M25 blockade protesters jailed

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KeithW
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Re: M25 blockade protesters jailed

Post by KeithW »

rhyds wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:03 Regarding insulation causing a building to become uncomfortably hot my employers had one of their buildings fitted with 150mm/6" of externally mounted insulation and then spray rendered over. It was so effective that within a year they'd had to retrofit air conditioning to the meeting rooms as they became unbearably hot in summer!

As for cavity wall filling, that is indeed a terrible idea in most cases, as you're effectively relying on the insulation and/or the installers to seal the woodworm like holes they've bored in to your walls to stop the damp getting in, and most of the time they can't. Bonus points for when things like fuse boxes get filled with insulation by accident.
I had a similar problem with the new build house I bought in 1996 but was able to fix that by retrofitting vented ridge tiles. Without them the heat build up in the attic space became a heat store that made the temperature in the bedrooms at night in summer intolerably high. The cost of replacing a few ridge tiles was not that high.

External insulation is something I would avoid like the plague, apart from the heat issue it can end up bridging the damp proof course causing major problems with rising damp.

Another mistake some insulation companies are prone to is blocking the vents under the eaves, this can end up causing condensation in the roof space and problems with damp.

Cavity wall insulation rarely works well as a retrofit, worse still there are houses such as the terraced house in Edgware that I bought which had solid walls. In winter the north facing wall became a massive refrigerator.

The bottom line in all these cases is you need to involve a proper builder not a fly by night contractor. Finding one is the real problem.
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Alderpoint
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Re: M25 blockade protesters jailed

Post by Alderpoint »

Chris5156 wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:52 Products exist to make this work - you just need some loftlegs!
Or you can lay rigid insulation boards such as these on top of existing boarding - I've got multiple layers of these, overboarded with normal attic boards and it's made a huge difference.
Let it snow.
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Helvellyn
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Re: M25 blockade protesters jailed

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Need to be careful anyway when boarding the loft that you don't end up putting too much weight up there on beams that aren't designed to be another floor.
B9127
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Re: M25 blockade protesters jailed

Post by B9127 »

My new house in 1973 had double glazing as I paid a wee bit extra to have the timber frames rebated a bit deeper to take the double glazed units - now live in a stone built cottage with large modern extensions which were timber framed with insulation and the loft has 300mm fibre glass wool - the coldest room is a bedroom at the gable facing west in the original cottage which despite radiators seems cold all the time due to stone wall - we sit alone at 600ft. Going back to the protestors they were out again yesterday again on the M25 somewhere quite oblivious to the dager to themselves and motorists
Motorways travelled 2019 - M90 - M9 - M80 - M8 -M77 - M73 -A74(M) -M6-M42-M40 -A404(M) - M4 - M5 -M50 -M56 much better so far than last year
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Barkstar
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Re: M25 blockade protesters jailed

Post by Barkstar »

rhyds wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:03
IAN wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:53 I'd love to improve my loft insulation. I wouldn't mind the cost as I know that I'd save the money long term. However, the downside is that the new insulation would be so thick that it would cover the beams and I couldn't put boards on top (which would defeat the object anyway), so all that storage space would be lost. It would also become very difficult to safely access the loft to do electrical work or anything else - i.e finding the wires knowing where to stand. Another issue I've heard from people I know is that in summer the house overheats as the hot air in the house can't rise through the loft area to escape.

As for cavity wall insulation, I've been put off that due to horror stories about contractors who don't know what they're doing and then you end with rising damp in the walls.

I do want to help save the planet so the day will probably come or maybe it'd be easier to buy a new house!
Regarding insulation causing a building to become uncomfortably hot my employers had one of their buildings fitted with 150mm/6" of externally mounted insulation and then spray rendered over. It was so effective that within a year they'd had to retrofit air conditioning to the meeting rooms as they became unbearably hot in summer!

As for cavity wall filling, that is indeed a terrible idea in most cases, as you're effectively relying on the insulation and/or the installers to seal the woodworm like holes they've bored in to your walls to stop the damp getting in, and most of the time they can't. Bonus points for when things like fuse boxes get filled with insulation by accident.
It is over ten years since the big push to get our homes insulated by the energy companies. Under pressure to get thousands of home done the quality of the work went out of the window and now there are homeowners whose house has been rendered unfit for habitation due to the cavity wall insulation now transmitting damp across the gap design to prevent it. A quick Google show plenty of companies now specialising in removing the insulation for a substantial consideration. I was lucky, I was offered free cavity wall insulation but by chance I'd been doing some work an knew that is couple of places there were gaps in the inner brick wall that the insulation would pour out of. So I passed on the offer. When you read up about it some older homes aren't suitable for CWI at all and a competent installer will do a pretty comprehensive survey beforehand to avoid damp and cold spots. Back then you got a man with a clipboard, who asked a few questions and had a quick look round. A week or two later the installation gang simply drilled a few holes and injected the material. Several houses on my street were all done on the same day, taking less than an hour to do a house.
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