Improving the insulation in your home is an excellent way of shaving money off your fuel bills. You can always consider changing to a cheaper energy provider, British Gas, for example, has recently announced a reduction in the cost of their fuel prices, but there are always things that you can do yourself.

Solid wall insulation can be internal or external, if it external you will need to add a decorative weather-proof insulating treatment to the outside of your house. This generally ranges from 50 to 100mm and is usually installed where there are severe heating problems. External wall insulation is more expensive than cavity insulation and could save you as much as ?500 a year. It is very expensive, but if you are planning on staying in one place for a long time it is probably worth it. Additionally the government, energy suppliers and local authorities provide grants or offers to help you insulate your home, so you may be able to find such insulation more cheaply than you expect.

A good time to consider external wall insulation is when you are renovating or repairing your exterior walls. This will reduce the costs of the insulation as it will reduce the labor and material costs as work is already being done.

The other option is internal wall insulation. This usually involves installing plaster board laminates with insulation material on the inside of the walls. They work by reducing the amount of heat which would otherwise seep through solid external walls and be lost outside. It is generally cheaper than external wall insulation ? though perhaps more intrusive ? and could save you are ?470 a year. There are, again, government grants and other funds that you can apply for to reduce the costs of installation.

Good insulation is the best way of reducing the cost of your fuel bills, whilst it can be expensive it is an investment in the future and with a lot of governmental help around at the moment now could be a good time to insulate your home.