Free and Cheap Insulation Official Discussion

nportland

Hi we have 7 inch insulation. Would liked it top up. Many 'free' offers don't cover this. My mother is 70 and I have rheumatoid arthritis so heating is big.
Is this worth doing?
any ideas? Thanks 4 any advice.

Brian99_2

Could someone clarify this ?

Brian99 wrote: »

No cavity in my wall

But there is 2" space behind the plasterboard.

It makes sense to fill that with insulation....or is there a snag ??

(Had differing views from different builders.)

gordies

jonty1970 wrote: »

I'm trying to order some £1 a roll rockwool from here.

http://shop.build-center.co.uk/build/DIYcalculator/diy_loft_calc_new_v2.htm?ses=16027|36637

I can't get the order offer into my trolley. Is anyone else having trouble?

Thanks for any help

been trying every day since and it still doesn't seem to want to work for me either.

2010

I can`t get passed:

We have detected that cookies are disabled on your browser. This prevents our web site from functioning properly.

Needless to say they are NOT disabled, it must be a glitch on their site.

jabba97

gordies wrote: »

been trying every day since and it still doesn't seem to want to work for me either.

Had to use IE. It wouldn't work with chrone or firefox. I reset all my security settings to default and it worked.

rogerblack

Brian99 wrote: »

No cavity in my wall

But there is 2" space behind the plasterboard.

It makes sense to fill that with insulation....or is there a snag ??

(Had differing views from different builders.)

'It depends'.
More extensively.
If you fill the gap with something, then the outside of the gap gets cold, while the inside stays hot.
Now, as the bit behind the plasterboard is not sealed from the room what happens next is that unless the cavity is very ventilated, the warm moist air from the house percolates through the insulation where it condenses, and may rot or cause damp-related damage to the wall.


The only 'good' way to do this is to rip out the plasterboard, and re-dry-line the property with insulation, vapour and air barriers.

Doing this at the moment.
Ripping up the floor, walls is quite a large job, as you may imagine.

Brian99_2

Roger- That's a pretty convincing argument. I was hoping otherwise LOL

So I'll go back to my top-secret quilts-behind-wardrobes idea. It works, and at least we can easily check for dampness there

My electrician thinks it wont improve the official EPC rating though

To please the Govt we need gangs of workmen, big lorries with heavy loads of stuff, using lots of petrol, making lots of noise, and paying lots of taxes :mad:

Or, DIY as you do, commendable but very messy.

SueC_2

So, the surveyor has just been round and I can report the following:

• I don't have cavity walls, so nothing doing there.

• I have 67 metres square of loft space, over which they will lay 250mm insulation. The cost of this should be £259.15, but I get it for free.

• The only thing I get charged for is Vent Wedges (whatever they are) to prevent condensation, at £11.

Frankly £11 to get my loft fully insulated doesn't seem too bad a deal to me, although I am from the school of "If something sounds too good to be true it probably is", so if anyone can tell me what the catch is, I'd be very grateful!

PS. I'm not on benefits, and there were no 'means-testing' questions asked at all. All he cared about was the size of my loft and the access they could get to it.

2010

SueC wrote: »

"If something sounds too good to be true it probably is", so if anyone can tell me what the catch is, I'd be very grateful!

SueC,
There`s no catch, the energy companies have to spend such much money a year on insulating homes.
They are being forced to do so by the government to meet o2 targets.
But of course it`s not really free because everyone pays through higher energy prices.

The same thing is happening with the so-called "smart meters".
All homes have to have them by 2020, once again to meet government targets.

What happened was some minister went to a world conference on greenhouse gases and promised to cut them by X amount by whenever.
Now we all have to suffer higher costs to meet a target promised by someone who`s no longer in parliment.
Wind turbines are another added cost to us.

Of course most other countries said the same thing but then went home and forgot about it.
When the likes of USA, China and India make more of an effort, then maybe we should bother more about it.

SueC_2

2010 wrote: »

SueC,
There`s no catch, the energy companies have to spend such much money a year on insulating homes.
They are being forced to do so by the government to meet o2 targets.
But of course it`s not really free because everyone pays through higher energy prices.

The same thing is happening with the so-called "smart meters".
All homes have to have them by 2020, once again to meet government targets.

What happened was some minister went to a world conference on greenhouse gases and promised to cut them by X amount by whenever.
Now we all have to suffer higher costs to meet a target promised by someone who`s no longer in parliment.
Wind turbines are another added cost to us.

Of course most other countries said the same thing but then went home and forgot about it.
When the likes of USA, China and India make more of an effort, then maybe we should bother more about it.

Given that I don't have much choice about the higher energycosts, I may as well grab back what I can then! Call me selfish, but I'd rather pay hidden costs for my own loft insulation than for everyone else's!