Insulation questions, advice please

happyhero

Hi I’m after some advice please.


My daughter who lives in Rochester Kent, recently had someone come to the door offering roof and wall insulation, while I was there. He had ID and it all happened too quick for me to remember to check everything but I think his badge said something like Nationwide on it.



Anyway he told my daughter she could have roof and wall insulation for free, so after a bit of discussion she went for it. It was difficult to understand the guys accent but he was friendly so I told him I live in Surrey and asked if I could have it and he said yes and that I would need to take pictures of the sides of the house and email them to him and he would get the ball rolling etc.



My daughter is having hers done on the 1st November.



My daughters house is a small to medium 3 bed house and mine is a not massive but largish 4/5 bedroom house, would I still be entitled to free insulation (I only need the walls done as I have an attic conversion and nothing left in the attic to insulate)?


From what I say above does it sound ok to go through this guy or should I be picking someone else?


He said everyone has had this done and there are only about 2% to 3% of the country left to do, I find that hard to believe, what do you think?
I see all different deadlines for this free insulation (I get my fuel from Scottish Power so I think I have missed their offer) is the free offer going to stop altogether soon, or have I time to pick?


Is there a favoured one to pick for this?


Do I get any say in what they use to insulate, I was researching it online and it seems to me better to go for the polystyrene balls, what do you think?


My house and next door are 2 semi’s and once when I was working under the floor I noticed I could see straight into the cavity and straight into next doors cavity at the front of my house, i.e. they appear to be joined as one big cavity, so how would this work when they tried to fill my cavity with insulation, wouldn’t it all drift into next doors leaving me with massive gaps?


I have a timber suspended floor and air bricks on 3 sides and I do not think there are any pipes/ducting to link the air bricks to the internal wall so wont the wall insulation block my air bricks and ooze out of them and wont this also block the ventilation to the area under my floor resulting in timber rot eventually?


Also after some reading it seems to me you have an inspection done to see if your house is suitable and then it seems that most companies are telling you your house is suitable even if its not, even the reputable known companies, I think I saw that on one of those Watchdog type programs too, any ideas on this?


Ok one crazy last question for fun, I was reading on a, let’s call it a fairly technical DIY site, that one guy had filled his wall with the polystyrene balls and the whole of the underneath area under the suspended floors, i.e. total insulation without any ventilation. The techies on that site argued if it was a good idea or not but he explained that there would be a small amount of ventilation because it is impossible to get these balls air tight by the very fact they are round. He said that most problems happen where cold meets warm and the area is humid enough, ie insulating a timber floor for instance which warms the joists slightly but leaves them cold where the ends go into the wall thus creating a possible rot area. He said by putting this insulation in the walls and in the floor you were left with no areas to be cold, what with polystyrene being slightly warm to the touch, and so creating an area very unlikely to allow damp or rot. I find this theory really interesting what with living in a draughty 1930’s house with cavity walls and suspended floors which many experts tell you that they were designed to breath and so do not perform best with all this double glazing and carpets and insulation, try explaining that to my wife in the winter when she’s sitting in our cold draughty lounge. Anyway just interested on what you think about this idea and yes I was tempted but don’t know if I’m brave enough to take the risk, what do you think?


Any help/advice appreciated.

aliasojo

happyhero wrote: »

Do I get any say in what they use to insulate, I was researching it online and it seems to me better to go for the polystyrene balls, what do you think?

My electrician told me the polystyrene balls were a hazard. They react with the cables, causing the cable to eventually become brittle.

My neighbour couldn't get a a mortgage on her house a few years ago because it had polystyrene ball insulation. She had to get it removed. It must just have been certain mortgage companies that had issue though, as we got a mortgage on exactly the same house without problem.

macman

So at present you still have no loft insulation at all?

aaamusements

The problem is that in my experience these sorts of offers usually mean that the work is done to a low standard by poorly qualified, barely skilled workers who have little understanding of the correct application of insulation and fitting techniques.

Sometimes essential ventilation is ignored which could lead to all sorts of roof space problems. Often "Surveyors" have no idea of building techniques and will tell you that insulation can be put into your walls, regardless of the fact that they are solid brick with no cavity (happened to my parents) or modern timber framed, integrally insulated houses (happened to friends).

HOWEVER having some insulation, especially in the roof, is essential to comfortable living - and I would caution that the funding for these sorts of subsidised schemes is apparently coming to an end soon, so I have been informed?

I will be choosing to do the work myself on my parent's house, as soon as I can find a good deal on the insulation materials (anyone?)

happyhero

macman wrote: »

So at present you still have no loft insulation at all?

Having an attic conversion doesn't mean you have no roof insulation, its rather a case that you have lots of small roof areas instead of one big roof area to insulate, and any conversion for decades now with the attitude to saving energy, would be insulated with the appropriate materials before the area was finished, that's assuming a decent company did the conversion. So this means you are unlikely to need roof insulation if you have had an attic conversion done in the last 20 to 30 years.

In my case they used the wool type insulation in my dormer roof area ie flat level areas and Kingspan which comes in 8' x 4' solid sheets for the sloping ceiling areas.

happyhero

anybody else please.

gsnowdon

I've got an 1880 built mid terrace in West Yorkshire (Halifax) and as far as I'm aware the attic has been a used room since construction (every house in the street is the same.
I know from poking a hole in the plaster that there is no insulation between plaster and roof tiles.
Does anyone know if I'll qualify for the free insulation (in the attic, the walls are rubble filled) deals the big utilities companies are offering?
I've got British Gas coming round to do a survey about this at some point but I was wondering if anyone knows any different?

Cheers

Graham

LisaLou1982

gsnowdon wrote: »

I've got an 1880 built mid terrace in West Yorkshire (Halifax) and as far as I'm aware the attic has been a used room since construction (every house in the street is the same.
I know from poking a hole in the plaster that there is no insulation between plaster and roof tiles.
Does anyone know if I'll qualify for the free insulation (in the attic, the walls are rubble filled) deals the big utilities companies are offering?
I've got British Gas coming round to do a survey about this at some point but I was wondering if anyone knows any different?

Cheers

Graham

you need a minimum of 20m2 of free space to insulate and the current insulation must be under 60mm for you to qualify for it to be free through BG. This is the same for the majority of companies.

If theres not 20m2 of space in your eaves then it'll have to be a DIY job