Insulating Your Home
By insulating your home, you can significantly reduce your energy consumption. Heat can no longer escape through the roof, windows, floor, or walls. This saves energy and therefore money. In addition to substantial savings, your home also becomes more comfortable.
Types of insulation
There are many different ways to insulate, such as wall, floor, cavity, roof, and glass insulation. Your home may already have some level of insulation, which often depends on the year it was built. If your home has not been (fully) insulated or was last insulated a long time ago, then insulating it can be a very interesting investment.
Costs and savings of insulating a home
Below, we outline the average costs and yearly savings per type of insulation. These figures are based on the savings for an average end-of-terrace house (source: milieucentraal.nl).
| Type of insulation | One-time costs | One-time grant | Annual savings | Payback period |
| Roof insulation | € 4,400 | € 1,900 | € 800 | 3 jaar |
| Floor insulation | € 1,500 | € 500 | € 260 | 4 jaar |
| Cavity wall insulation | €2,400 | € 800 | € 800 | 2 jaar |
| HR++ glass | € 3,800 | € 1,300 | € 550 | 4.5 jaar |
Lower VAT rate for insulation
The labour costs for insulation are subject to a reduced VAT rate of 9 percent. According to Milieu Centraal, this can save around 1,300 euros if you fully insulate a single-family home (floor, roof, cavity wall, and glass).
Including insulation in your mortgage
Insulation is one of the energy-saving measures you can finance through your mortgage. If you are buying a new home and want to insulate it (and possibly apply other energy-saving measures), you can borrow up to 106 percent of the property value, provided this is feasible based on your income. There are also options to increase your mortgage if you want to make your current home more sustainable. A mortgage adviser can go through all the possibilities with you.
Other ways to make your home more sustainable
In addition to insulating your home, there are plenty of other ways to make it more sustainable. For example, you could generate your own electricity by installing solar panels or heat your home smartly with a hybrid heat pump.