Cavity wall and roof insulation and condensation

[sweetheart]

Hello all,

My ongoing saga of condensation. By now I think everyone knows about the dripping walls in the kitchen in winter. The walls are dry now because its heated up and stopped raining a bit and I use the de humidifier as an extractor fan substitute.

Someone suggested cavity wall insulation might solve this.

To cut a long story short, I the local council sent someone round who is now arranging for cavity wall insulation ( the bead stuff) and for 10" of insulation in the roof.

However, now OH is saying it is a waste of time and will likely cause more problems. I have googled it one site says one thing, another entirely the opposite.

So, in short,opinions please - should I get this or not ( btw, it seems I can have this FOC despite the fact they stopped grants because it seems there is still funding for homes like mine which suffer from what they call locally " the Cornish problem" - wind, wet, rain, cold SW, old house and no insulation since 1950's)

I have a 1950's detached bungalow in a rural village. Electric only (no mains gas or drains either).

Any help deciding on this would be helpful.

Thanks.

[Gazz]

Would it not be easier to see if you can get cavity insulation fitted to the other half? would solve almost all your problems :)

[Nthkentman]

Hello all,

My ongoing saga of condensation. By now I think everyone knows about the dripping walls in the kitchen in winter. The walls are dry now because its heated up and stopped raining a bit and I use the de humidifier as an extractor fan substitute.

Someone suggested cavity wall insulation might solve this.

To cut a long story short, I the local council sent someone round who is now arranging for cavity wall insulation ( the bead stuff) and for 10" of insulation in the roof.

However, now OH is saying it is a waste of time and will likely cause more problems. I have googled it one site says one thing, another entirely the opposite.

So, in short,opinions please - should I get this or not ( btw, it seems I can have this FOC despite the fact they stopped grants because it seems there is still funding for homes like mine which suffer from what they call locally " the Cornish problem" - wind, wet, rain, cold SW, old house and no insulation since 1950's)

I have a 1950's detached bungalow in a rural village. Electric only (no mains gas or drains either).

Any help deciding on this would be helpful.

As well as insulating your property perhaps consider a device such as

[stuart noble]

Go for it. Insulation WILL change your life

[John Williamson]

If all else remains the same, added insulation will reduce your heating bills. If you install insulation and keep the temperatures as you have described them in the past, your condensation will remain troublesome. If you don't have sufficient ventilation openings, your condensation will remain a problem. You have been told this many, many, times.

Add insulation, and admit that you need the heating on in Winter, as well as leaving a small air vent open, and you will lose the condensation. Close the air vent and turn the heating down, and the condensation will come back.

Failing that, get rid of the OH, and his attitude towards saving the environment.

[Andy Cap]

I'd go for blow-fibre rather than beads but other than that it will most likely prove beneficial, however there's no doubt some people have reported damp after installing it. I'd certainly give it a go if I was constantly troubled by condensation and personally have had no issues.

Andy C

[sweetheart]

Please do not tempt me. I have already told him that.

[sweetheart]

But will it be for better or worse?

I am trying to solve the problem not create more. I have read the internet and most companies and government eco sites recommend it ( not thinking that is a good recommendation itself). However,OH has found this one site by some Daily Telegraph journalist who says its not to be recommended and causes damp problems.

OH says if I have it done I am likely to ruin the house walls and will cost me more than it does now. I simply don't know.

I cant understand why they keep trying to make people have it if it is just more problems waiting to happen ( well I could be cynical and say its all about the EU and making everyone do the useless.

[sweetheart]

I do not have a choice. Its what they will be giving me. As I said, its not me paying, CCC is. I live in a private house but this is under some scheme or other.

but other than that it will most

So you had cavity wall insulation fitted and didn't have problems?

What about this 10" in the roof insulation? I keep reading that causes condensation too.

They want to do both in my case. We have around 2" up there now apparently ( but OH tells me there is no saving in having much deeper as the thermal efficiency is dramatically reduced after the first two inches(???))

[Andy Cap]

Have you any neighbours who have had it done, that you could ask? There is always the odd horror story on the internet, but millions of homes have had it installed.

