How to get dirt-cheap insulation for your home
I'm pretty dismissive of most of this government's environmental policies, but there are one or two schemes in place that are very impressive indeed.
The government has initiated various funds for subsidising environmentally-positive things for homeowners; these funds appear to be distributed to local councils and other organisations. The customers (you and me) end up having to pay a very small fee for something that would otherwise be hugely expensive.
Last year I got a large compost bin for the garden, delivered to my front door, for £5. The same bin in the garden centre would have cost £50, and I'd have had to go and fetch it myself. This was possible because my local council has been given some money from Gordon Brown, and uses it to subsidise the cost (to the manufacturer) of supplying the bins.
Over the Christmas holidays, my father-in-law mentioned a scheme whereby he got his home comprehensively insulated for less than £200. This included cavity wall insulation and thick loft insulation. Again, this is possible because the government is subsidising the energy companies.
You get a better deal if your home has no insulation already, or if you're over 60 or on benefits - in these cases, you get your insulation for free.
Even if you're not in that position, you can still get a huge discount. Typically, a three-bedroom detached house (like mine) will cost me about £150-200 each for loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. That's all labour and materials for a bunch of professionals, with all the professional kit, to come and do the job. Cavity wall filling needs professionals anyway; loft insulation is a straightforward DIY job but is time-consuming and messy; I'd rather pay someone else to do it.
What irks me is that knowledge of discounts like this is not widespread. You have to go and hunt for it.
So, for anyone who finds this page after a Google search: go to the Energy Saving Trust site and click the big "Search for a grant" button. You'll be asked for your postcode, and some unintrusive personal questions, then given a list of companies that can do your insulation on the cheap. By all means ring around a few of them for a quote, but remember that because the funding is coming from central government, the prices from the different suppliers are broadly similar, and you'll only find differences of a few pounds here and there. If you live in Wiltshire, call the county energy efficiency advice line on 0800 512012, where a friendly person can guide you through the details, and get a surveyor round to inspect your property (the survey is free and there's no obligation to buy anything).
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