How to insulate a lintel (Ed. )

[James Davis]

... just kidding.

I didn't know how to title such a sad and boring question without putting everybody off answering.

Anyway! The front door of my house is set back from the front wall so that there is an outdoor recess. Above that recess is a piece of wood measuring 85cm x 35cm x 18mm. That piece of wood is all that separates the inside of my house from the outside at that point. This seems a bit mad and a way to lose heat.

So I've cut out some floor insulation board and placed that on top of the wood. See photo. Idea being to put some white skirting or similar in front of it. I haven't stuck it down or anything and prefer not to. Because of the wonkiness of the wood and walls and the inflexibility of the insulation, there are very small gaps below and at the sides, perhaps a mm.

Questions:

- is this going to make any difference?
- is this stuff going to slowly give off air-borne chemicals that are harmful to my family?
- Got any better ideas?

Thanks!

 

[JohnD]

If you have an irregular space to insulate, that is not prone to water penetration, you can stuff it with mineral wool insulation such as is used in lofts. It will press into irregular gaps. The dark brown type is treated to prevent irritant dust and fibres shedding. You can cover it with a board. The close fitting also blocks draughts,

You can also use expanding foam, but this is harder and much more messy, any that drips out before setting, or gets on your skin, clothes, hair or eyeballs is quite difficult to remove.

You can cut rigid foam slabs, but it is hard to get a perfect fit in an irregular gap.

Heat loss from such a small area will be insignificant, unless there is a draught.

 

[foxhole]

Fill the whole recess above door with rock wool , plaster board to ceiling, seems a pointless dust trap.