Insulation

kublikhan

I found out after I purchased my current home that there is no insulation in the walls. For my next home purchase I want to ensure the home has insulation, preferable before I sign a contract and have an inspector come in. Is there an easy way to find this out? My current home is over 30 years old, have building codes changed since then to require new houses to have insulation in the walls? If so, how old of a house should I be looking at?

roswell

It shouldnt be a problem you should be able to get it installed,

if your buying a new property (less than 15 years old) then it will have insulation, if your buying older look for small holes drilled between the morter and the corners of the bricks with newer morter filling the holes.

courtjester

You would probably only be able to find out definitely by getting a survey done (free) by a cavity wall insulation contractor.

Cost for a 4-bed detached property would be about £400. You might be able to get a grant and the local authority would be able to give you a list of approved contractors to approach.

If the current home has been insulated within the last 3-4 years, they should have the certificate and guarantee provided by the contractor involved to show you.

zkeithz

kublikhan wrote:

Is there an easy way to find this out?

Several ways:

Air bricks: Look inside any airbricks situated above the DPC. If there has been insulation installed in the cavity after construction, there should be a number of small plug like inserts around the outer holes of the airbricks, this is done by most reputable installers to prevent the insulant from blocking the vent. If there are none, but insulation material has been installed, you should be able to see it.

Top of cavity: In the loft, some cavity walls are open at the top, if material has been installed you will be able to see it. Sometimes difficult to access at the eavers, use a mirror on a stick.

Hire a manual operated boroscope or endoscope, typically £50 for a day (some come wwith cctv and monitor, but cost a lot more to hire). Drill holes through the mortar beds, insert endoscope and view. You can rotate through 360 degrees, also allows you to see the presence of and condition of wall ties (if no insulation) and any rubble fill ( can cause dampness)

But do bear in mind that insulation can cost as little as £400, depending on size of house, and as one of the previous postings suggest there are a number of initiatives being run by power companies, local authorities and other energy efficiancy agencies to provide grants of funding up to 100% of the cost in certain locations.

kublikhan wrote:

My current home is over 30 years old, have building codes changed since then to require new houses to have insulation in the walls? If so, how old of a house should I be looking at?

.

The building regulations amendment in 1985 introduced the increased requirement for better thermal efficiency of dwellings, which had the effect of "requiring" certain levels of insulation. However some post 1985 properties may still have an empty cavity as some designs applied the insultation to the inner side of the wall - dry lining, insultation bonded to or core filled concrete blocks. HTH
Regards
Keith