Are you scratching your head after investing in home insulation, only to find your Dublin house is still chilly? You’re not alone. Many homeowners in Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, and Kildare experience this frustration. Insulation is the single best step to a warmer home, but if it’s not working, it’s usually down to a few critical issues.
At Luca Line Services, an SEAI-registered company, we specialise in identifying and fixing the hidden heat loss issues that insulation alone can’t solve. Below, we break down the four main reasons your home might still be cold and the practical steps you can take to finally lock in that warmth.
1. You Have Insulated, But Not Eliminated Draughts (Air Leakage)
Insulation works by slowing down the transfer of heat through the fabric of your walls and roof. However, it does nothing to stop the flow of cold air coming in and warm air escaping through gaps and cracks. This is known as air leakage or draughts, and it’s a massive culprit for cold homes in the Dublin area, especially with older, pre-2006 properties.
The Fix: Airtightness & Draught-Proofing
Before you consider more insulation, you need to seal the air envelope of your home.
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Seal the Major Gaps: Common culprits are around pipe entries, cable runs, extractor fans, and the attic hatch. Use specialised expanding foam or sealant.
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Target Doors and Windows: Ensure all windows and doors have tight seals. Replace worn-out rubber gaskets or use self-adhesive foam strips.
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Mind the Floorboards: For period homes in areas like South Dublin, use a flexible sealant to fill the gaps between skirting boards and floorboards.
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Consider a Professional Blower Door Test: For a comprehensive energy upgrade, a professional assessment can pinpoint exactly where air is leaking, allowing for a precise fix before a full deep retrofit.
2. Your Ventilation is Inadequate or Uncontrolled
This might seem contradictory: if you make your house airtight, won’t it get stuffy? Yes, which is why proper, controlled ventilation is non-negotiable in an insulated home.
In older, leaky homes, ventilation happened naturally through draughts (uncontrolled air changes). When you insulate and seal those leaks, you trap moisture and pollutants, which leads to condensation, poor air quality, and eventually, mould and dampness—all of which make a house feel colder.
The Fix: Controlled Mechanical Ventilation
To maintain a healthy, warm, and dry environment, you need to manage the air exchange:
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Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV): This is the gold standard for fully insulated and airtight homes. An HRV system brings in fresh air from outside, passes it through a heat exchanger, and uses the heat from the stale air being extracted to warm the incoming fresh air. This retains up to 90% of your heat, but provides a constant supply of fresh air.
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Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV): A less intrusive option that uses sensors to automatically adjust airflow based on moisture or occupancy levels.
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Simple Extractor Fans: Ensure bathroom and kitchen extractor fans are working properly and vented outside, not into the attic.
3. Insulation Was Only Applied to One Area
If you only insulated your attic, your walls and floors are still losing heat. Heat flows from warm to cold, and every uninsulated surface acts like a hole in a bucket.
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Attics: Account for 25-30% of heat loss. Insulating this is the easiest fix.
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Walls (Cavity or Solid): Account for 30-35% of heat loss, the single biggest area.
- Floors & Windows: The remainder of the heat is lost here.
If you have great attic insulation but have solid walls common in many period properties, you are still losing a significant amount of heat through the walls.
The Fix: A Whole-House Approach
Achieving a truly warm home often requires a “deep retrofit” focusing on all major heat-loss areas.
| Area of Heat Loss | Recommended Luca Line Service | SEAI Grant Option |
| Walls (35% loss) | Cavity Wall Insulation or External Wall Insulation (EWI) | Individual Grants or One-Stop-Shop |
| Attic (30% loss) | Attic Insulation (Roll, Slab, or Spray Foam) | Individual Grant (Easiest Start) |
| Heating System | Boiler Upgrade or High-Efficiency Heat Pump Installation | Individual Grant or One-Stop-Shop |
| BER Assessment | Get a professional BER Assessment and Advisory Report | Individual Grant |
Tip for Homeowners in Meath and Kildare: Many modern homes built in the 80s and 90s only require Cavity Wall Insulation (Bonded Bead) to see a massive jump in warmth and efficiency. This is one of the most cost-effective upgrades.
4. Your Heating System is Fighting the Insulation
You can have the thickest insulation in the country, but if your heating system is old, inefficient, or has poor controls, you’ll still feel cold and pay too much. An old gas or oil boiler will use excessive energy just to keep your home at a base temperature, and if you can’t control the heat in different zones, you are heating rooms you don’t use.
The Fix: Heating System Upgrades and Controls
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Upgrade to High-Efficiency: Consider upgrading to a high-efficiency boiler or, better yet, a Heat Pump system. A heat pump works perfectly with a well-insulated, airtight home, providing constant, low-temperature, highly efficient heat.
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Install Heating Controls: Use zoned controls that allow you to set different temperatures for your living areas, sleeping areas, and hot water. This gives you comfort where and when you need it, cutting down on wasted energy.
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Get a BER Assessment: A BER assessment by a registered assessor like Luca Line Services will clearly identify the major heat-loss areas of your specific property and recommend the most impactful insulation and heating upgrades.
Stop Feeling Cold and Start Saving
Insulating your home is a major investment that should pay off in comfort and lower energy bills. If you live in Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, or Kildare and are not seeing the results you expected, don’t worry.
The team at Luca Line Services is SEAI-registered and experienced in full-scale home energy retrofits. We don’t just insulate; we provide a holistic solution that includes draught-proofing, the correct ventilation, and heating upgrades to ensure you achieve a truly warm, comfortable, and energy-efficient home.
Ready to find out the real reason your house is cold?
Contact Luca Line Services today for a consultation and a free, no-obligation assessment of your Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, or Kildare home.
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