Now that winter weather is upon us, you are probably cranking up the heating in your house to keep the cold at bay, but heating the home is just half the battle. Once you are warm and cosy inside you should start thinking about retaining as much heat as possible, which will save money, energy and resources.

Loft insulation

Because heat rises, you lose a lot of heat through the roof of your house. Using the recommended thickness of 200mm of loft insulation could cut 20 per cent off your heating bill. You can also buy blanket loft insulation in 100mm and 150mm thick.

Insulating your loft can be a dusty job, so make sure you wear protective clothing (overalls, gloves, eye protectors, face mask). Even if your loft is very clean you will need gloves when handling glassfibre as it can cause irritation.

Make sure the loft is well lit as you work, and only stand on joists, or on a series of planks laid across at least three joists to form a walkway. Blanket insulation is unrolled between loft joists. Choose the correct width roll to fit between the joists in your home there are two choices available, 370mm, which usually fits most houses, and 570mm for some modern houses.

Start to lay the blanket insulation at one side of the loft and unroll the material working towards the middle.

Tuck the end of the roll down into the eaves but don't completely block them, as it is important to have some ventilation to prevent condensation.

When you reach the middle of the loft, cut the insulation and go to the other end of the loft and start again, butting up the meeting edges in the middle. Repeat for each joist space and tuck the blanket insulation under any electric wiring to avoid risk of overheating. When insulating the loft floor, don't cover the area below your water cistern as any heat rising from the room below will stop the tank from freezing. You can even insulate your loft hatch with blanket insulation.Tap a nail into each corner of the hatch and criss-cross string between the nails to keep the insulation in place.