A cold north facing wall

jim-jim

Hello, has any one got any ideas on how to insulate a cold north facing wall? The house is a mid terrace, solid wall. This side of the house suffers with loads of condensation on this wall, in the winter (all 3 Floors).
We open the windows and also use a dehumidifier.

We have seen in diy shops a thermal insulated (polystyrene sp?) lining paper.
Has anybody used this? or can any one recommend any thing else we can do?
Thanks x

bigbloomers30

Hi,
I live in an end terrace and had terrible condensation and mould in the bedroom. We had thermal board fixed to the walls and then had the room skimmed - it has totally cured the problem. After two years there is no sign of mould anywhere and the room feels so much warmer. Its a more expensive solution but I think it was money well spent.

jim-jim

Other than keeping the windows open, all day weather permitting. After all this is winter we are talking about not now. What else do you suggest?
BigB. will have a look at costings etc.

A.Penny.Saved

I live in a similar type of building and I have just had external wall insulation fitted by E-ON as part of their ECO obligations in low income areas. If I was you I would investigate whether your area is classed as a low income area and whether E-ON or other energy firm are fitting or are likely to fit external insulation.

It's far more effective than internal insulation and far safer for your building.

I did investigate internal insulation before the external insulation became available and it can have risks because it can encourage rotting of timbers even if done 100% correctly. Slapping some insulation panels on your walls could cause problems in a few years to come.

Joists run in different directions in my property, ground floor ceiling they run across resting on the party walls and stairway walls and the upstairs they run in the opposite direction, resting on the front walls. That makes putting insulation panels on the upstairs very risky because it is highly likely to cause dampness and joist rot over time. I was not willing to take the risk with my home.

These homes do tend to get mould and dampness on the north-westerly facing kitchen walls due to humidity in the kitchen. It's internal humidity which causes the damp when it condenses on a cold wall.

Therefore I think that your first research should be on whether there is any chance of external insulation, it does depend upon financial circumstances as well.

lstar337

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I live in a similar type of building and I have just had external wall insulation fitted by E-ON as part of their ECO obligations in low income areas. If I was you I would investigate whether your area is classed as a low income area and whether E-ON or other energy firm are fitting or are likely to fit external insulation.

It's far more effective than internal insulation and far safer for your building.

Until it all falls off, like it has on some of the buildings around here.

If you do go for external insulation, make sure the company fitting it is of the highest quality!

rjocallaghan

lstar337 wrote: »

Until it all falls off, like it has on some of the buildings around here.

If you do go for external insulation, make sure the company fitting it is of the highest quality!

Totally agree

rjocallaghan

jim-jim wrote: »

Hello, has any one got any ideas on how to insulate a cold north facing wall? The house is a mid terrace, solid wall. This side of the house suffers with loads of condensation on this wall, in the winter (all 3 Floors).
We open the windows and also use a dehumidifier.

We have seen in diy shops a thermal insulated (polystyrene sp?) lining paper.
Has anybody used this? or can any one recommend any thing else we can do?
Thanks x

Hi jim-jim,

If you have solid walls and no cavity external wall insulation would be an option and funding is available, As said be careful who you choose to do the install

lobbyludd

don't use the internal polystyrene stuff, the previous owner of our house used it blinking everywhere. On the coldest walls prone to condensation, the condensation still formed on top of it, and the paste used to put it up had gone mouldy (no idea how long it had been installed for). Plus every slight knock led to a depression in the polystyrene which looked really tatty.

Removing it (which I've now done) made no difference to the temperature or condensation levels, so in my opinion it would be a waste of your money.