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Thread: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

  1. #1

    Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Wondering if anyone has experience of this, the beads in particular. Have read some horror stories online. Thanks

  2. #2

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    We had the Rockwool cavity wall insulation done in the 80s. No problems with it.

  3. #3

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Cavity’s are there for a reason !

  4. #4

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul0453 View Post
    We had the Rockwool cavity wall insulation done in the 80s. No problems with it.
    Ditto (the blown-in fibre variety). No problems. Made an immediate impact on heating bill - down about 20%.

  5. #5

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Super Roger Gibbins View Post
    Wondering if anyone has experience of this, the beads in particular. Have read some horror stories online. Thanks
    That's the stuff where they pump it in from the outside? I don't like it. I presume that your property is getting on for 50 years old and therefore was never fitted with a celotex type of insulation board? The reason that i don't like it is because a cavity needs to have air flow. Todays wall cavities are 100mm-That would be 75mm of celotex insulation tight to the internal skin of brickwork with a 25mm void that allows movement of air. When insulation is pumped in then it fills the Cavity and you no longer have that air flow which can lead to the cavity sweating and eventual salting on the internal plasterwork, although you may get lucky and none of this happens. The little balls are designed so that they don't take on moisture. Have a look outside of your house and see if you have cavity vents, usually 120mm from ground level, if you do then the purpose of them is to help your cavity circulate with air which greatly reduces any issues with moisture build up. Personally, i like the idea of my walls being vented and would probably consider a scarfe and jumper in winter as oppossed to the loose fill blocking my cavity. good luck

  6. #6

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Super Roger Gibbins View Post
    Wondering if anyone has experience of this, the beads in particular. Have read some horror stories online. Thanks

    Don't touch it.
    If you want to insulate there are cheaper better ways. Are you dealing with a direct sales outfit ? Don't .

  7. #7

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by RonnieBird View Post
    Don't touch it.
    If you want to insulate there are cheaper better ways. Are you dealing with a direct sales outfit ? Don't .
    A&M Energy in Cardiff, http://www.am-energy.com/homeowners/...ll-insulation/

  8. #8

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    That's the stuff where they pump it in from the outside? I don't like it. I presume that your property is getting on for 50 years old and therefore was never fitted with a celotex type of insulation board? The reason that i don't like it is because a cavity needs to have air flow. Todays wall cavities are 100mm-That would be 75mm of celotex insulation tight to the internal skin of brickwork with a 25mm void that allows movement of air. When insulation is pumped in then it fills the Cavity and you no longer have that air flow which can lead to the cavity sweating and eventual salting on the internal plasterwork, although you may get lucky and none of this happens. The little balls are designed so that they don't take on moisture. Have a look outside of your house and see if you have cavity vents, usually 120mm from ground level, if you do then the purpose of them is to help your cavity circulate with air which greatly reduces any issues with moisture build up. Personally, i like the idea of my walls being vented and would probably consider a scarfe and jumper in winter as oppossed to the loose fill blocking my cavity. good luck
    Interesting, thanks

  9. #9

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    That's the stuff where they pump it in from the outside? I don't like it. I presume that your property is getting on for 50 years old and therefore was never fitted with a celotex type of insulation board? The reason that i don't like it is because a cavity needs to have air flow. Todays wall cavities are 100mm-That would be 75mm of celotex insulation tight to the internal skin of brickwork with a 25mm void that allows movement of air. When insulation is pumped in then it fills the Cavity and you no longer have that air flow which can lead to the cavity sweating and eventual salting on the internal plasterwork, although you may get lucky and none of this happens. The little balls are designed so that they don't take on moisture. Have a look outside of your house and see if you have cavity vents, usually 120mm from ground level, if you do then the purpose of them is to help your cavity circulate with air which greatly reduces any issues with moisture build up. Personally, i like the idea of my walls being vented and would probably consider a scarfe and jumper in winter as oppossed to the loose fill blocking my cavity. good luck
    You obviously know what you're on about so I'll just add a few comments. My house was built in 1973. Between then & when I purchased it in 1992 someone filed it with beads. My house is steel framed (the in thing at the time) and I've been told repeatedly that the beads devalue the house due to their damp tracking properties at low level.

