Two Reasons to Prioritise Insulation When Renovating an Old House
If you've purchased an old house that's in need of a lot of renovating, you should make the fitting of residential insulation materials one of your top priorities. Here are two reasons why.
It could reduce several of your other renovation expenses
When you take on the renovation of an old house, you'll be faced with a lot of planned and unplanned expenses, as you fix all of its visible issues and deal with the ones that you discover as you replace its features. With so many repair jobs to do, you might feel that fitting insulation should be low on your list. However, insulating the property could reduce several of your other renovation expenses.
For example, if you use good quality insulation, you could potentially fit smaller (and less expensive) radiators in each room and you might be able to opt for a less powerful (and therefore cheaper) air conditioning system, as the insulation will ensure that the rooms retain the heated or cooled air from these features for long periods.
Furthermore, if the house's walls need to be replastered and you had been thinking about putting in soundproofing plasterboard (which is usually more costly than standard plasterboard), you could avoid this expense if you put in decent insulation, as insulation materials can not only regulate a house's internal temperature but can also help to muffle sounds.
It could protect the house from further damage
Investing in residential insulation materials could also protect the house from further damage. This is important when you're renovating an old building that already needs a lot of work, as its age may make it more vulnerable to further damage. For example, high-quality insulation that effectively retains warm air in heated rooms could reduce the chances of the building getting damp.
This is because even if you don't switch on the heating for very long on a chilly day, good-quality insulation could help to keep the interior temperature of the house above the 'dew point' (i.e. the temperature at which moisture in the air turns into condensation). This could prevent dampness and the many problems it can cause (like wet rot, mould, cosmetic damage to wallpaper, etc.). This is worth noting if, like many older buildings, yours already has some of these issues.
Additionally, if the house's plumbing system is a bit fragile, having insulation that minimises the chances of the house getting so cold that its water pipes freeze could also help to ensure that these delicate pipes do not burst as a result of the water's expansion as it turns to ice.
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