Cavity Wall Insulation Question

WorkingHardDFW

I wonder if anyone can help.?

We've had a couple of quotes for cavity wall insultation one from EDF and one from British Gas.

The former quotes £199 but advised that for one bit of the house they would need to install scaffolding which would cost £400c. They also didn't test the walls to see if there was a cavity which was interesting but thats an aside.

British Gas quotes the same price but said that they could just not do the bits that they couldn't reach.

My reasearch has shown the £200 would be recouped over 2 years at a saving of £110 pa. However I wonder if its worth doing 3/4 of the house. It may be a stupid statement but won't the heat just escape from the un cavity wall insulated wall?

I've googled this topic with no sucess.

To help matters OH and I have different opinions on whether its worth it or not.

All help appreciated

nickf23

WorkingHardDFW wrote: »

I wonder if anyone can help.?

British Gas quotes the same price but said that they could just not do the bits that they couldn't reach.

Perhaps try getting your own quotes for scaffold, I bet you could beat £400 but check with installer if they're ok with this

It may be a stupid statement but won't the heat just escape from the un cavity wall insulated wall?

Using this logic we could reason that on a cold day fingerless gloves are as good as no gloves as all the heat would escape out your exposed fingers anyway.

Or even that it would no better to wear warm clothes and shorts than to be completely naked because all the heat would escape through your knees anyway

The boring answer is that by getting 3/4 of the walls done you will get 3/4 of the benefit.

savemoney

I never seen houses that need scaffolding to install cavity wall insulation. They done loads of houses near me in recent years never once used scaffolding.

ANGLICANPAT

Im not happy since we had cavity wall insulation (professional firm) - weve had endless problems with mould growing inside cupboards and behind units against outside walls, from just a few months after installation despite good protected ventilation , a problem we never had even a suggestion of for the previous 25 yrs of living there. Googling , found its a common problem not acknowledged by the installers. Not saying you shouldnt have it, but its something to be aware of , so you can at least ensure if you go ahead, that everything is done as well as it should be ,and then keep your fingers crossed.

rockin_plumber

My dad had the same problem in his house after having cavity wall insulation.

After all the cavity is there primarily to stop damp travelling from outside to inside, you bridge that gap and hey presto, DAMP

amibovvered

We had our house cavity wall insulated when we moved in 16 years ago and have never had a problem with damp. One wall was a potential problem because my detached concrete garage is about 2 inches from the wall, but they just did that from inside - holes drilled in the wall then plastered up. No need for scaffolding at all. I would definitely query that - also British Gas saying they can't 'reach' parts of the house. HTH

Zaksmummy

We had ours done back in Feb, cost £99. They couldn't do whole of house as we have a decorative tile strip about 1 metre width down the front of the house which was single skin (?) wall, having said that our bills this years have practically halved from last year :jso it was worth every penny.

Pincher

They never want to do the difficult bits.
They just want to do enough to get the subsidy payment and disappear.

If you get the insulation wet, it creates a cold bridge to the outside. Don't forget, water could be seeping down from the roof or gutter. A neighbour's gutter was loose and pouring rain water onto the front wall, so I had a peeling wall paper problem for years until he fixed it.

Unfortunately, if you want to play safe, you need to get a proper surveyor (not the jokers they send round). The surveyor can tell you whether your damp proof course is intact, what remedial work should be done first. Probably £200+VAT just for the surveyor.

You are probably OK if there is no mold or peeling wall paper.

smjxm09

savemoney wrote: »

I never seen houses that need scaffolding to install cavity wall insulation. They done loads of houses near me in recent years never once used scaffolding.

There are many situations where scaffolding could be needed like if someone had a large wide conservatory

marmitepotato

We have cavity wall insulation, the company were not able to insulate our extension as its single skin. We have still noticed a massive difference in our heating bills and the actual 'feel' of how warm the house is now without the heating on. We are glad we had it done. Hope this helps you a little.

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks for all your posts, much appreciated. We're still pondering at present...