    Whenever I anything is done to the house, I've had a conservatory added, chimney added, vents cut in, even just drilling a hole in the wall, it looks like it's snowed, it gets everywhere (for weeks / months). I moved in 27 years ago and the beads were level with the top of the cavity (as seen in the attic), now the beads have probably dropped 5 to 6 foot, as they've blown away or settled.

    Don't do beads!

  10. #10

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by BLUETIT View Post
    Cavity’s are there for a reason !
    That’s because lots of folk don’t brush their teeth properly !

  11. #11

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Super Roger Gibbins View Post
    Honestly mate, I don't know much about wall insulation I wouldn't trust RonnieBird's comments about anything, he's a wind up merchant with several usernames on here so be careful.

    My parents had cavity wall insulation retrofitted by the way and it was great with no problems, apart from the fact that are now five spots where the cement between the bricks is a different colour because it's newer which annoys me slightly every time I see it

  12. #12

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    I had bead insulation in my last 1950's house. There was absolutely no problem with it.

  13. #13

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Des Parrot View Post
    You obviously know what you're on about so I'll just add a few comments. My house was built in 1973. Between then & when I purchased it in 1992 someone filed it with beads. My house is steel framed (the in thing at the time) and I've been told repeatedly that the beads devalue the house due to their damp tracking properties at low level.

    Whenever I anything is done to the house, I've had a conservatory added, chimney added, vents cut in, even just drilling a hole in the wall, it looks like it's snowed, it gets everywhere (for weeks / months). I moved in 27 years ago and the beads were level with the top of the cavity (as seen in the attic), now the beads have probably dropped 5 to 6 foot, as they've blown away or settled.

    Don't do beads!
    You've probably lost the beads due to opening up your walls, it basically pisses out and is almost immpossible to replace. I'm a plasterer and i love passive ventilation even if it is a bit cold, there's nothing better for a house than external airflow as it's dryer and less humid than the air inside our houses due to us just breathing, people having showers and baths, cooking etc, add to that people cluttering up rooms with shit against external walls which allows moist humid air to settle and a lack of flow. I've never heard that the loose fill insulation devalues a house and i know plaenty of people who have had no problems with it, i just don't like air vents (which a cavity is) being blocked up and not doing what they were designed to do, and don't get me started on chimney breast walls that are blocked up and the Chimney capped ith no ventilation going through the stack. I live a very exciting life.....

  14. #14

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Super Roger Gibbins View Post
    Interesting, thanks
    May i add that i'm not a specialist, i'm a plasterer and the opinions i give are my preference. You will read about the disasters on the net because people wont really write about the success stories.

  15. #15

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by RonnieBird View Post
    Don't touch it.
    If you want to insulate there are cheaper better ways. Are you dealing with a direct sales outfit ? Don't .
    There probably aren't cheaper ways than drilling a hole and pumping in a load of beads, the alternatives are very expensive.

  16. #16

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    May i add that i'm not a specialist, i'm a plasterer and the opinions i give are my preference. You will read about the disasters on the net because people wont really write about the success stories.
    You bloody plasterers, changing building regs it’s 50mm air flow in cavity work, not 25mm, before insulation came into play wall were 250mm overall, 2 skins of 100mm + 50mm. With the introduction of insulation (at first the shite polystyrene Jablite), the 50mm always has to be maintained, insulation width has increased ridiculously over time ( ask Splott-Light about this), walls are now 325mm overall, 100mm + 100mm for the walls (unless a 140mm inner skin is specified) with 75mm cavity insulation (usually celotex or Kingspan at the moment) + 50mm air flow. The increases in insulation widths has caused havoc with material costs specifically I.G. lintels as their overall width have to be increased each time to take the inner & outer skins resulting in previous stock becoming obsolete, same with cavity closers, wall ties etc. Someone is making a right killing with changing building regs. As regards injected cavity insulation I would tend to avoid it, the installation is very much down to the operative, blank spots will result in cold spots eventually turning your interior walls in those areas a horrible shade of black. If possible perhaps exterior insulation bats could be fixed, with an expanding metal key prior to rendering. I’ve been in the game since 1971 and the emphasis to us during my 4 years at Llandaff Tech was that cavities must be kept clean & clear, our tutors, Howard Phillips & Mike Hart would be horrified at the thought, 40 odd years later, after the introduction of cavity work after years of solid wall structure folk were planning on filling them.

