Insulation behind skirting?

Hi. Anyone here ever used insulation behind skirting ? I am just doing a couple downstairs rooms in an old terraced house. I have some of that BQ 8mm thick fibre underlay for laminate flooring. I could cut into 4/5" wide strips and staple it onto the back of the skirting. It won't be an ideal solution but it will also provide a bit of noise insulation. Whats a cheap and more efficient solution?

Thanks.

Arthur

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Arthur 51
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Arthur 51 wibbled on Monday 30 November 2009 13:07

It wouldn't do any harm, but is it going to do any good?

What are you trying to do - reduce draughts that might be working their way around the back of the skirting from the underfloor, or trying to improve the U-vale of the wall as a whole?

If the latter, even if you introduce perfect insulation it won't make any real difference based on % of wall with and % without skirting.

If the former, caulking or some other sealant would work as well.

There is some merit behind insulation/reflectors behind radiators as those are a local hotspot so leakage is much higher than the rest of the wall. But skiting usually runs as cool as the wall (unless you have skirting heaters?).

WRT the noise element - what sort of noise are you trying to reduce? Echos withing the room or transmission from the next room or house?

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

I think I'm concerned with what I think is a strong air flow beneath the ground floor suspended floors. So this insulation would help to a small degree here. We will also have wooden flooring in 1 room and laminate in the other so noise/echo is something else I'm interested in minimising.

Thnaks.

Arthur

Reply to
Arthur 51

Arthur 51 wibbled on Monday 30 November 2009 14:26

As I mentioned, no harm in it. Have you considered some insulation under the floor boards (I assume it's floor boards?)

That can be fairly easy to add (depending on how hard it is to lift the boards). Either wool (glass/rock/sheep) on netting/chickenwire between teh rafters or celotex type foam panels (or even polystyrene - but check the fire retardant properties of whichever) between the joists.

As for behind the skirting, the best I can think of, other than 25mm of celotex (bit thick) would be a few layers of that closed cell white foam underlay that you can get to put under laminate. It's not too compressible.

It should aid the acoustic properties too.

Or, space the boards off the wall by 1/2 inch and fill with PU expanding foam from a gun which will have the added benefit it will bond the skirting to the wall. Warning - may be messy (remove carpet from area) and you will have to "saw" the boards off with a breadknife or padsaw later if you ever wish to remove them. 1 can of foam would probably fix a room's worth easily.

But I don't think it will help very much - certainly no where near the benefit of under floor insulation which is where most of your foot level losses are.

Reply to
Tim W

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