Does your school feel chilly in winter and too warm in summer? You could benefit from improving your insulation and draught-proofing.

All schools are different and, depending on when and how they were built, there can be a number of actions you can take to upgrade them. Below, we briefly explain how you can identify possible actions to improve your insulation and ultimately improve the comfort of your school buildings.

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We cover this topic in one of our online workshops. Our energy expert Michael Esvelt talks us through the best ways of insulating and draught proofing. You can watch the full ‘how to’ video here:

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Why upgrade your insulation and draught-proofing?

Improving insulation and installing draught-proofing measures can make a significant difference to your school.

• It reduces heat loss, so makes the building warmer and more comfortable in the winter.
• It means you use less energy, so you’ll have lower energy bills.
• Less energy means you cut your carbon emissions from heating using fossil fuels.
• Roof insulation can also slow down your building heating in summer, keeping rooms cooler in the warmer months.

Where can you check to see if you’re losing heat?

It’s important to check across your buildings to see where you could be losing heat. Possible culprits include:

• Roofs
• Walls
• Floors
• Boiler rooms
• Windows and doors

Tips to check your roofs

How to tell if you’re losing heat through your roof? Here are some tips for ways to see if you could be wasting energy.

• If frost or snow melts on particular roofs that are out of the sun, it’s a sign that heat is escaping.
• If rooms get cold shortly after turning the heating off, the roof is likely to be losing heat.
• If you can, visually inspect your loft spaces, ideally you should have 300mm insulation in place.
• If you have 100mm or less, this is a high-priority action to improve.
• If you have flat roofs, these can be insulated internally or externally.
• Flat roof insulation can be done easily if you are having a leak fixed.

Tips to check your walls

Walls are another key way your school building could be losing heat. Here’s how to check the state of your walls.

• If you have un-filled cavity walls, these could benefit from cavity wall insulation.
• You can tell if you have cavities in your walls if the brickwork is all horizontal (see the Energy Saving Trust website on how to check).
• If you can access the corner of your loft, you can check if there is insulation in the wall cavities.
• If your building was constructed between the 1950’s to early 1980’s it’s likely to have cavity walls.
• Holes in the mortar can be a sign that insulation has already been added.

Tips to check your boiler room

Boiler rooms are important to look at when thinking about energy efficiency and reducing energy waste.

• Does your boiler room get hot when the heating is on? That’s a sign heat is escaping and you could benefit from adding insulation to your boiler.
• If the valves and flanges of your boiler aren’t insulated or taped, they are likely losing heat.
• Find out more about insulating your boiler room in our resource here.

Tips to check your floors

The possibilities for insulation will depend on the type of floors you have.

• Find out what kind of floor you have, this will effect whether you should insulate below or above them to keep heat in.

Tips to check doors and windows

Doors and windows can easily allow heat to escape or let cool air in if they aren’t properly proofed.

• Look out for gaps or draughts between doors or windows.
• Check and replace loose-fitting window seals.
• Use insulated tape to close gaps on exterior facing doors.

Remember – always use a qualified contractor to undertake any insulation or draught-proofing work.

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About our workshops and webinars

Events from Action on Carbon and Energy in Schools (ACES) are designed to introduce key concepts of energy efficiency, the simple and effective actions that can be taken quickly as well as discussing some of the bigger and more costly solutions that could benefit your school.

They are suitable for Business Managers, Facilities Managers, Head teachers as well other members of the Senior Management Team or any sustainability groups within the school.

Image credit: Ashden