Month: September 2015

Top Tips to Prepare Your Property for Autumn

Autumn is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness as the Romantic Poet John Keats wrote. It is also the season to review your insulation to make sure it is ready for the onset of winter with its shorter days and frosty nights.

One of the first things to look at when you are preparing your home for the winter is the level of loft insulation you have. Having good insulation in your roof space can of course save pounds on energy bills making it worthwhile getting the ladder out to carry out an inspection or calling out an insulation professional to come and have a look for you.

Having less than 10cm of insulation could cost you an extra £150 a year which would buy a few extra presents at Christmas time. Other measures which won’t cost the earth include draft proofing. You can insert rubber draft excluders in the windows of each room and thicker curtains which can really make a difference.

You should also be thinking about getting your boiler serviced to avoid any breakdowns just when you don’t need them. The temperature of a house can soon drop when the heating is off so it’s worth spending a bit to make sure everything is in working order.

Posted by admin in Building Trade, Construction, Home Insulation, Soundproofing, Thermal Insulation

Noise Pollution Hotspots

A programme on ITV this month highlighted Britain’s noise pollution hotsposts and what the government is doing (or not doing) about the situation in the UK.

The UK government is pressing ahead with major improvements to transport infrastructure costing £411 billion including high speed train lines, new airport runways and roads, but it appears little thought has gone into how people will be insulated from all the extra noise this will bring.

Many studies have shown the effects of noise on health, yet the programme on ITV’s Tonight titled Britain’s Noise Nuisance highlighted a worrying lack of measures taken to combat noise even in existing noise hotspots in the UK.

The government’s decision to carry on regardless is unlikely to calm those affected and looks set to bring plenty of opposition in the coming years.
The affects on the body of exposure to noise include an increased heart rate and higher blood pressure and this can be detrimental to health, particularly in those people who are already suffering from heart disease.

In some cases noise can even be a factor in the deaths of some people. 10,000 deaths are said to have been caused by noise in Europe as a whole each year as well as 43,000 hospital admissions.

Posted by admin in Home Insulation, Soundproofing