When was cavity wall introduced in the uk

Insulation Boards. The early history The basic principles of cavity wall construction — two leaves separated by a void — have been around since ancient times, with examples found in both Greek and Roman architecture. Insulating the cavity Thermal performance requirements for dwellings were first introduced in the Building Regulations, with external walls expected to achieve a U-value of 1.

Other articles in this series. Cavity walls: The future 27 June Cavity walls: The present 20 June Related products. Premium performance partial fill cavity wall insulation. Also and this is the hardest to judge not all cavity wall installers are great at what they do. If the cavity is not filled correctly then it will lead to cold spots in the house, also there are companies that inject the cavities and fill flues and vents which obviously should not be filled.

I would always try to get a recommendation so speak to previous customers that the cavity wall installer has used — sorry to not be any more help! Hi, I live in a semi built in When built, can you tell me if the cavity would normally flow through to next door or would it have been blocked where the two properties join?

Hi, they normally will put down cavity brushes into the cavity where there is a risk of the insulation flowing down into adjacent properties. This ensures the cavity wall insulation stays exactly where required. Hello, i have recently bough a timber frame house, in newcastle as is around 35 years old, however when i bought the property they had removed the cavity insulation because they had to certoficates, should i be looking at getting it reinstalled? I understand that a dofferent type of jInsulatoon is required for this build type.

Also if i have jt done would i Also be fIlling my Neigblurs walls? Mid terrace thanks. Hi Phillip, there are currently no cavity wall insulation materials suitable for timber frame properties hence the need to remove it from your property. We have heard there is going to be a material released soon that is suitable but this is still going through final testing, but hopefully it will be released at some point during The assessor predicted it was under 45mm, so I am not sure what the potential energy savings would be but also I am aware that cavity wall insulation in some cases can cause damp, although we are located in near Reading and from what I have heard damp often happens in areas of high exposure.

If we did end up insulating the cavity what is the product that offers the best thermal performance. Hi Jimmy, my thoughts are that yes — regardless of the depth of the cavity, some insulation is better than none! In terms of cavity wall insulation failure rate, the numbers are actually pretty small and as you correctly point out, the failures tend to be far more concentrated in high exposure areas. For narrow cavities we would recommend going for the EPS beads bonded , as these offer really good thermal insulation for the thickness compared to wool insulation products.

It also creates a barrier, preventing water cross from the outer skin to the inner skin of brick so I would recommend looking to that as your best bet. I am interested in getting cavity wall insulation installed on my s semi detached house. The house is generally cold so I am looking for a cost effective way of improving this situation! I have been trying to research cavity wall insulation online, but specifically I am trying to find out which of the insulation products is the best to get installed in the cavity, From what I have read I have 3 options, foam, wool or EPS beads.

Please can you let me know which is the best product to go for in terms of stopping damp entering but also providing the best level of insulation in the house. Would appreciate any help! Hi Applemaid, we would always suggest bead to be honest, you will pay slightly more than you would for wool, but it produces a waterproof barrier within the cavity, so water cannot travel through it which means there is no danger of getting damp in the home. In addition this type of insulation has higher insulating properties than wool so therefore in our opinion it is the winner!

I have a question regarding cavity wall insulation. We have been offered two types of free cavity wall insulation for our s mid terrace property. The first is a bead, and the other is wool, both of which are injected. My question is pretty simple really, which one should I go for! I have read some horror stories about cavity wall; insulation, but my neighbours on either side have both had it done so I am happy that we are not in an area where the insulation would pose a risk on my home.

I guess since the insulation is hidden there are two things that are going to impact me, firstly the energy savings. I want to maximise these cause why not! Secondly, I want to minimise the risks associated with cavity wall insulation which as far as I can see is damp. So which will save me more and which is better at stopping damp crossing the cavity? Hopefully the answer to both of these questions is the same material!! I was wondering how does cavity wall insulation compare with external wall insulation from a u value rating?

Hi Jonathan, this depends on the thickness of the cavity as this limits the amount of insulation that can be used. If you are insulating externally, you tend to use a minimum of 90mm of EPS expanded polystyrene. This will take the u-value of the solid wall down to 0. Over the years the cavity on cavity walls has been made thicker and thicker since its function moved from just preventing water ingress to doing that as well as housing insulation, but older cavities tend to be anywhere from 40mm — 60mm.

If you insulate the cavity with EPS beads, you should expect to achieve a u-value of 0. Basically solid wall insulation is better in terms of energy saving, because the amount of insulation you can add is unlimited. The issue is that solid wall insulation is far more expensive than cavity wall insulation.

