Cavity wall insulation

ladymarmalade222

I have recently moved into a new house which is really cold. I was thinking about cavity wall insulation and whilst at my sisters a guy knocked on the door offering free cavity wall by post code grants.

The last owner of my house mentioned when he enquired years ago only the polystyrene coated beads were suitable. The type this company is offering is the wool but he said it is now coated so water repellent.

Can anyone advise if there is a product as I have heard horror stories of the wool stuff soaking up the water in the cavity causing major damp.

My other half is of the opinion you don't get anything for nothing so he is not keen.:D

Xx

Furts

I do not know what you are being offered and this is the crux. You need to identify exactly what product, from what manufacturer, installed by what means and so on. Then seek the BBA Certificate and pay meticulous attention to every clause in it.

My gut reaction is you are being offered an unsuitable, dodgy product. The fact that the previous owner has tipped you off about polystyrene beads being suitable should be a clue towards this conclusion!

Anecdotal evidence is I declined any form of fibre insulation in my cavities and went for beads, namely Thermobead.

My installers were par for the course - criminal types who bodged and ran. Your installers, should you go ahead, are likely to be the same. It is your decision regarding being happy to take on this scenario.

ladymarmalade222

That's what is worrying. The free grant companies always seem to have a bad reputation. When I questioned the guy today he said it used to be just the beads which were water resistant but now they use the product mentioned which is coated. He did say if it was a number of years ago the same product they use was not available.

The company is called Bartons in St Helens. He left me a leaflet and is coming to look at the suitability of our house tomorrow. I really want to consider cavity wall insulation as it is a really cold house but am worried about causing damp.

Xx

Furts

ladymarmalade222 wrote: »

That's what is worrying. The free grant companies always seem to have a bad reputation. When I questioned the guy today he said it used to be just the beads which were water resistant but now they use the product mentioned which is coated. He did say if it was a number of years ago the same product they use was not available.

The company is called Bartons in St Helens. He left me a leaflet and is coming to look at the suitability of our house tomorrow. I really want to consider cavity wall insulation as it is a really cold house but am worried about causing damp.

Xx

Gut reaction when looking at the Barton web pages is treat with extreme caution. There is nothing there which instills any confidence in me and there is 0% chance I would specify the company based on what I see there. I am not going into a slagging match so will leave matters at that.

Then couple my gut reactions with their door to door touts and the overall picture gets worse.

Be very, very careful.

ladymarmalade222

I think you have convinced me to leave alone. Doing some research there are too many issues with damp and mould following the fibre cavity wall insulation and we are very exposed with driving wind and rain.

Thanks for your help

Xx

Chanes

We were paranoid about cavity wall insulation, so much so we had the price of the house reduced as a contribution to removing it. The previous owners said they'd had no problems, it was installed 14 years ago and is the wool type.

As it happens it is all fine and the house is lovely and warm and the cost of heating is less than our other house which was a 3 bed and this is a 4 bed. We've had works that have given access to the cavity and the material is completely dry at every point we've had examined.

The horror stories I was worried about seemed to have been when the walls have been insulated when they were entirely unsuitable - narrow cavity, poor brickwork or driving rain.

I would triple check the house was suitable before having it installed but my experience has been positive.

MoneyMate

We went through our local council so the company we used supplied a 25 Yr Guarantee , went for a Carbon bead slightly better insulating properties. :beer:

ladymarmalade222

MoneyMate wrote: »

We went through our local council so the company we used supplied a 25 Yr Guarantee , went for a Carbon bead slightly better insulating properties. :beer:

If you have a read online, the 25 year guarantee is not worth the paper it is written on, a lot of the companies contracted to do the insulation have gone bust and the association CIGA who supply the guarantee is set up by associated people from the insulation companies.

The more I read the more murky it is sounding, very much like the PPI scandal when it all starts to unfold. The companies supplying the insulation have done extremely well from these free grants.

I have decided to stay well clear.

Thanks everyone.

Xx