Polyurethane Form Insulation a good idea?

phil24_7

I would get some prices for external insulation. You will get a brand new façade as well as a new watertight, warm coat for your house. Just make sure they pay attention to detailing around windows, sofits, bay windows etc.

It'll likely be more expensive than the blown option but you are essentially getting a render job as well as an insulation job in one.

diymonkey

Thanks guys

@ thebaldwindowfitter - if water will get through it, then surely that beats the point of having cavity wall insulation?

@ bluesnake & phil24_7 - External insulation is pretty expensive, whereas this cavity wall insulation is free.

phil24_7

Fair enough. Just be warned, free rarely means good. The company will likely be doing ALL they can to keep costs down whilst increasing revenue stream. You house may not be suitable but I doubt any 'survey' will say so. They will also likely cut corners and try to rush things so that they can do more fits per day. This is what happened in the blown cavity wall insulation market and is why three are so many problems now.

You may get one of the good ones (my mum and dad recently had loft insulation and the guys were methodical and even specified extras to avoid condensation in the loft) but these are rarely the ones that have to go vying for trade (I contacted npower, you in turn contacted a surveying company who then contracted out to a more local company).

diymonkey

Thanks for the warning phil.

I've had them around today and boy did they rush the survey or what. Two of them came down. One almost immediately started drilling (to insert a boroscope), whilst the other asked me to show the inside of house and gasfires. They were done within 20 minutes and said the cavity was clear. I got about 5 minutes to ask them some questions relating to condensation and damp, but as you can expect, they said they've not had any jobs gone that have had this issue and according to them Technitherm is the best material I'm going to get for my type of property (Stone/Brick). They said that this material in it's liquid form will get to all the nooks and crannies until the whole cavity is filled.

That's about it.

krey

Rule of thumb- Do not take anything from the coldcallers! yes it may be free but it will bite you in your butt later on! If you want to do it for free- do your research on a good local firm with good reviews and they can do it as well for you!

bluesnake

Is there a real product called "Technitherm" or is it a company selling someone elses liquid and rebranding it to "Technitherm"? I am asking this as the results do not appear in the R value tables I looked at.

Also that hole they drilled in your wall, stick a coat hanger type rod with a slight bit sharp 90 degree bend and find out how thick the brick is and how large the gap is which will determine how much foam and insulation thus savings you are getting.

For free, possibly better than nothing.

thebaldwindowfitter

diymonkey wrote: »

Thanks guys

@ thebaldwindowfitter - if water will get through it, then surely that beats the point of having cavity wall insulation?

@ bluesnake & phil24_7 - External insulation is pretty expensive, whereas this cavity wall insulation is free.

Water can penetrate this product if for example you have a roof tile missing and water getting down the cavity .
Can i ask if you have condensation or damp issues in the property already because you seem more interested if this is covered by any warranties as opposed to the benefits of insulating your property If you do i suggest you sort these issues first

diymonkey

@ krey - Thanks. Problem is that many companies are the same, so there's always a risk and the ones that are reputable, don't tend to do free government installs. I'm just wondering whether it would be worth hiring an infrared thermal image camera for the day of install, have the heat fully blasted, see where the heat is escaping in the walls and then show it to their installers and ask them to make sure they fill the wall properly, especially if they miss bits out.

@ bluesnake - Thanks for the tip. I'll find a coat hanger and try this. Yes the product is called Technitherm and it's produced by a company called Isothane. It is one of two foam products approved by BBA and BUFCA.

@ thebaldwindowfitter - But surely a roof tile missing wouldn't necessarily mean that this product has been penetrated? It's because water has bypassed, right? Yes I do have existing condensation issues, but I've been advised that these are because the external walls are very cold, making the rooms cold on one side, allowing condensation to form on the windows and some on the external walls.

MX5huggy

I'm surprised your able to get this product "free" seems it's only been on ECO funding for a short time. My installer had his own thermal image camera. Because the chemical reaction as it sets is exothermic producing heat, with the camera it was possible to confirm where the insulation was but don't turn your heating on to do it.

diymonkey

yeah, depending on area, you can get this on ECO funding, this is why I'm eager to get it done. I'm wondering what type of thermal camera should I hire on the day of installation? Any recommendations?