cavity wall insulation

trailingspouse

My parents have lived in their home since 1971. They are now in their late 70's, early 80's. They were offered (free?) cavity wall insulation a couple of years ago, and took up the offer. Although they are happy that the house is now warmer during the winter, they feel that it is colder during spring/summer - they need to keep the heating on longer and at a higher temperature. They're pretty much creatures of habit, so after more than 40 years in the same house they have a fairly exact idea of what it used to be like, compared to what it's now like.

Is this normal with cavity wall insulation? It's annoying them that the insulation was 'sold' to them as being money saving over the winter, but they're now paying more in the spring/summer so overall the savings are neutral. My Mum has actually said that if they could have it taken out again, they would.

jhe

mine is the same. it supposedly keeps the heat in in winter (my house is still cold) and also is cooler in summer

lackingwedge

Utilizing my GCSE Physics, this makes sense.

The objective of Cavity Wall insulation is the reduce heat transfer between the inside and outside of a property.

Therefore, the house loses less heat in the winter (when inside the house is warmer than outside) and reduces that house warming up in the summer (as outside the house is warmer than the inside).

That's a good thing on very hot or cold days. But not so good in the Spring or Autumn when it would be good for the house to absorb some heat.

DeanMB

They'll still save overall though because once their boiler has got up to temperature the heat loss will be much slower. All in all, cavity wall insulation will make the place more efficient in terms of energy loss, not warmer.

Oneoftheoldies

In 2012, we were persuaded to take the Government's offer of having free loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. Since the storms this year, one or two damp patches have appeared in places on the inner walls. I have heard similar stories from other people who have had insulation injected into their walls and builders' comments that it is "the worst thing you could have had done". One person I spoke to has lots of damp patches on all his inner walls. Apparently,the soft white material that was blown into our walls does not allow any rainwater that is forced through the walls (bricks are porous and some walls poorly maintained) cannot run down the cavity and escape as it would have previously done. (Our walls were well maintained.) A search on Google reveals that other people have experienced similar problems. Who should be responsible for paying to put this right? And should compensation be paid? Surely the Government should be warning people to ensure the surveyor's report, which should be provided before the work is carried out, highlights any potential problems. It would be interesting to hear from anyone with a similar experience and how the problem was resolved.