Old house (1906 & 1880) insulation

nicke20

I recently bought a house that is part 1880 (end terrace) and part 1906 house T'd across the end of terrces and nocked through
Anyway after i bought it i have double glazed the entire property and plan on replacing my 3 doors with composite doors soon, my next job was going to be loft insulation of the blown variety BUT
I decided to fit a cat flap this weekend through an external wall (dont want one in a new door) and omg the wall had a 50mm cavity, empty ofcourse.
is this normal in a 1906 house, i had been told it had solid walls
so now the hunt for reasonable wall insulation companies too
I would like to do the loft in rockwool prime, not sure on walls, its bloody annoying that all of the free grants have gone, so do any of you keen money savers have suggestions on decent companies on the wirral/cheshire border?
Oh and apart from drilling how do i check my other walls ?
will a calliper type measurement round a window opening work?

Biggles

nicke20 wrote: »

I decided to fit a cat flap this weekend through an external wall (dont want one in a new door)

Your logic there leaves me completely baffled but I guess it's a fait accompli now. I'd punch a hole in a new plastic door ahead of a hundred-year-old wall any day of the week.

However, as regards your question, cavity walls were being built in the 19thC but they weren't too common until the 1920s.

nicke20

The logic is simple, a wall is made of bricks and can be replaced, a composite door is £1000 and im not keen on putting a whole through it.

Gloomendoom

A whole what?

Cat?

Biggles

nicke20 wrote: »

The logic is simple, a wall is made of bricks and can be replaced, a composite door is £1000 and im not keen on putting a whole through it.

For that price, you can probably get them with a catflap built in.

Post-Google addition: you can.

Dan-Dan

You might well be able to replace with bricks but that is a hell of a hole to have made in your house!

nicke20

Gloomendoom wrote: »

A whole what?

Cat?

No half a cat, ive built in a guilotene

Why is it a hell of a "HOLE" its the size of two bricks, i had the idea in my last house because the back door led to the garage so i would have needed 2 catflaps and as there was an old airbrick from when the old lady had had a gasfire in the kitchen (previous owner) it was the purrfect size for the catflap
its 7" by 7" approx

hasnt this gone a little off track from the purpose of my post???

Dan-Dan

nicke20 wrote: »

Why is it a hell of a "HOLE" its the size of two bricks,

Is it a kitten?

Biggles

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Is it a kitten?

It's actually a mouseflap - the cat has takeaways delivered.

nicke20

Id say you two have flaps on the brain
all cats start as kittens, ask your mum to explain

bostonpicky

Although cavity walls were not common throughout the UK until the 1920's some areas of the had them a lot earlier. In my work as an energy surveyor I've come across cavities in walls in properties built as early 1850. They were first used in areas with a lot of wind driven rain such as coastal areas in the south west and gradually came into use throughout the country.