  17. #17

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    I had the blow-in from outside type done about 10 years ago - no problems, just lower heating bills.
    Adequate loft insulation is much more important, though.

  18. #18

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by splott parker View Post
    You bloody plasterers, changing building regs it’s 50mm air flow in cavity work, not 25mm, before insulation came into play wall were 250mm overall, 2 skins of 100mm + 50mm. With the introduction of insulation (at first the shite polystyrene Jablite), the 50mm always has to be maintained, insulation width has increased ridiculously over time ( ask Splott-Light about this), walls are now 325mm overall, 100mm + 100mm for the walls (unless a 140mm inner skin is specified) with 75mm cavity insulation (usually celotex or Kingspan at the moment) + 50mm air flow. The increases in insulation widths has caused havoc with material costs specifically I.G. lintels as their overall width have to be increased each time to take the inner & outer skins resulting in previous stock becoming obsolete, same with cavity closers, wall ties etc. Someone is making a right killing with changing building regs. As regards injected cavity insulation I would tend to avoid it, the installation is very much down to the operative, blank spots will result in cold spots eventually turning your interior walls in those areas a horrible shade of black. If possible perhaps exterior insulation bats could be fixed, with an expanding metal key prior to rendering. I’ve been in the game since 1971 and the emphasis to us during my 4 years at Llandaff Tech was that cavities must be kept clean & clear, our tutors, Howard Phillips & Mike Hart would be horrified at the thought, 40 odd years later, after the introduction of cavity work after years of solid wall structure folk were planning on filling them.
    50mm air flow now? more like a cave than a cavity. I hate those cavity closers, when they first came out the manufacturers were saying that you could render straight on them, yeah, right! got to dry line the reveals, can't rough them. As for the rest of your post-You deserve everything you get because you decided to do a job in a country where it pisses down for 6 moths of the year, although you boys make all the money so you can probably afford six months off

  19. #19

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    We also had Rockwool blown in early 1980's never any problem and SO much warmer.

  20. #20

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    50mm air flow now? more like a cave than a cavity. I hate those cavity closers, when they first came out the manufacturers were saying that you could render straight on them, yeah, right! got to dry line the reveals, can't rough them. As for the rest of your post-You deserve everything you get because you decided to do a job in a country where it pisses down for 6 moths of the year, although you boys make all the money so you can probably afford six months off
    Seems like there aren’t any seasons now, just as likely to piss down in August as in February. About time we made a few bob in the building trade, we’ve been underpaid and shat on for years. Cavity closers have helped us no end, no cutting returns with vertical dpc any more. 6 months off !!!!! No chance, it’s perfect for decent tradesmen at the moment, glut of work & lack of labour, rather than the other way around.

  21. #21

    Re: Retrofit cavity wall insulation

    Quote Originally Posted by splott parker View Post
    Seems like there aren’t any seasons now, just as likely to piss down in August as in February. About time we made a few bob in the building trade, we’ve been underpaid and shat on for years. Cavity closers have helped us no end, no cutting returns with vertical dpc any more. 6 months off !!!!! No chance, it’s perfect for decent tradesmen at the moment, glut of work & lack of labour, rather than the other way around.
    Yup, plenty of work about. Doing local authority stuff at the moment, piece of piss although the standard is poor.

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