External wall insulation and home insurance.

Boro7

Could someone please give me advice and let me know if anyone has encountered issues along the way. 

I am looking as a property to buy and has external wall insulation. 

Firstly does it need mentioning when you take out home insurance?
when asked about external walls these are brick and mortar but have the wall insulation obviously attached to the outside?
Secondly if people have mentioned it have they encountered any problems regards getting insurance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t seem to be able to find any definitive answers. 

Thank you in advance. 

DullGreyGuy

Boro7 said:

Could someone please give me advice and let me know if anyone has encountered issues along the way. 

I am looking as a property to buy and has external wall insulation. 

Firstly does it need mentioning when you take out home insurance?
when asked about external walls these are brick and mortar but have the wall insulation obviously attached to the outside?
Secondly if people have mentioned it have they encountered any problems regards getting insurance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t seem to be able to find any definitive answers. 

Thank you in advance. 

Legislation, CIDRA, only requires you to answer the questions asked as a consumer buying insurance, you're not obligated to offer up any additional information they haven't explicitly asked for and insurers cannot rely on vague questions like "is there anything else relevant you would like to tell us?"

How you have to declare it will depend on the exact wording of the question and the options presented to you. Some insurers appear to be concerned with outer materials because they distinguish between brick and rendered brick whereas others it appears its only the structural part they are concerned about and so in that case you could just select brick. 

Annemos

As a side note. I have wondered about this, too. Several properties have had this done, near to our town. 

When analysing to see if there is potential Subsidence, one is advised to look at whether any cracking is matching on the inside and outside. 

How do the normal zig zag cracks etc show up on walls that have had external wall insulation cladding? Does it take longer to see any outside damage? Who knows! 

DullGreyGuy

Annemos said:

How do the normal zig zag cracks etc show up on walls that have had external wall insulation cladding? Does it take longer to see any outside damage? Who knows! 

Not materially different from other rendering/cladding materials, our block has various patches of zinc cladding for aesthetic rather than insulation purposes, it too would make it difficult to determine what's happening to the brickwork behind

Boro7

DullGreyGuy said:

Boro7 said:

Could someone please give me advice and let me know if anyone has encountered issues along the way. 

I am looking as a property to buy and has external wall insulation. 

Firstly does it need mentioning when you take out home insurance?
when asked about external walls these are brick and mortar but have the wall insulation obviously attached to the outside?
Secondly if people have mentioned it have they encountered any problems regards getting insurance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t seem to be able to find any definitive answers. 

Thank you in advance. 

Legislation, CIDRA, only requires you to answer the questions asked as a consumer buying insurance, you're not obligated to offer up any additional information they haven't explicitly asked for and insurers cannot rely on vague questions like "is there anything else relevant you would like to tell us?"

How you have to declare it will depend on the exact wording of the question and the options presented to you. Some insurers appear to be concerned with outer materials because they distinguish between brick and rendered brick whereas others it appears its only the structural part they are concerned about and so in that case you could just select brick. 

So the question “what do your main walls consist of” would be brick and mortar which is how I would interpret it?
there is no question “is there anything attached to that brickwork”

user1977

Boro7 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Boro7 said:

Could someone please give me advice and let me know if anyone has encountered issues along the way. 

I am looking as a property to buy and has external wall insulation. 

Firstly does it need mentioning when you take out home insurance?
when asked about external walls these are brick and mortar but have the wall insulation obviously attached to the outside?
Secondly if people have mentioned it have they encountered any problems regards getting insurance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t seem to be able to find any definitive answers. 

Thank you in advance. 

Legislation, CIDRA, only requires you to answer the questions asked as a consumer buying insurance, you're not obligated to offer up any additional information they haven't explicitly asked for and insurers cannot rely on vague questions like "is there anything else relevant you would like to tell us?"

How you have to declare it will depend on the exact wording of the question and the options presented to you. Some insurers appear to be concerned with outer materials because they distinguish between brick and rendered brick whereas others it appears its only the structural part they are concerned about and so in that case you could just select brick. 

So the question “what do your main walls consist of” would be brick and mortar which is how I would interpret it?
there is no question “is there anything attached to that brickwork”

It's generally a drop-down menu of options, not a free form text field. I've never encountered a supplementary question about any coating to the structural element of the wall.