Solid Wall Insulation

ed110220

SilverSaloon wrote: »

you've blocked up any chance of the house breathing, and its rotting away behind all that insulation.

By far the best way to insulate solid walls is to do it from the inside.

100% wrong and I would challenge you to provide a reliable source for that assertion.

You can insulate internally or externally, but externally is definitely safer.

With internal insulation you have to be very careful to install an effective vapour barrier to keep warm, humid air from inside the home from reaching the structure, which now behind the insulation is colder than before. If you're not careful, this can easily cause interstitial condensation (condensation inside the wall between the original structure and the insulation) leading to decay or corrosion.

External insulation avoids the danger because being outside the structure, it raises the temperature of the original structure rather than decreasing it and therefore reduces any risk of condensation.

grandmasam

My 2 bed semi was externally insulated last November, with a warm homes grant, using the foam insulation boards and 2 coats of render, the final coat was the colour coat.My house has remained cool this summer and last winter only had the central heating on am 2 hours and pm 4 hours to keep temp at min 19c. Did not use gas fire once! I have health issues and this was brilliant for me, saved heating bills.This method is regularly used on the old and new buildings in Germany and is very effective.
The grant people I contacted were Warm Front. Hth.
Caz

ed110220

shazza71 wrote: »

We had EWI put on our house just over 2 years ago, i wish it had`nt been done.
Within 6 months my bathroom ceiling and walls were mouldy, LHA stuck insulated plasterboard over the top of the ceiling, The humidity levels in the house have doubled, me and my husband have felt "bunged up" and the house has never felt this cold in all the 19 years we have lived here. Apparently we need more ventilation so the house can breathe. LHA put trickle vents in all the windows but its made no difference..

It sounds as though this is a problem caused by poor installation or some other issue particular to your case as EWI has become standard practice and generally achieves very good results.

If it's achieved good airtightness, which is a good thing, you may need controlled ventilation. Ie ventilation that comes on when the humidity gets too high, preferably with heat recovery.

Trickle vents are a waste of time according to experts as the amount of ventilation they achieve is negligible and they leak half as much when 'closed' as when open.

Ianwzzz

I insulated my whole bungalow with Gyproc thermerline super 60mm plasterboard. I hacked off all the old plaster first and used plasterboard adhesive to stick the plasterboard to the walls. Thermaline super has a built in vapour barrier. It is very expensive, about £50 a sheet and you will make your rooms slightly smaller but it has made such a difference. My property is always very warm now and my gas bill has gone down about 40%.

electricdreams

I've been considering looking into the external solid wall insulation option, as I'm buying an Edwardian property that has no current insulation. The property needs to be fully re-rendered (the original concrete render had blown in several places allowing moisture to penetrate). However, the property has lime plaster, and a chap I had in to do a damp survey suggested that the house would be 'unhappy' if clad in external insulation. Is this correct? The idea of getting a grant/subsidy towards something that would effectively re-render my property whilst also making it warmer is appealing, but I don't want to do it if the house would suffer. There is also the aesthetics question - the house is currently only rendered from around ground floor window height upwards, and the external chimney breasts etc are still brick. Hmmm... Decisions, decisions.

Leon_W

As ianwzzz above, I internally insulated all the walls upstairs in our old detached cottage with Gyproc Thermaline Plus 40mm and 20mm on the ceilings. I didn't take the old plaster off and just dot and dabbed the boards on with adhesive and then plaster finish coat. Walls are solid red brick. It has made such a difference. No damp, no mould, no walls and ceilings running with water.


The whole house feels so much warmer and heating bills have halved.


As Ian says, it is not cheap but I got a good discount from a company on Ebay.

USMANM2

grandmasam wrote: »

My 2 bed semi was externally insulated last November, with a warm homes grant, using the foam insulation boards and 2 coats of render, the final coat was the colour coat.My house has remained cool this summer and last winter only had the central heating on am 2 hours and pm 4 hours to keep temp at min 19c. Did not use gas fire once! I have health issues and this was brilliant for me, saved heating bills.This method is regularly used on the old and new buildings in Germany and is very effective.
The grant people I contacted were Warm Front. Hth.
Caz

I have been in contact with Warmfront on a number of occasions and its as if they don't want to help anyone that needs EWI, all they ever have wanted to do for us is cavity wall insulation or boiler replacement, we don't need them, we don't have a cavity wall and we have a pretty new boiler, my parents are both elderly and every year its a struggle to keep them warm, they receive benefits that help, but not enough, i simply want to eliminate this problem altogether. Anymore help would be appreciated

grandmasam

Hi Usmanm2, a friend had the same problem as you, but once he had contacted his local councillor he found out that the funds were used up and he was advised to contact warm front again on a certain date. His house is being completed at present.
Good luck with this, and keep on at them!
Caz

A.Penny.Saved

Warm Front could offer me nothing except some useless 10mm internal insulation which was designed for sound insulation. That stuff would get holes punched through it as easy as anything so isn't a great solution IMO.

I considered installing internal insulation in the form of insulated plasterboard with vapour barrier but I had some major doubts about it, especially the upstairs because there are joists that run into the outside walls and would be prone to damage from condensation. The last thing I wanted was my timbers rotting.

Internal insulation also leads to lost space and problems with doorways and I was advised that the only reliable method for my type of property was EWI.

Then EON gave the option to a small number of homes each year for EWI. I pursued it and pushed for it while many people waited. I did get it done some months back and it has helped. It won't work miracles without heating and I currently don' have any central heating so my house is still quite cold at around 13-14C.

I do keep a check on humidity levels using a weather station in my lounge and kitchen. The humidity in the lounge has not changed from how it used to be, the kitchen hasn't either but is far more difficult keeping the humidity below 70%. The window needs to be opened in the kitchen when cooking. The lounge tends to be around the 60% mark with no windows open. It's just too damn difficult and expensive to keep the place warm using electric fires. The humidity is lower when the room is warmer.

My dehumidifier is also broken so not helping either.

Energy companies who do this do tend to move around the country. I heard that Scotland has a massive amount of solid walled properties which need EWI. They do tend to focus on low income areas because with 100% funding by benefit entitlement, people are more likely to have the work done than if they need to find thousands themselves.

It doesn't always go as well as it could, I had some damage to my property which they have yet to fix. The work is covered by a 25 year guarantee.

I would advise that if you find anyone who is willing to do it, make sure that any external cabling is done beforehand. Satellite dishes, external lights etc should be completed well before they begin. I made the mistake of not doing some work on cabling and regret it. They don't tell you this before they begin but cables are usually covered with the insulation boards which hides them so no cables need to be visible on the outside.

nexttonothning

Hi
I've been reading this thread - AGAIN....

Those of you that are looking for grants via Eon-NPower etc unless you have NO CH or are on Storage Heating, Solid Fuel + on benefits have NO chance of getting either EWI or IWI. That's the criteria at the moment. AND as the Government are now backing off with grants the likelihood of solid wall homes that have Gas CH getting it is a non starter. AND those of us that HAVE to use either LPG (very polluting and expensive) or OIL (VERY expensive) won't even get a look in.

I know I've tried......


It annoys me that when heating costs are discussed on TV there is no mention of those of us who live in rural areas who have no option but to use OIL/LPG. They only batt on about Electric and GAS PRICES.....:mad: