Insulation behind skirting?
Arthur 51
Anyone here ever used insulation behind skirting ?
I am just doing a couple downstairs rooms in an old terraced house.
I have some of that BQ 8mm thick fibre underlay for laminate flooring.
I could cut into 4/5" wide strips and staple it onto the back of the
skirting.
It won't be an ideal solution but it will also provide a bit of noise
insulation.
Whats a cheap and more efficient solution?
Thanks.
Arthur
Tim W
wibbled on Monday 30 November 2009 13:07
It wouldn't do any harm, but is it going to do any good?
What are you trying to do - reduce draughts that might be working their way
around the back of the skirting from the underfloor, or trying to improve
the U-vale of the wall as a whole?
If the latter, even if you introduce perfect insulation it won't make any
real difference based on % of wall with and % without skirting.
If the former, caulking or some other sealant would work as well.
There is some merit behind insulation/reflectors behind radiators as those
are a local hotspot so leakage is much higher than the rest of the wall.
But skiting usually runs as cool as the wall (unless you have skirting
heaters?).
WRT the noise element - what sort of noise are you trying to reduce? Echos
withing the room or transmission from the next room or house?
Cheers
Tim
--
Tim Watts
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Arthur 51
> Arthur 51 <tally...@googlemail.com>
I think I'm concerned with what I think is a strong air flow beneath
the ground floor suspended floors.
So this insulation would help to a small degree here. We will also
have wooden flooring in 1 room and laminate
in the other so noise/echo is something else I'm interested in
minimising.
Thnaks.
Arthur
Tim W
wibbled on Monday 30 November 2009 14:26
As I mentioned, no harm in it. Have you considered some insulation under the
floor boards (I assume it's floor boards?)
That can be fairly easy to add (depending on how hard it is to lift the
boards). Either wool (glass/rock/sheep) on netting/chickenwire between teh
rafters or celotex type foam panels (or even polystyrene - but check the
fire retardant properties of whichever) between the joists.
As for behind the skirting, the best I can think of, other than 25mm of
celotex (bit thick) would be a few layers of that closed cell white foam
underlay that you can get to put under laminate. It's not too compressible.
It should aid the acoustic properties too.
Or, space the boards off the wall by 1/2 inch and fill with PU expanding
foam from a gun which will have the added benefit it will bond the skirting
to the wall. Warning - may be messy (remove carpet from area) and you will
have to "saw" the boards off with a breadknife or padsaw later if you ever
wish to remove them. 1 can of foam would probably fix a room's worth
easily.
But I don't think it will help very much - certainly no where near the
benefit of under floor insulation which is where most of your foot level
losses are.