Insulation

Carriedolphin

Hi there
Does anyone know if you fit external or internal wall insulation to cavity walls? Our walls are already filled but this was done before we bought the place and seems a bit rubbish as the house is freezing. Already got double layer loft insulation so wondering what else we can do!

Thanks!

Caroline

Marcusp

Turn the heating on.

anotherbaldrick

Buy double glazing ! and shut the front door.

brig001

It has been done: http://www.viking-house.ie/passive-house-renovation.html
If your house is freezing you may be able to do cheaper things first.
In our house, the biggest heat loss was where the first floor joists are fitted in the cavity walls. There were large gaps here letting the wind blow under the floor. You need to take some of the floor up to fix this.
If you have a suspended timber floor downstairs, this can be insulated quite cheaply using fibreglass batts held in place with netting. Draught-proofing the floor by sealing it at the edges and round pipes etc. can also make a big difference.
A porch will help with draughts from a font door, but even a curtain across it helps.

There are loads of things that can help, can you tell us a bit more about you house (age etc.).
Is any one place particularly cold?

HTH,
Brian.

A.Penny.Saved

brig001 wrote: »

It has been done: http://www.viking-house.ie/passive-house-renovation.html
If your house is freezing you may be able to do cheaper things first.
In our house, the biggest heat loss was where the first floor joists are fitted in the cavity walls. There were large gaps here letting the wind blow under the floor. You need to take some of the floor up to fix this.
If you have a suspended timber floor downstairs, this can be insulated quite cheaply using fibreglass batts held in place with netting. Draught-proofing the floor by sealing it at the edges and round pipes etc. can also make a big difference.
A porch will help with draughts from a font door, but even a curtain across it helps.

There are loads of things that can help, can you tell us a bit more about you house (age etc.).

Is any one place particularly cold?

HTH,
Brian.

The answer is no, not really for the time of year. It's been quite mild, so she can't be hardy enough or she walks around naked:p. Wear more clothes or turn up the heating. I still haven't got my central heating working yet and I have been surprised how warm the house has stayed even with solid walls which lose far more heat than cavity walls. Below most people's comfortable level maybe, but not too cold if you wear some clothing.

brig001

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

solid walls which lose far more heat than cavity walls.

If only this were true. If you are comparing perfect construction, I would agree, but in our house the inner leaf had more holes than a Swiss cheese - especially in the first floor void and this is quite a common problem. This cannot occur with a solid wall construction.

Anyway, if the OP has suspended timber floors, these can be improved quite cheaply (if there is access) so is worth doing along with many other improvements which may or may not be possible depending on the construction.

Brian.

A.Penny.Saved

brig001 wrote: »

If only this were true. If you are comparing perfect construction, I would agree, but in our house the inner leaf had more holes than a Swiss cheese - especially in the first floor void and this is quite a common problem. This cannot occur with a solid wall construction.

Anyway, if the OP has suspended timber floors, these can be improved quite cheaply (if there is access) so is worth doing along with many other improvements which may or may not be possible depending on the construction.

Brian.

So what you are saying is that your house which has cavity walls with Swiss cheese or not, has a U Value greater than 2.5? 2.5 takes some beating for rate of heat loss through a material and highly unlikely for even uninsulated cavity walls. Oh, no fines concrete is just like Swiss cheese, far more like it than your walls are likely to be:rotfl:

brig001

We could argue forever about U values of holes etc., but it won't help the OP. There could be more that can be done if they look around and I think this should be encouraged.