I want to get free cavity wall insulation and have heard there are government grants now available. Is this the case? If you head over to our installer map, most sadly not all have access to this grant so put in your postcode to find your closest installer and then give them a call!

Click here to head to our map! We are interested in getting cavity wall insulation in our block of flats. Is there a grant to help cover the cost of this? It also gets extremely cold in the winter suggesting their is no cavity wall insulation. Will companies charge for an inspection to determine whether we can get this done. I live in a bungalow in Oxford. I had cavity wall insulation installed in the walls of my home 22 years ago and I am wondering whether it is worth replacing?

I am assuming the type of insulation is now better than what has previously been available and the home will be kept even warmer. Also we have noticed that our dining room is slightly cooler now during the winter months, can cavity wall insulation slip within the cavity. Also we are now on pension credit, is there a grant available for the cavity wall insulation if we do end up getting it replaced?

You might get marginally better performance from modern insulation materials, but only marginal! There is a chance if you had your home done 22 years ago, it was done with Urea Formaldehyde — this does break down over time and can slip down the cavity. I was offered free cavity wall insulation by a door to door sales guy last year.

After several surveys and a whole lot of calls back and forth I never got anything done. I think if you want something like this done you need to pay for it. Grants seem to attract the wrong type of companies in my humble opinion.

Anyway I paid for it and got it installed this winter by a bead insulation company. They got it done within a week fo calling and it cost me just under a grand. Its a big detached house so I thought that was pretty reasonable. No problems as yet and I don;t expect there to be any. Hi Jim, while I agree with you that workmanship is everything, there are companies out there that work with Government schemes like ECO that offer a quality installation. I think, negative newspaper headlines from the Daily Mail and the Express with respect to the cavity wall insulation schemes do not help.

So, many in the public are turned off by problem stories surfacing as a result of poor workmanship, but then those same newspapers do not devote any time to actually cover the positive aspects of insulating your property.

Just out of interest did the cavity wall insulation company provide a third party warranty with the installation as well? Nick, Thanks for your reply. Perhaps there are some exaggerated stories out there, but I think my experience shows that there is no smoke without fire. I hope that the government put some better controls in place to make sure these installers do a good job — and dont waste time with surveys that go no where — that would be my advice.

I think I got a warranty on my job, I will have to try and dig it out. Is this something they are supposed to provide? Ive never really been one for warranties mind. You can pay hundreds of pounds for a piece of paper — don;t tell me these companies turn up 10 years down the line when my walls get wet!

However, I would go an cite a couple of reasons, why a private contractor with no certification may lead to problems vs. The Government approved and certified contractor would have to jump through a serious of hoops, and as mentioned would be certified externally for competence.

Whereas the private contractor is unregulated. Any funded jobs now via ECO or a Government backed subsidy scheme have to be surveyed and logged in a central database to prove they are suitable for the measure.

By installing as part of a Government funding scheme you are obliged to provide an external warranty, such as CIGA or GDGC, so if something went wrong with the installation, you would have the first steps available to claim on the install to have it re-mediated.

On the otherhand, you may well have had a very competent installer, and it is very difficult to judge standing here, purely answering back to your comments. Can I just ask what is the finish of your existing walls? Do you have brick or existing render? Is cavity wall insulation safe?

I have seen that dreadful fire in London and I am now wondering if we are at risk. We had cavity wall insulation put in 2 years ago. Thanks for your help. Hi Norman, with regards to the the news over the last 24 hours — it is absolutely tragic, our deepest sympathies go to all those affected in North West London. In answer to your question, there are three products that tend to be used in cavity wall insulation mineral wool, polystyrene beads, or foamed insulants.

Nowadays the most common material is the mineral wool as it is the cheapest to install. It is likely if you property was installed with cavity wall insulation in the last 2 years, white wool was injected into the cavity if it was done under a Government scheme.

To be honest with any type of cavity wall insulation you are safe — it would be very very unlikely to accelerate a fire since the insulation is contained within 2 skins of brick. I live in a house which is only 2 years old. They say it will improve the efficiency even more. Would it cause damp problems and is it really necessary? I live in a Danish built house, with well insulated weatherproof external walls.

My question is if I wanted to improve the insulation, would it be worth using cavity fill insulation, and ould it be safe to do so???

I should like to install insulation in a property in Exmouth Devon. Cavity Wall History. Related Posts. How is stainless Steel banding made? Watch our Video to find out. Wall ties and damp — How to fix it, and more importantly, how to avoid it! Job vacancies in the construction industry soar to a record high. How many different metallic Elements are there? Leave a Reply Sorry, you must be logged in to post a comment. Compare Products. Remove This Item Compare.

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