external insulation

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

has anybody seen external insulation applied to a timber frame house? .....

[sm_jamieson]

Has anyone DIY'ed external insulation ? The cost was far too high when I got a quote.

They always say the thin coat / resin render is a specialist treatment. I was looking for some DIY cladding system to do my gable wall, which has no windows at all (it faces an entry) - a system that was approved for building regs of course. I did not find anything - was a few years ago.

Simon.

[Andrew]

Because that would cost a fortune, and when the house is sold at auction a few years later, the new owner finds that rainwater has got behind the insulation and caused all manner of damage, and rips it all off. Seen it on Homes under the Hammer.

This would make the relocated gas pipes look a bit silly.

Seen may characterful terraced houses in the Liverpool area with nice corbelled brickwork, aesthetically ruined with this subsidised nonsense.

Stick the insulation INSIDE FFS.

[harry]

I have DIYed it...properly 600mm thick.

[Steve Walker]

And houses with small kitchens, bathrooms or boxrooms would lose vital space. Many boxrooms are *just* big enough for a single bed to fit across the end and there is no spare space for insulation. Some bathrooms are designed for a particular length of bath to just fit.

SteveW

[John Rumm]

I have dabbled with the numbers and looked at some options for cladding. I was considering battening over the insulation, then weather boarding in either real wood, or a modern composite cement fibre board. I found that the insulation itself can be quite cheap, and even the cladding not too bad, but its often the sundry extras that add up; such as all the trim parts for corners and window reveals.

ISTR the main requirement for building regs when making a substantial change to a thermal element was to achieve a certain U value, which was not particularly onerous.

[John Rumm]

Not only that, for a place you are living in all the time, having the insulation on the outside of the thermal mass of the building will make for a more comfortable and stable internal temperature.

Also substantially less disruption to work on the outside of a house rather than every room inside and also to redecorate everything.

[Robin]

The big problems I saw here (and with many like Victorian terraces with solid walls) were:

a. the roofline: no eaves at all at the back and only small at the front (where there's no chance of planning permission for one house alone anyway)

b. risk of rot to to joists from interstitial (which the BRE found was often ignored).

PS

On solid wall insulation the CCC assumes "cost-effective uptake in around one million homes, focused on properties not connected to the gas grid, alongside uptake in a further one million homes for wider fuel poverty benefits" by 2030. I'd like to know how.

[Tim Lamb]

The farmhouse was *externally* insulated here in 1995. The original construction was largely 4" timber frame with nice pargetted render on expanded metal. Probably itself a replacement for tarred board.

25mm PIR foam was inserted between treated vertical battens and then painted sawn feather edge on top. The lower section has the same system but with metal lath rendered over. Window reveals and corners emphasised with slightly projecting board. I expect current building regs. will require more than 25mm foam.

Drawbacks to cheap treated feather edge... you must paint both sides before fitting otherwise it will curl also some knots will fall out.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The tragedy is that they will. Thus preventing many people from improving insulation.

[John Rumm]

It can be worth talking with your local BCO though since they will often accept a less than ideal improvement if its the best that can be done in the circumstances.

[Tim Lamb]

On a wood frame workshop, I used 75mm Celotex sheet. Battens secured with distance screws and topped with feather edge.

For a domestic job I suppose you need to consider a vapour barrier.