Super specific kitchen insulation question 29 December 2022 at 8:55PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 23 replies 876 views

mdori003

Hi there, trying to draft proof my house a bit and have noticed huge temperature variation in my kitchen and feels like some insulation under the kickboards would make a fairly tangible difference - the kitchen is north facing and has two walls in contact with outside and a third connected to an integrated garage so it is freezing.

Any advice and best insulation for this situation? I'm guessing wool based as it's in a room that will be used a lot but also need something that would be fairly resistant to a bit of moisture, just wondering if anyone had any advice, thanks

grumbler

IMO, your post is very confusing.

Draft proofing and insulating are different things.

Do I understand correctly that you hope to achieve something by putting some insulation under the cabinets?

mdori003

Yes- thermal insulation to stop draft of cold air from underneath. Will also check for any ingress of cold air from outside but I don't believe that to be the case

grumbler

mdori003 said:

Yes- thermal insulation to stop draft of cold air from underneath.

Underneath what? What sort of floor is it? And to stop draft you need to seal the gaps that cold air comes through in the first place.

ThisIsWeird

As Grumbler says, stuffing insulation tightly under the units might well reduce draughts coming through, but are unlikely to work from an 'insulation' perspective. When you think about it, all you will be 'insulating' is a 2'-wide strip of floor around the kitchen perimeter. But, it could help with cold draughts and, unless you can remove the units in order to insulate the actual walls, then could be a fair call.

More likely than it just being 'cold', is that there are draughts coming through from, say, the skirting/floor joints, around pipes going through the wall, that sort of stuff. And, fair do's, I can't see any easy way of reducing this other than stuffing insulation in there!

I think what I'd try to begin with would be a 'sausage' of reasonably-firmly rolled loft insulation, large enough to be a good snug squished fit between the floor and base unit bottoms, pushed in right tight against the back wall so's it reduces draughts going both up the unit backs (where they'll leak into the actual units and out the doors) and out the fronts around the plinths. See what difference - if any - that makes.

When you look behind the plinths, what is the floor like - chipboard? Gappy wood floorboards? Covered in a decorative flooring?

ThisIsWeird

Ultimately, the best thing would be a layer of insulation over these ext walls, but that would need the kitchen removed, so best wait until that needs doing anyway, I guess.

The garage wall - what type is it, do you know? Single block skin? Cavity? Potential there to add insulation from the garage side? But very much less effective if it's an unfilled cavity.

mdori003

thanks both; yes i suppose i don't know if there is air getting up from below but there probably is a v decent chance on reflection.

Apologies if i'm describing it poorly; the house is timberframed with a single brick skin. The floor is suspended; it is screed underneath an engineered wood surface. there is no particular insulation underneath the floor aside from the screed and i have noticed in other rooms that there are places that air is coming through from below, so i guess it stands to reason that it is happening there as the floor ends at the kickboards - I'll need to check exactly what the makeup of the floor bond it is but probably chipboard.

We have dry lined the exterior wall but there is is a large mechanised garage door that is always going to be losing heat (i know you can put foil on it but it is down the priority list at the minute). In terms of relative coldness the side nearest the garage is the same temperature as the side beside the exterior wall.

In terms of filling holes in other rooms it has been pretty effective using "stopgap" plastic films underneath the skirting board but i suspect given the size of the space i'll use the "sausage" solution @ThisIsWeird has suggested - i guess i was wondering if there was any types that were recommended/to completely avoid given the amount of condensation in a kitchen, albeit at floor level behind a kickboard.

thanks

stuart45

How old is your house?

Mutton_Geoff

The back and base of kitchen units should be left ventilated. Any condensation, spills, leaks etc will rot your mdf kitchen units in no time at all if you block the circulation. Stick a kick panel fan heater in if it's too cold around your tootsies.

mdori003

stuart45 said:

How old is your house?

its just over 40 years old

Mutton_Geoff said:

The back and base of kitchen units should be left ventilated. Any condensation, spills, leaks etc will rot your mdf kitchen units in no time at all if you block the circulation. Stick a kick panel fan heater in if it's too cold around your tootsies.

Is there a middle ground though? I'll need to have proper look to make sure there are no massive holes of course, but am tempted to put something in towards the back. I've also noticed that there is quite a big gap from the top of the kickboard to the bottom of the units so even filling that may have an impact. Would underfloor insulation be a better bet? Unfortunately i'm not sure there is enough space to manoevure under there without destroying the floorboards so it would be a very expensive foam job which i imagine would be worse for condensation but i keep reading conflicting information

I ran the dehumidifer in our living room after having some clothes drying on the radiators and picked up minimal water at all, then  noticed on a cold day how drafty the skirting boards are.

stuart45

When you say it's a suspended floor, is it timber joists or block and beam?