Cavity Wall Insulation

revm28

I have seen on the MSE site that houses older than 10 years should be eligible for free cavity wall insulation.

Have contacted British Gas and they say my home (built in 2002) is not eligible, as all homes built after 1991 have sufficient insulation.

I know I do not have cavity wall insulation - it there another company that will consider free insulation to a 13year old house?

footyguy

British Gas is currently the only energy provider with no restrictions on your income or the number of benefits you're receiving for free insulation.

The others require you to get child tax credit and have an income of £15,860 or under, or to be receiving certain benefits such as pension credit. See providers' eligibility criteria

I don't qualify for free insulation, how can I get it cheaply?

If you don't qualify for the schemes above, first check out the Government's Green Deal initiative. It's designed to let you pay for energy-efficient home improvements such as insulation, underfloor heating and double glazing from the 'savings' you make on energy bills. It's complex, so see our Green Deal Mythbuster to decide.
If you don't want to get the Green Deal, look for an installer on the National Insulation Association site. As a benchmark, the Energy Saving Trust reckons cavity insulation typically costs £450 to £500 to install, and loft insulation about £300.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-cavity-loft-insulation#bginsulation

Smiley_Dan

The U value for your walls if built after the 2002 regs change should be 0.35. If built just before it should be 0.45 (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_efficiency_in_British_housing#Historic_building_regulations_energy_efficiency_requirements ). Is there any reason your house would not achieve that?

Both are totally inadequate of course, so I sympathise.

However, these schemes set a very low bar for what is termed adequate.

Also bear in mind that they do it the cheapest way possible, using fibre. Better to use EPS bead if you do it privately. You'll still make your money back.