jul 11, 2012 in Loft Conversions & Extensions in London by paul 0 Comments

Where once we worried about keeping up with the Joneses with home renovations, we are now preoccupied with costs and environmental issues. Times have changed and the financial situation for everyone has grown considerably leaner in recent years. But one of the biggest issues we’re facing at the moment – and for the foreseeable future unless we change the way we live – is how to be more eco-friendly in our lives and homes.

Environmental considerations are a growing issue to contend with for home renovations and particularly loft conversions. We are looking for the greener option to help protect the environment around us and help us to conserve as much energy as possible when heating our houses. Modern Attics has some great ways of making your London loft conversion and your home eco-friendly.

What we can offer to make your loft green

There are key steps to making your loft environmentally friendly.

• Since timber is a big part of any conversion, it’s important to use timber from sustainable sources in order to reduce the environmental impact of the wood-cutting.  Modern Attics is proud to say that the timber used in its loft conversions is from 100% sustainable sources.
• Solar panels are becoming extremely popular. They are a way of producing your own energy, taking away the reliance on the energy  companies and reducing the carbon emissions from the house. There are government schemes where you can sell back any excess to the National Grid, though this has reduced recently in the worsening economic climate.
• Sheep’s wool is a sure-fire and sustainable way of insulating your converted loft. The fibres in the wool are dense, naturally flame retardant so they won’t melt and don’t have the potentially irritant qualities of fibreglass and the like. They insulate just as wool and they’re friendlier to the environment. The wool is also great at absorbing waste emissions in the house such as methane, nitrogen and CO2.

Using your converted loft as a living space

When your loft is converted, you have to take care to make sure that it is as eco-friendly and energy efficient as possible to benefit from the work. Using your loft as a living space means that you need to insulate the roof and the floor to keep any heat from escaping. Make sure that all the pieces of insulation board for the floor and the roof are fit tightly together too.  You can slightly raise the floor of the living space and pack it with insulation to keep the heat in nicely for the occupant of the new room.

Being eco-friendly is a huge area of concern for people these days and rightly so. Even something like home improvements deserves the consideration of the environment. We often rush into things and want to do them as cheaply as possible; so much so that we often neglect the long-term savings to be had from doing a project in the right way. Loft insulation of 0 to 270mm can save you up to £175* per year. That’s a serious reduction in heat lost, energy use and carbon emissions straight away, taking some of the burden off Mother Nature. It’s getting easier to be green; are you willing to give it a go?

*Energy Saving Trust website