Andy C

[sweetheart]

There is no heating in my kitchen - which is the only room really affected. Would I be better off putting a storage heater in there ( not as I have room for one)?

There is no ventilation, there can be none that does not involve opening the window and freezing. I have a dehumidifier and that does a good job ( now) of keeping the condenstaion away when cooking. I put in a new DG window and that too has seemed to help ( no more dripping streaming window panes).

The water issue was difficult but taking out the pantry has helped as there was / is a window there which is one of those wire things which has a small gap ( not sure I have explained that well) . Now the condenstaion is less than it was.

The walls were so wet it took a long time for the de humidifier to pull out the existing water before being able to keep on top of it.

B ut it will still be here in wet and coldweather as there is no heating and its a north facing wall on the end.

I am aware of OH being a problem. But I married him and that is that. Thanks.

[Andy Cap]

I've had 4" for years. A couple of years ago, I more than doubled it, except for the boarded part in the centre. I don't see how keeping walls and ceilings warmer will lead to wet walls. It may well lead to wetter windows though, but that's easily dealt with.

Does your husband still think the earth is flat too or has he accepted the science? Must be hard work !!!!

Andy C

[Peter Crosland]

Get it done with blown fibre. It will make a huge difference and combined with a decent amount of loft insulation will pay for itself in around three years. A real no brainer.

[ARW]

All of it?

[meow2222]

snips

Glad to hear its sorted.

quite. There are rare cases of CWI causing damp problems, but a) theyre rare, as in 1 in a million rare b) you already have damp, so nothing to lose c) polystyrene bead can be sucked out if its not glued in, making it a good choice for walls at risk or of unknown type.

Go for it. It would be daft not to.

NT

[John Williamson]

Less time than that, as it's coming free of charge to Sweetheart.

[John Williamson]

You'd probably be better off putting a fan heater in there, then you get heat when you want it, not just in the morning. Or one of the low power permanent ones that draw about a hundred watts and are sold to keep greenhouses and outside toilets frost free. It will need to run for quite a high percentage of the day, though. It'll be surprising the difference it will make to the temperature in your kitchen.

The new DG window should have had trickle vents built in to it, which would give you a small amount of ventilation without opening the window, which will help reduce the condensation.

[sweetheart]

Well, since you ask, my OH still thinks workhouses exist and if we are not frugal we will end up in one - I am not joking. Yes, he is hard work.

I really had thought this problem was being solved - and getting it free was a bonus - but he seems to think it willmeake our house unmortgageable.

[John Williamson]

On very rare occasions, if one of the cavity wall ties is bridged with mortar spilt by a careless bricklayer, then you may get damp patches round the affected ties. If so, the choice with bead insulation s to either get it sucked out again, or fix the problem by removing a few bricks where the damppatch is and make good the problem with the tie.

It won't. I live in a house that had exactly what you are being offered a few years ago, and the house is warm, dry and a lot cheaper to heat than my prevous flat which had 50mm of insulation in the loft and solid walls. The flat was a lot smaller, too....

Admittedly, I do make sure that the airbricks aren't blocked except in the very coldest weather.

It is partly about the EU trying to persuade people to cut down their energy use, yes. A side effect is to cut your heating bills. The cost of installing insulation in your house is less than the fine levied on the energy company for not reducing the energy they deliver. They win, and you win.

[Tim Watts]

On Sunday 23 June 2013 17:37 wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Cavity wall beads and fibre fill should both allow the cavity to breath (solid foam fill will not) so I see no problems whatsoever with taking up a free offer of cavity wall insulation.`

Assume most journalists know sod all about anything unless they are a known learned and intelligent one (rare these days).

No - cavity wall insulation is a good thing. I cannot thing of a set of circumstances when it would not be.

Roof insulation, if incorrectly installed on certain roof constructions

*could* cause problems *if* they manage to reduce the ventilation to zero of the cold parts of the roof structure - eg by fully filling inter rafter space and not having a breathable membrane - or by blocking the ventilation into a cold attic in the case of laying glass wool on the ceilings.

But that *ought not* to be a problem if the installers are any good.