More from BuilderScrap.com on the recent Defra Survey. As a Builders Exchange we’re absolutely positive that you guys will know how well insulated your homes are…. check out the responses.

The survey also looked at home insulation. Again responses can be classified using the stages of change response scale. It should be noted that some respondents will have installed insulation or double glazing themselves but in many cases others will have moved into a property that already had insulation or double glazing. The group classified as “maintenance‟ in Table 7 includes both types of case.

It was most common for respondents (for whom it was practicable or relevant) to have already installed double glazing (89%) or loft insulation / top-up loft insulation (82%). Very few people were at the pre-contemplation stage (i.e. had either not heard of it or had not thought about doing this) or the rejection stage (i.e. had thought about it doing but had dismissed the idea). One in ten (10%) indicated that they were contemplating installing loft insulation or top-up loft insulation and 5% indicated that they were contemplating installing double glazing.

In the 2007 Defra survey a slightly higher proportion (94%) of respondents with lofts indicated that they had loft insulation. Similarly in tracker research carried out by the 28 Energy Saving Trust in August 2007, 94% of respondents indicated that they had at least some double-glazing, which is slightly higher than the 2009 survey. However, the question wording on these previous surveys was slightly different which may explain the apparent change – it seems improbable that the prevalence of loft insulation or double-glazing would have decreased over this period. In previous surveys respondents were asked simply whether they had any loft insulation in their home whereas in the current survey respondents were asked to respond using the stages of change scale described in this report.

Slightly more than half (57%) of those whose homes were constructed with cavity walls, had cavity wall insulation and around half of all respondents had draught exclusion for doors and or windows installed (46%). These levels are consistent with findings from previous research. The 2007 Defra survey showed that 59% of people in England who lived in homes with cavity walls had at least some cavity wall insulation. Research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust showed that 46% of people in England had draught exclusion in their homes. A relatively high proportion (19%) of respondents were at the pre-contemplation stage of installing draught exclusion suggesting that for many this was not something that they had considered.

Slightly more than one in ten (12%) of those whose homes were constructed with solid walls had solid wall insulation. Respondents were much more likely to be at the pre-contemplation stage for this behaviour – 31% were at this stage, indicating that a high proportion of those whose homes were constructed with solid walls “hadn’t really considered‟ this type of insulation. A relatively high proportion (21%) of respondents had rejected solid wall insulation as an option. There was also a high proportion of unclassified respondents due to people saying that this question was “not applicable‟ to them or because they did not know (31% of whose homes were constructed with solid walls).

Do you know about the construction of your own home?