Property: DIY tips

According to the Energy Saving Trust, a quarter of the heat in an uninsulated home is lost through the roof.

It says that laying 27cm (the recommended depth for mineral wool) of insulation in an uninsulated loft will save you up to £175 a year (based on a three-bed semi with gas central heating).

Even if your loft has insulation, it may not be thick enough. The trust calculates that if everyone in the UK fitted 27cm of loft insulation, the saving would be almost £500 million a year.

While you can get a pro to insulate your loft, it’s generally a straightforward DIY job - simply lay the insulation between the joists and then across them at a 90-degree angle to create two layers.

There are lots of different loft insulation materials to choose from, including rigid insulation boards, which are useful if you want to board over the loft for storage, insulation granules, which are good for filling awkward spaces, and environmentally friendly insulation made from things such as sheep’s wool or recycled plastic or newspapers - B&Q has a good selection. The recommended depth will vary from material to material, so check the manufacturer’s instructions.

And don’t forget to insulate any water pipes and tanks in the loft, as insulating the floor will make the loft itself colder because less heat will get through from the rooms below.

One of the hazards of this time of year is burst pipes, so don’t take any risks - insulate them in the loft and anywhere else you can access them.

When it comes to the walls of an uninsulated house, a third of the heat is lost through them, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

If your home has cavity walls (houses built from the 1920s onwards usually do), it’s easy to insulate them.

The trust calculates that installing cavity wall insulation in a three-bed semi (with gas central heating) will produce savings of up to £135 a year, but this isn’t a job you can do yourself - see www.energysavingtrust.org.uk for information on finding registered installers.

The installer will make small holes in your home’s exterior walls, blow the insulation material through the holes into the cavity and then fill the holes.

It’s a relatively quick and easy process, but the installer will need to be able to access all the walls. And it’s more complicated if your house isn’t detached because the installer will have to insert a barrier so the insulation doesn’t go in to the adjoining walls. Insulating homes with solid exterior walls, which are usually made of brick or stone, is less straightforward, but the savings are bigger.