Cavity wall

[markm]

My house is 10 year old with kingspan and fibreglass in the roof (where it's

not vaulted). 2 year old double glazing and thermostats on every radiator.

 

Is it worth getting cavities done?

 

Any down sides?

[Catamong]

If the house is only 10 years old the cavities should already be insulated..??

 

Cat.

[markm]

If the house is only 10 years old the cavities should already be insulated..??

 

Cat.

 

just checked with the boss, it's actually aged 12. A few locals have had companies around doing the Walls. Are they being done?

[MattSoanes]

It should have some sort of cavity insulation ( probably Kingspan )if its only 10yrs old, if it was built by reputable builder that is

[bobt]

just checked with the boss, it's actually aged 12. A few locals have had companies around doing the Walls. Are they being done?

 

 

quite possibly.

 

I had a firm try to convince me they could blow insulation into a 9inch wall.

[pegleg31]

just checked with the boss, it's actually aged 12. A few locals have had companies around doing the Walls. Are they being done?

 

 

if you want to check without making holes,climb into your loft crawl to your wall plate and place your hand down the cavity to see.it will be tight though

 

or and probably easier,if you've got an extractor fan.take the outside cover off and have a look.

 

 

personally if i was you i'd be hoping i'd got an extractor fan

[bruno22rf]

Im pretty sure that you should have a certificate if your walls have been insulated when built-if its been done since then you cant miss all the blobs of morter dotted around your walls.If it hasnt been done then yes get it done-its pretty cheap and will save you money in time-as for the Thermostatic radiator valves-waste of time and money.

[Catamong]

Any cavity wall under about 20 years old should have some form of insulation, get up in your loft and drill a hole in your gable outside wall, (if you have one) to see what sort of insulation is in there, I would think it's likely to be fibreglass batts built in by the bricklayers..??

 

If you add extra insulation by fully filling the cavity with either foam or beads you may encourage damp penetration across the cavity.

 

This won't become apparent until some time after the company that installed it have "done a runner".

 

Cat

[markm]

Actually the thermostat radiators are fantastic as rooms not used are turned off and main thermostat is in the hallway beside the front Door. The house was built by Bryant.

[plinker]

Actually the thermostat radiators are fantastic as rooms not used are turned off and main thermostat is in the hallway beside the front Door. The house was built by Bryant.

 

your house will deffo have cavity insulation if its 12 years old ,unless its been extented by some joker.pumping some cavity fill in on top of it, as cat said will probaly do more harm than good.

[Nial]

your house will deffo have cavity insulation if its 12 years old ,unless its been extented by some joker.pumping some cavity fill in on top of it, as cat said will probaly do more harm than good.

 

 

Are you sure?

 

Our house is ~12 years old but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have extra insulation in the cavity.

 

It does have dot and dab plasterboard lining the interior, I'm not sure how much insulation this adds

but it makes it a pain in the a4se to hang anything.

 

BTW, I presume there shouldn't be a draft from your kitchen cabinets? Is this down to pipes not

being properly sealed where they enter the cavity (and can it be sorted)?

 

 

Nial

[burntout]

It really should have cavity insulation and as mentioned before, installing the polystyrene bead stuff can create a path for water....thats why wall ties have a drip point on them to prevent this.

 

For 12 years old it should be sorted - most likely with rock wool or similar sheets.

[Conygree]

I have a 60 yr old well built semi. When we moved in the no inuslation in Mar 90 it was like camping - so cold. I fitted 8" of loft insulation and had the walls rock wooled, chipped out the fire place to fit a large log burner ( left the old cat flap as a air intake). Its warm in every room just leave the internal doors open, wood from the estate by the tonne.

 

Its so efficient the gas company keep changing the meter as I now have such low gas bills

[plinker]

Are you sure?

 

Our house is ~12 years old but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have extra insulation in the cavity.

 

It does have dot and dab plasterboard lining the interior, I'm not sure how much insulation this adds

but it makes it a pain in the a4se to hang anything.

 

BTW, I presume there shouldn't be a draft from your kitchen cabinets? Is this down to pipes not

being properly sealed where they enter the cavity (and can it be sorted)?

 

 

Nial

 

if you have no cavity insulation you may have a thermal block construction ,probaly Duroc or similair blocks on the inner leaf, this means that at the time of your house being built it complied to building regulations, if you don,t have either your house is a proper pile of ****,and was built with no regard to building regulations.

[Nial]

if you have no cavity insulation you may have a thermal block construction ,probaly Duroc or similair blocks on the inner leaf, this means that at the time of your house being built it complied to building regulations,

 

The inner layer is _very_ soft, I reckon I could almost have drilled the holes for the gun cabinet by hand do that

might be what they did.

 

I'd still be keen to get cavity insulation in (but it's not cheap).

 

 

Nial

[Cosd]

Obviously you need to check whether or not you have any insulation in your cavity walls. As someone mentioned already if you already have insulation then I wouldn't add more as too much can have the opposite effect as you compact the insulation and displace the air pockets.

 

But in answer to your question insulated cavity walls make a big difference. Having done our new house up we insulated the walls, loft and even the floor space between the downstairs and upstairs of the house, and the house is so warm. In fact when people are putting their heating on ours is usually off. Our last house only had loft insulation, this house is over double the size of the last house and our heating bills are identical, where we expected them to go up dramatically.

 

Putting insulation between upstairs and downstairs has also been a good exersize, as we now find the temperature between the two levels is the same, were as in my experience, the upstairs of houses is usually much hotter than downstairs.