Insulation behind upvc cladding

demelzap

I've recently found out there is no insulation behind upvc cladding we have on the house - it's 1969 build with white cladding under the windows. Ultimately we are going to remodel the ouside, but short term I wondered if there was anything we could do to insulate behind e.g. foam spray, or does the cladding need to come off? Can it be put back or does the cladding need to be replaced? Looking for cheap options. Any ideas?

matelodave

I'm guessing that a foam spray would expand enough to push the cladding off.

 I'm also second guessing that if the cladding has been there for nigh on 50 years, it's likely to be everso brittle and will probably fall to bits if you try to remove it

FreeBear

matelodave said:

I'm guessing that a foam spray would expand enough to push the cladding off.

 I'm also second guessing that if the cladding has been there for nigh on 50 years, it's likely to be everso brittle and will probably fall to bits if you try to remove it

If they don't take the cladding off, holes will need to be drilled to insert the hose. Doing it blind is going to end up as a crap shoot as to whether there a voids or too much that pushes the cladding out of shape.

If I were to do it, I'd try to carefully remove the cladding with the expectation that some/all will need to be replaced. Fill the void with rigid Celotex/Kingspan type insulation boards, sealing the edges with expanding foam & aluminium tape. A vapour control membrane may be required on the inner surface, but that would depend on what is there already.

Raxiel

Neighbor of mine lives in an original "type 1 Cornish unit" which just has precast concrete "planks" between precast H columns for the outer skin of the ground floor. 

Usually the 'fix' is to prop the first floor, remove the precast and build a filled cavity wall in its place, making them both warmer and structurally sound. But that also costs north of £35k so they just had solid insulation fixed to the outside and rendered. Not sure how much it cost them, but you might want to forget replacing the cladding and have something similar.

C_Mababejive

A common design of that era, maybe 1970s, was to build a row of houses in a terrace. The only brick bit would be brick walls /support pillars to hang joists and wooden frames on. The frontages would be glazed units and timber frame. The timber frame would have upvc cladding on the front and plasterboard internally with the space filled with a single layer of fibreglass. Well short of todays standard and very draughty! Often the dividing walls between the houses would be double layer plasterboard on a tiner frame through all floors right into the loft and roofline. So only plasterboard between you and your neighbours.

Ive seen some where owners have had the timber front and rear replaced with a cavity wall. 

You could also have the space between cladding and plasterboard filled with foam block insulation cut to size and sealed around the edges.  eg Celotex or similar. Trouble is youd have to be very careful in removing the cladding. Its potentially a DIY job.