cavity wall insulation or not

Mikeyorks

mick1946 wrote:

A point on cavity wall insulation .........

Heat migrates towards colder areas - hence internal warm air migrates through walls etc towards the colder stuff outside :-

http://www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice/insulation.htm

JML45

We rent an old shooting lodge in the wilds of Northumberland. We've been told that the walls are "dry-lined" which means that the plaster board is clad with some kind of insulation. This also means that cavity insulation cannot be used. If there is any kind of insulation in our walls, you wouldn't know it! The heat retention is crap and the sound insulation also - you can stand in the garden and hear the TV like you're sitting on the sofa. I bet if I stood outside with an infra-red camera the house would look like it was on fire.
We dread the winter because the house is clammy and anything touching an outside wall goes mouldy.
What year is this - 1806?

Ken68

I wouldn't mind getting the use of one of those infra red camera's.

mick1946

JML 45 Dry lined means plasterboard, not "wet" plaster, as in rough base coat then top skimmed coat, if it is an old building, as you say, there is more than likely no insulation, also, plasterboard was not always used in these older buildings, sometimes an asbestos based board, these were prone to condensation, and there would be little noise insulation. I worked for about 12 years on portacabin type buildings, later timber framed buildings, (same things with bricks round them) I personally think they are crap, modern ones are well insulated (noise and heat) but are again prone to condensation (see other posts re condensation) often the only detail seperating outside from in is a (thin) coat of mastic.