If your walls feel cold when you touch them, then it is likely that your home is not well insulated. Fortunately, you can easily make your walls warmer by installing extra insulation and completing other home energy upgrades. This will reduce heat loss, lower carbon emissions, and save you money on utility bills.
If your walls feel cold, chances are your home is not very well insulated. In a poorly insulated wall, warmth dissipates quickly to the outside, creating a cool wall in comparison to the room.
Signs of Poor Insulation
Cold interior walls, floors or ceilings. High humidity or mould on the upper floor. Premature wear of the roofing. The roof thawing quickly at the end of winter, and ice forming on the gutters.
One of the main reasons for cold walls is that the property is not very well insulated. If the wall is not insulated properly then the warm air inside of the house will not stay in the room and will dissipate outside, this creates a cold wall.
Consistent Temperatures
A well-insulated home with have consistent temperature throughout the house. You won't find one room especially warm while another always seems a bit too chilly. If you find a noticeable temperature differential, there is a good chance that your home is under-insulated.
The walls, floors and ceilings of your home should feel warm and dry to the touch. When drywall and panelling inside a home feels damp or cold, that's a clear sign there's not enough insulation. Alternatively, when touching an exterior wall, it should feel cold because insulation is keeping warm air inside a home.
If you have walls cold to touch and you want to make them warmer, the easy answer to this is to insulate the walls, which can involve some large scale works like installing an external insulation system.
Cold wall, cold home
Without adequate insulation, they're not keeping heat inside your home. As well as making them cold, that makes it harder to maintain a comfortable temperature, causing your energy bills to rise as you crank up the thermostat or leave the heating on for longer.
Internal wall insulation is done by fitting rigid insulation boards to the wall, or by building a stud wall filled in with insulation material such as mineral wool fibre.
Look for drafts in your home
Another way to check is to look for drafts around windows and doors. If you can feel a draft, that means that warm air is escaping from your home, which means your insulation isn't doing its job properly.
Your house could be cold due to an old air filter, a faulty furnace, improper insulation, or leaky ductwork. The simple fixes, like replacing an air filter, are relatively easy to complete. However, if the heater itself needs repairs, it's best to call in a professional to take a look and determine the problem.
Walls, floors and ceilings should feel warm and dry to the touch in your home. An indication that there is not enough insulation can be drywall or paneling feeling damp or cold. Conversely, the walls outside of your home should feel cold because insulation stops the heat from escaping.
Improper insulation might make one room colder or hotter than the rest because it's letting the air out of the room. If you have any windows in your home that are open, go ahead and shut them. They're letting the cooled/heated air out and letting in the outside air.
The ceiling of a cold room needs to be insulated to control humidity and prevent mould growth. In addition, the insulation should be impervious to moisture vapour and prevent mould growth.
They say that in their own tests, comparing their additive with one-inch thick insulation, both hindered heat transfer by 35-percent. In the end, insulation paint will not replace a good thick layer of R-19 fiberglass between your walls.
Insulate your walls
Although wall insulation is a bigger investment, and costs vary, it can keep your home warm and cosy and result in a large saving. Most homes built after 1920 have cavity walls.
Batt, or roll, insulation is one of the most inexpensive types of home insulation and one of the easiest to install, especially for DIYers.
Use Foil. If you have a radiator attached to an external wall, use some aluminum foil behind the radiator. The reflective nature of the foil will prevent heat from disappearing through the wall and instead will reflect it back into the room.
The challenges of a poorly insulated home can manifest in many different ways. High energy bills, drafty rooms, uneven heating and cooling, and icicles on your roof are just a few. It is important that you know the cause of these issues, and the first step is to meet with a professional.
Without insulation, heat from your home can escape through the walls, making it difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature indoors. This heat loss can also lead to higher energy bills and wasted resources.
Cracks in Walls, Windows and Doors
Around 38% of heat loss in your home comes from cracks in your walls, windows and doors (often invisible to the naked eye). In fact, a ⅛ inch gap under a 36-inch wide door will let as much cold air into your home as a 2.4 inch hole through your wall.