Sprayable, Vapour Permeable, Natural Insulation for Suspended Timber Floors

"One of the most pressing challenges when addressing Climate Change is the energy use of existing buildings. Effective insulation of the UK's hard to treat buildings is one of the great unresolved challenges. These properties tend to be the least frequently upgraded as current retrofit methods are often disruptive, labour intensive and cost prohibitive. In addition they can have significant technical limitations, or result in unintended consequences.

Energy savings achieved by Q-Bot were modelled using SAP and used to compare floor insulation by Q-Bot to other measures such as Solid Wall Insulation, boiler replacement or double glazing. The payback period for Q-Bot insulation is much shorter than for Solid Wall Insulation or double glazing across all the properties monitored and often shorter than for the boiler replacement. Considering the life expectancy of 42 years for Solid Wall and Q-Bot Insulation, 12 years for the new boiler and 30 years for the double glazed windows, floor insulation by Q-Bot is the only measure guaranteed to pay back within its lifetime. Besides better U-Value and Airtightness (leading to improved EPC by 4 points) independent co-heating tests of Q-Bot floor insulation by Leeds Metropolitan University demonstrated higher overall energy savings (24%) than from a typical Solid Wall Insulation programmes of terraced properties (forming majority of homes in LB of Camden).

In order to insulate homes more effectively and reduce the risk of unintended consequences Q-Bot will develop insulation materials with improved vapour handling qualities with the support of this project."