How to Save Energy in an Older Home

Everyone can take steps to change how they use energy:

Find out more from the Centre for Sustainable Energy

• Make sure your home, including your roof, walls, windows and doors, is in a good state of repair. It will not only make it more energy efficient, but also stop damp, mould, condensation and rot. A damp building is a cold building
• Clear gutters, downpipes and underground drains so that water flows away from the building
• Replace slipped or broken roof tiles or slates
• Repair any cracks in render and missing mortar in brickwork or stone pointing (repairs should be made using lime mortar for older buildings)

Use a maintenance checklist

Draught proofing is unobtrusive and cost-effective.

Heat can escape through gaps in windows and doors, floors, holes for services into your home and chimneys. The cost of draughtproofing will be quickly recovered by energy savings as long as any necessary repairs are done first.

If you block a chimney, make sure you keep enough ventilation to prevent dampness in the flue. Avoid permanently blocking chimneys as they can help cool your home in the summertime.

Follow these draught-proofing tips

Shutters, curtains and blinds not only provide privacy, security and weather protection, they also protect against heat loss and overheating:

• Internal shutters, thick blinds and curtains prevent heat loss in winter
• External shutters, awnings and blinds prevent overheating in the summer

Reduce heat loss and draughts through floorboards with rugs or carpet. Rugs may be preferable. They can easily be removed to allow airflow through timber floors or to expose cool solid floors in the summer to prevent overheating. 

Where you install coverings and underlays, avoid trapping moisture and preventing airflow by using permeable materials and taking care not to block ventilation outlets.

If you can easily and safely access your loft space, it is straightforward to install insulation at ceiling level. 

Even if your roof is insulated, check it’s at least 270 millimetres deep and and that you don’t leave any gaps around the edges of the insulation. Remember to insulate and draught seal the loft access hatch.

Make sure roof ventilation is still adequate. A musty smell, condensation or white mould spores on timbers or roof felt is a sign it is not.

For more about the best practice and appropriate materials for loft insulation:

See our guidance on insulating roofs

• When replacing appliances or fittings, try to buy ones with the best energy rating
• Review how you use your heating controls
• Replace traditional or halogen light bulbs with LEDs
• Insulate your hot water storage tank and pipes
• Make sure extractor fans are controlled by time or humidity so that they only run when needed
• Turn equipment off when it is not being used. Do not leave it on standby
• Make sure outdoor lights are controlled by light or motion sensors so they turn off when not needed

Heating controls help to keep a home comfortable and warm without wasting energy. They may include:

• Programmer (controlling when heating turns on and off)
• Room thermostat
• Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs), if you have radiators
• Cylinder thermostat, if you have a hot water cylinder

By installing and using your heating controls effectively, you could save money on your heating bills and lower your carbon emissions.

How to use heating controls to save energy

You may decide to replace your heating system because it is at the end of its life. It's important to check that your new system is more efficient than your last one and to find an accredited contractor to install it.

What to consider when replacing your heating system

Want to switch to renewable low-carbon heating, like a heat pump? Find out more below in the advice on 'Renewable or low-carbon energy sources'.

With carefully designed and installed secondary glazing you can:

• Keep your original historic windows
• Reduce heat loss and draughts
• Benefit from improved sound insulation

Installing double glazing is a popular way to make a room more comfortable and energy efficient. The glazing is partly responsible for heat loss, but so are the window frames. Properly fitted window frames stopping cold draughts getting in make a big contribution to comfort and energy efficiency.

We recommend a combination of repairs and draught proofing or secondary glazing. In some situations, secondary glazing can bring even greater energy efficiency improvements than double glazing.

It’s important that where you install secondary glazing, you prevent condensation and mould developing by not draught-proofing the original window.

More about adding secondary glazing to windows

Damp and mould problems reduce a building's energy efficiency. They also result in the deterioration of the building and even the health of occupants.

Buildings of traditional construction are made of brick, stone, earth, and older timber framed structures. Their materials are natural and can manage moisture without mechanical ventilation. External render, internal plaster or the mortar between the bricks would have been lime based, which easily allow excess moisture to evaporate.

You may find that changes or repairs made to your building have used modern materials such as gypsum plaster, cement, emulsion paints or waterproof paints. These may trap water from sources of damp, such as leaks, faulty pipes or gutters, cracks in the plaster or render, or from a flood, and prevent the building from drying out.

Even if they aren't causing an issue with damp now, they may do in the future if they are not properly maintained and if moisture is trapped behind them.

This is why we recommend that you consider replacing any inappropriate renders, plasters and mortars with traditional materials such as lime render, plaster and mortar.

Find out more about:

Repairing walls

Using the right materials

In some buildings, installing internal or external wall insulation can help improve the energy efficiency of the fabric.

However, in some situations, it brings relatively little additional benefit in reducing heat loss compared to the 'quick wins' and 'more-involved changes' described above.

If not properly considered and/or installed, or if inappropriate materials are used, it can make a building less energy efficient, risk the health of occupants and impact their wellbeing. It can also harm the special interest of a building, both externally and internally, and may cause physical deterioration of the building.

Because these are high risk measures, subject to attaining consent where relevant, we recommend getting specialist advisers and building contractors to do the works.

More about insulating walls

We strongly encourage you to conserve your building's historic windows where possible. Older windows are usually durable, functional and repairable if looked after. And they make an important contribution to the character of historic buildings.

More about repairing and making changes to windows

Where the glass, window or door has come to the end of its life, replacement might be the only option. Search for a replacement that is both:

• A more energy efficient product, and
• Appropriate to the building's character and appearance

Because these are high risk measures, subject to attaining consent where relevant, we recommend getting specialist advisers and building contractors to do the works.

It may be possible to add insulation within a floor void or beneath a solid floor.

While existing solid floors already offer a degree of insulation, it is good to explore opportunities to improve the performance of building fabric when undertaking works.

However, even when using appropriate insulation materials, there is an increased risk of moisture accumulation and damage to the building fabric if not properly considered and installed, including maintaining ventilation when necessary.

It is also important that you consider the impact of such works on special interest including important surfaces, finishes, floor levels and fabric, as well as the impact on archaeology and building foundations.

Because these are high risk measures, subject to attaining consent where relevant, we recommend getting specialist advisers and building contractors to do the works.

More about insulating floors

Generating energy from renewable or low carbon heating systems will reduce your carbon emissions and still heat your home.

A key step is making sure the system has been sized correctly.

Because these are high risk measures, subject to attaining consent where relevant, we recommend getting specialist advisers and building contractors to do the works.

More about installing renewable or low-carbon energy sources

In some buildings, installing roof insulation can help improve energy efficiency. This measure is more cost-effective when replacing a roof covering.

Even using appropriate material, this measure also increases the risk of moisture building up and damage to timbers if not properly considered and/or installed.

Because these are high risk measures, subject to attaining consent where relevant, we recommend getting specialist advisers and building contractors to do the works.

More about roof insulation