Insulating your home for winter

With the summer of 2011 rapidly becoming history and the long autumn and winter nights swiftly drawing in, we've reached the time of year when you are likely to turn your attentions to keeping your home cosy right through Christmas and beyond.

There are many popular means of insulating your home, from cavity wall insulation - which insulates the gap between your inner and outer wall - to draught proofing. Other popular home insulation options include loft insulation, which can save you as much as £145 a year, whilst insulation for your water tanks and pipes is another option.

But have you ever stopped to consider the role that even your carpets can play in keeping your home snug? Indeed, it's all the more reason for you to choose your carpet supplier carefully. Cormar Carpets was established in the North of England in 1956 and the Lancashire firm has been given awards for Manufacturing and Customer Service by the flooring trade magazine Interiors Monthly, voted for by readers for the past five years.

It's worth considering why and how carpets are such a good means of winter insulation for your home. Although you might initially think that your carpet merely provides a good looking and pleasant surface on which to walk on in your home, in reality, it also provides you with vital warmth underfoot and serves as a significant layer of insulation. It is estimated that the combination of carpet, plus a good quality underlay can save up to 6% off your energy costs. So if the average household heating bill was £1000, that's £60 per household throughout the UK. This makes it a great value floor covering by virtue of its subsequent ability to slash your energy costs.

Wool carpets provide a particularly high standard of thermal insulation in the home. This is just one more reason why homeowners may wish to consider Cormar's own range of carpets, which consist of various plain and heather wool twist piles, textured loop piles and easy clean polypropylene carpets. The company makes use of only the very best quality yarns in 100% pure new wool at its Lancashire mills, in addition to 80% woolblends and easy clean polypropylene.

The Cormar Carpets collection includes a range of British Wool qualities - highly rated for their insulating properties. These qualities, produced using 80% pure new wool with 10% nylon and 10% tuftbond, include Town & Country, Berwick, West Country and Natural Berber Twist providing a choice of heather and berber colours. These ranges are the ideal solution if you're looking for something that looks stunning in your home whilst also providing those vital insulating properties.

Indeed, Cormar Carpets also offer a choice of wool loop textures so that you can benefit from an insulating carpet that combines the contemporary appearance of modern flooring with the warmth and comfort that is associated with wool. Recently introduced is the Avebury Plains &  Stripe range - 100% Woolmark branded collection produced in a folded 3-ply yarn - excellent for insulation and durability. Alongside Avebury, Cormar Carpets other loop pile range Malabar offers a choice of ribbed and weave textures in a eight natural shades at an attractive retail price point.

If you're looking to buy a stylish new carpet to help keep your home warm in time for winter, Cormar provide combination of quality, value and choice you can find.

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