Insulating wallpaper is nothing new and has been around for years. It consisted of thin rolls of polystyrene with paper on one side, but in recent years there have been advances in this heat conserving technology.

Using insulating wallpaper to cut down on draughts and keep heat in the home is an economical and practical option for many situations. For example, walls on the side of a stair case or hallway may need insulating but if you were to put on a standalone layer of insulation, even just a couple of centimeters thick, it would narrow the stair case width. Also there is the time and expense involved with traditional insulating layers, whereas insulating wallpaper is easy to apply and a fairly quick and mess free process.

You can still purchase the 2mm thick polystyrene lined wallpaper, but German companies have recently begun to market insulating wallpaper with different materials to lower thermal conductivity. There is now a 4mm thick wallpaper made from polyester felt and another one with graphite particles embedded in it. The latter supposedly reduced heat loss the same as a 26 cm thick concrete layer would. The standard insulating wallpaper that has been around for years is around £8 a roll so relatively cheap in terms of thermal insulation and wallpaper decoration. However, the new products now being marketed can cost well over £100 for a 15 meter long roll.

While the actual effectiveness of these new technologies in insulating wallpaper is still under debate, they do undoubtedly make the wall warmer to the touch and not a cold damp feel as with unlined wallpaper or paint. Thus, they make your home feel and look more comfortable and warm, which in turn, may enable you to turn the heating down a notch and save consistently each month.

Of course in the centuries past, before wallpaper, efforts were made to keep heat in houses by hanging wool wall covering and tapestries up. And this cheap and easy method is making a come back. One wool company are helping insulate houses by offering to create a stud framework on the wall and then to this, tweed covered wooden panels are fixed. While it is unlikely to actually minimize heat loss much it makes the room look and feel warmer.

If you want to reduce heat loss in rooms such as the kitchen or bathroom or make floors feel warmer, you can lay thermal insulation tiles. These polystyrene tiles can then be tiled over or painted or plastered over.

If space is not so much of an issue and you want to properly insulate your rooms, then you can apply thermal solid wall insulation which is around a centimeter thick. It is applied like a wallpaper and can then be decorated over with basically any finish from normal wallpaper to paint to tiles. It has a life expectancy of around 30 years so is a long term solution. Figures produced by the Building Research Establishment and the National Physical Laboratory show that it can reduce the loss of energy by up to 30%, reducing heating bills and reducing your carbon footprint. Thermal insulating wallpaper or tiles can also be put onto ceilings and is flexible so can be applied to uneven surfaces.

© Rachel Gawith is a freelance writer and marketer and currently assigned to What House? to write about the UK property market, DIY topics, rental issues and anything related to buying or selling a home.