Free cavity wall insulation

d_jsr

Hi guys, hoping one of you can advise on this. I'd been thinking about getting my walls insulated as the house is freezing at the min, & then a few days ago a company had posted a leaflet (more an a4 sheet) through the door, advertising free insulation. They've just popped round again & they've said they're doing a number of houses on the street. I did see them installing on a house opposite yesterday. The issue is I can't find anything about them online, & their email address is @hotmail.co.uk, they do have a logos all over their van so they could've just started up but just makes me think they could be dodgey.
Is it worth staying well clear of them?

Browntoa

Try

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy-saving-products/home-insulation/free-insulation

d_jsr

Thanks browntoa, I'd already been on there, filled it out & they said I don't qualify because the house was built in 2003 & should've been built to sufficient energy standards or something like that

Browntoa

It should have cavity wall insulation already then ?

d_jsr

I've been told it doesn't, by the previous owner & the guy from the company a couple of hrs ago, he said that Barratts just installed a layer of foil with bubble wrap or something to that effect which just passed energy requirements. Tbh the house is so badly built it wouldn't surprise if they just forgot to install it! Are there any other reputable companies that I can get the free insulation from? Thanks for your help!

HarryTheHatman

Hi there,

Sorry to hijack your topic but i have a similar issue. I was approached by a firm called 'Ridgeway Partnership ltd' & they also offered me free insulation & a boiler.

Has anyone here had experience with these guys or heard of them? I did check out their website and it does look legit. I'm just unsure because these days there are always some kind of strings attached with anything that's labelled as 'free'

Also, is there are kind of blow-back effect that could occur in the future if i were to accept the free insulation? Any advice is much appreciated.

Thank you.

d_jsr

Hi Harry, nope don't mind you posting at all, how old is your house? Guessing that you've tried the Britishgas route?
Someone I work with part time also works at Britishgas so he's going to try & get someone out to do a survey & hopefully get me a free install!

johndcyclops

MSE posted British Gas would do insulation and that "9 out 10 qualify" so I rang them for a survey , in the full knowledge that my home does not currently have cavity wall insulation. In fact British Gas say that because my house was built after 1986 (i think they said) building Regs mean that it will have it - which it patently does nt !. I suspect that what the British Gas people really mean is that from a certain date - say 1986 - building regs demanded a certain minimum standard for wall insulation achievable by a variety of means. I suspect that in my case it was by a larger free air cavity and thicker internal insulation blocks. In conclusion ; If you do not have cavity wall insulation British Gas will not as a matter of course survey and do it - it appears to depend on when the house was built . How they profess that 9/10 qualify probably is just an indication of the poor state of our housing stock !

sheffield_lad

johndcyclops wrote: »

How they profess that 9/10 qualify probably is just an indication of the poor state of our housing stock !

It's more likely a bad stat the housing stock in the UK has been massively improved over the last 10yrs.


d_jsr
Just something you said earlier about the bubble wrap might well be a vapour barrier and your house might be timber framed.


Clues for timber frame are narrow or no window cills another check would be to look in your loft and if it has a gable end confirm the building type. If you see timer it looks to be timber framed so you cannot get CWI. If its thermal block (grey), you should be ok to have it installed.


The building regulations use minimum U values which house builders often only scraped over so many houses built post 1982 may well have no CWI but deemed as been built with some. If BG won't go out I guess you need to find another supplier.


GL