Solid Wall Insulation

bigdoozer

Blue Flag, Halifax. Experts in this system ask for stewart or pete johnson

ub6bee

Mach1 wrote: »

Hi

I'm in a bit of a pickle! I've had conflicting information as to whether my property (old detached cottage, added onto throughout it's lifetime) has cavity walls throughout or at all!! Condensation is a problem in north facing area of house, and these external walls are also plastered on the hard and freezing to the touch. Have looked into internal insulation, but can't find any information about installers/grants in the Aberdeenshire area.

Can anyone help?

an "old cottage" will almost certainly not have cavity walls - they only became common after WW2. you can tell by looking at the brickwork - cavity walls will be in "stretcher" bond, where solid walls will be in eg English or Flemish bond. surveyors will drill a 12mm hole in the mortar joints to look for the cavity, and if there is one then use a boroscope (a small periscope) to examine the cavity to see if there is any insulation in there already.

There are solutions to insulating non cavity walls. there are proprietary systems for putting insulation on the outside of the wall - typically these are a layer of insulation, fixed mechanically, then a weathering layer often render. they are expensive, and you have to get it right to avoid "interstitial condensation" within the wall. it will change the external appearance, may need planning consent, not likely to be allowed in conservation areas or to listed buildings. you may have problems doing it if your're not a house (ie are a flat) , or if you are terraced, semi, then the insualtion will stop at the boundary. you may need scaffolding, expensive in itself, plus skilled labour.

alternatives -

one is dry lining , using an insulating plasterboard or thin insulating material between the original wall and the plasterboard - there are several around, from silvered bubble wrap type stuff, to "Triso Super foil" and similar products. the downside is you lose an inch or so off the room, you have to redecorate, and again it has to be done proper, or you get interstitial condensation.

there are a couple of other solutions .... one is "Semptap" from mould growth consultants Ltd- claimed to be as easy to apply as wallpaper. it is about 1 cm thick and is a dense polyurethane foam with a hard surface. dramatically increases the insulation of any wall, cavity or not. an advantage too is that as the insulation is on the inside, you dont end up heating the entire wall, so the room "warms up" more quickly when you put heating on. said to be very effective against condensation and the associated black mould growth that goes with it. The same firm supply a range of fungicides etc. to clean off the mould and prevent its regrowth. They are very helpful too! they offer a discount to diy-ers if you phone them up to place the order.

a similar product is an aerogel, spacetherm - this is now also available as a roll material that can be put on the inside, said to be hugely effective. allegedly this is now grant aidable via british gas (said to be for acquistion of the material only, no contribution to labour). dont have much more info about this.

regarding grants, contact your local Council. there are schemes out there, many will get eg cavity wall insulation and loft insulation free - but dependent on age, financial status, possibly location and the like.

try contacting

Warm Zone tel 0800 587 2251 for those who are over 70yrs of age, or receiving certain benefits and either own their homes or rent privately


Warm Front' 0800 316 6011, text 0800 072 0156, Eaga Partnership Limited Freepost NEA 12054 Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1BR assistance is available if you receive one or more income or disability related government benefit, then you may be eligible for a government funded Warm Front grant to help pay for insulating your home. In some cases, you may be able to get a grant for installing a heating system.


there have been promises recently that there will be more schemes rolled out, so if you are not entitled now, then patience may be a virtue.

by making homes more fuel efficient, we

a. improve our lifestyles, comfort, and health.
b. protect the national economy by spending less on importing fuel.
c. improve our fuel security,
d. make our north sea etc resreves last longer,
e. protect the environment,
f. reduce the need for new power generation, eg nuclear and coal fired stations, etc etc. with the associated political "not in my back yard" protests
g. save ourselves money!

so it makes sense, and the government are apparently committed to it.

I'd have put some links in but the system won't let me, so let google do the searching for you

bigdoozer

See other forums issues about warmfront?????

gromituk

Find us a link!

jicms

James007 wrote: »

Solid Wall Insulation
A non-repayable grant to a maximum of £20,000 may be available to help improve the insulation of ‘hard to heat’ homes, e.g. dwellings of solid wall construction including park homes.

Grants and Discount Schemes for Insulation and Heating
Free Insulation Solid Wall Insulation A non- repayable grant to a maximum of £20000 may be available to help improve the ...
http://www2.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=750

It seems unfair that these grants are dependent on which council you come under! I am trying Coldbusters in the hope that they can help. Thanks for all this info.

liftmyspirits

adr0ck wrote: »

what do you mean by solid wall???????

the only way you could insulate an existing solid wall is by making your rooms smaller by having the insulation fixed to your inside walls and then replasterboarded and skimed

You've got to be really careful doing that ... interstitial condensation between the dry lining and the solid wall can result in unseen, unhealthy mould growth, and potentially wet rot in structural and other timbers that are connected through to the solid walls.

gromituk

Yes, which is why insulating panels come with vapour barriers.

And in answer to the post you are quoting: you can also insulate the outside of solid walls - which gives a cooler house in a heat wave!

ThermalImageUK_2

Scottish Government has a pilot project offering interest free loans of between £500 & £10,000 repayable over 8 years, for energy efficiency measures including solid wall insulation. Call EST on 0800 152 012

economiser

External insulation is nothing like as effective as internal particularly for intermittent heating. With external insulation the wall structure absorbs a lot of heat when the heating is turned on and releases it when the heating is turned off. This is OK for continuously heated systems but makes systems that are not on at night unresponsive and relatively inefficient.

gromituk

Absolutely - internal insulation is better for keeping an intermittently heated house warm winter where you want it to respond quickly to heat; external insulation is better for keeping a house cool in summer where you don't. It's a compromise.