Free and Cheap Insulation Official Discussion

arunadasi

The letter is to authorise the installation of insulation measures. As I live in Germany, I have to sign and send it.
Also, as I am the leaseholder, I assume I will have to ask the managing company for permission, right?

SueC_2

arunadasi wrote: »

The letter is to authorise the installation of insulation measures. As I live in Germany, I have to sign and send it.
Also, as I am the leaseholder, I assume I will have to ask the managing company for permission, right?

That would depend on the terms of your lease.

Brummie71

howardl wrote: »

Your builder friends are quite right in what they say, the only things in a cavity should be the brick ties holding the two walls together and they are designed to be there and fresh air allowing it to permeate into your ventilated loft taking any damp up. I live in wales and there has been a lot of bad publicity on tv ( x-ray) a consumer programme with tales of woe regarding penetrating damp coming thru walls after cavity insulation has been put in. In my opinion it is better to pay a few quid more on heating a dry home than sitting in a damp home with all the associated problems of mould, rot and costly removal of said insulation:)

There are properties where the cavity does prevent penetrating damp and these are predominantly towards the west of the UK. A good surveyor will spot these exposed properties and not advise insulation. Similarly, there are also properties that are entirely unsuitable - timber or steel framed, for example. Cavity wall construction was mostly done for the simple reason that it is cheaper than a brick-thick wall.

Also worth pointing out that installations should be guaranteed by CIGA. Huge numbers of homes have been insulated this way and a tiny number have problems - mostly caused by poor original construction and a poor surveyor not spotting a reason not to install insulation or focussing on his bonus.

Brummie71

2010 wrote: »

I thought that all new houses had to have the cavity insulated under current building regulations.

Yes and no.

Building regs specify a particular level of thermal efficiency - how that is achieved is a matter for the architect and builder. Filling the cavity is low cost and effective, so usually the route chosen, but it isn't the only one.

Brummie71

arunadasi wrote: »

The letter is to authorise the installation of insulation measures. As I live in Germany, I have to sign and send it.
Also, as I am the leaseholder, I assume I will have to ask the managing company for permission, right?

EDF are offering free insulation. As far as I know, they are providing an additional subsidy to top up that provided by the CERT funding for everyone. Certain groups (over 70s, benefits) get additional CERT funding to fill that gap. It is more a question of who pays - CERT or EDF.

As a landlord, I'd get it done now while prices are low (or free in this case). CERT funding vanishes in December 2012 and you or the tenant will have to pay the full price under Green Deal (about £500). From 2016, you will not be able to refuse reasonable insulation measures and from 2018, you will not be able to rent out the property if it is EPC rated at F or G.

Patr100

Well I've just had the "survey" - Via EDF - No ladder with him so don't know how he was going to check the loft without one if I didn't have a ladder already fitted.
Was more worried about getting parking if they had to come to do the job - would have though that was an occupational hazard .Suggested I just do a top up as I already had some. It's pretty thin up there in my opinion.

Have a cavity wall kitchen /bathroom extension but he wasn't interested in that. Said offer only applied to houses where 2/3rds were cavity wall.

Waste of time. Suspected they already had their quota and were looking for reason not to bother.



I'll probably take up one of the cheap roll offers and do it myself.

traceyr

Has anyone had cavity wall insulation done with Teso. I have just been on their site having a look. Is it free to everyone or just those on certain benefits? It asks are you eligible but not sure if that is for the 2500 clubcard points or if that is for the insulation.

ListysDad

Going back to the original post where issues were asked to be identified.

I feel the headline 'Free' is a complete con and should be 'exposed' by a responsible web site such as this.

There can be very few houses indeed in the UK that have 60mm or less of loft insulation after all this time and having less than 60mm is a critical qualifier.

I have to say I agree with many of the posts here. My feeling is that it's simply marketing Bull S (aka shady practise) for insulation companies to use the word 'free' to hook people in in these constrained times. Whilst technically correct (otherwise they would not get away with it) it needs to be exposed for what it is; deplorable exploitation of peoples fears and hopes and the likes of EON, Tesco and BG need to have their knuckles rapped too for getting involved. That said, they are all money grabbing too so all in all they make good bed fellows.

BTW. For anyone thinking of getting their lofts insulated PLEASE do not allow contractors to put that grey insulation on your pipes. It WILL NOT protect you against freezing as it begins to physically shrink at 4 degs C making it useless. The ONLY type that is suitable is a nitrile based product (the soft black stuff) and it MUST be installed professionally/properly i.e. with all joints glued and NO gaps whatsoever. PM me if you want any more info.

taffy056

2010 wrote: »

Had the survey done today for CWI, they are coming to do the installation early Jan.(4 bed detached house)

Completely free and no mention of different types of "beads/pellets".

I think those that are being told to pay £99 extra for "better" installation beads/pellets are being conned.

Get it done for FREE.

Why do you think they are being conned? All these types of insulation are approved by the BBA, they offer different insulation properties, and some are better insulators than others. An upgrade cost to a better insulator is an offer open to customers its their choice to choose it or not.

An upgrade can cost less than installing with a cheaper material because you need scaffolding, a product we install with right now is Diamond Bead, it can be installed with a lance system, and no scaffolding is needed in a great many cases. So free is not necessarily possible for many reasons.

broxis11

notbritishgas wrote: »

About 10 weeks ago I applied for the free British gas offer being a Homecare customer. The surveyor came went into the loft to measure up, came down and said due to the confined working area they would blow the insulation in. When he did his calculations he said it was too big for the free offer and I would have to pay for an extra 8 sq metres, £48. As a point of principle I told him to go forth.

Next spoke to EDF about their offer, being a customer of their energy. They said their contractor would ring, which they did (SIG energy) who said the survey would be free but all of the work and materials would be paid for. Too exhausted to argue I cancelled.

Forward to present, Homebase had 8 sq metre rolls of insulation at £2 each. Bought 10 of them (£20) and have just finished laying them, they just covered my loft so 80 sq metres (too big for BG!!)
He was right about the confined space though, it took me five 2hour sessions.

So it cost you 20 quid and 10 hours of your time but you wouldn`t pay 48 quid to BG `as a matter of principle`. You obviously don`t value your own time very highly