AIRLOKs RONAN JACKSON simplifies the science of keeping buildings warmer while spending less….
“It’s all about air,” he says with a wry grin, eyes lighting up as he blows away the rocket science. “Everyone assumes this is complicated, but making your home actually feel warm and cosy can be really simple once you appreciate what is usually going wrong in the first place. We struggle to achieve “air-tightness.
Heat travels through the air – VERY efficiently. Worse still, moist air is more effective at carrying away heat.
So now think about your house – solid walls, floor ceilings and a roof. You have air bricks for ventilation, but most buildings are leaking air all over the place from the places they are NOT supposed to. Every void, seam and joint of the structure. It is so bad, that with all the doors and the windows closed, the whole volume of air can in a typical house still completely change as much as three times every single hour.”
“It sounds obvious,” he says grinning, “but most people have no idea how hopeless our homes are at retaining heat. You might as well put your radiators in the garden, because that’s where all the warmth is going!”
So instead of putting the heating on FULL or extra jumpers, the easiest way to feel cosy is stop warm air getting out and taking your heat with it. But even then we pack out our homes out with materials and boards that still let the air and all of your heat pass through. You can roll bales of fibre into your loft all day, but it will do nothing to stop shivering cold air from getting at your ankles through floorboards.”
He clearly knows something I don’t and I am keen to know what the big secret is.
“Ah but SPRAYFOAM is no secret” he laughs. “The Americans have been doing this for decades, and even the Irish have had this so long they can’t believe what we’re missing.
We spray an air-tight foam lining on to the places where you don’t want to leak from and carefully screen off the vents and air-bricks to keep them clear so that the house “breathes” naturally. As soon as the warm foam makes contact with the surface it expands in seconds to several times its size, instantly and permanently sealing the gaps and voids that traditional materials don’t get close to. This stuff cures within minutes, so we are not talking about a major operation here. Most houses would be done in a day comfortably.
When we coat the cold ceiling and freezing floorboards the difference has to be felt to be believed. Now the air only leaves from where you want it to – the windows, doors vents and air bricks. The foam literally wraps around the house like a duvet, doing a far better job than wool fibre or something as crude as kingspan.
Most people notice the effect within minutes. The room heats up quickly and stays fathat way, so you may end up turning the thermostat down. The impact on your heating bill is even more dramatic – you could book an extra holiday with what you save in a year!
Once you get the idea you can really run with this. Everything from storage spaces to Man-caves and garages go from arctic to comfy. You can even apply the same principal in reverse when things get too hot. By controlling the air movement you trap cool air inside the house and keep out the warm humid air that makes it so difficult to sleep through long summer nights. One of the foams we use is exactly the same type used to line the walls of refrigerators.
This all sounds too easy so I ask “What about mould and condensation?”
“What about it?” Returns Ronan. “Most of the problem comes from moisture in the air coming in from outside. Stop that from getting indoors and can you eliminate the problem instead of having to manage it. You can just start to imagine the health benefits for people with allergies or asthma.”
“So where’s the catch? I ask. “There must be one.”
“There isn’t one he says,” cool as ice. “It’s not even that expensive – however this is a job for specialists only. That way we ensure this goes only where it’s supposed to. We also make sure you have the correct formulation to suit each location and surface. We’ll use one type above the ceiling and place a totally different type of foam if you choose to treat the underside of roof tiles. But we go much further than that to preserve the essential tolerances that ensure the long term protection of your roof.
No mess, No fuss – we just specialise in Cosy…….