You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Following on from the gas thread what insulation have you installed in your house if not a new build?
Just moved and new place had limited loft insulation that I will top up to 200 mm. Window will be replaced over time but can't see how walls will be done or floor unless major building works occur. Too many bad cavity wall stories.
Cavity wall free scheme,loft and triple glazing
Insulated the walls on the inside using a multi-layer insulator topped off with wood or plasterboard in all the rooms except the bathroom where I used polyurethane panels topped off with water-resistant plasterboard. All about R3.5 whereas a cavity wall is about 0.8 and an insulated cavity wall about 1.6.
Under the floor: 120mm recyled polyesther between the floor joists. R3.1 but the joists are thermal bridges at R1.2. So with 29mm floor boards (R.3) the overall result is at least R2.5
Roof R7ish, gable ends R3ish, the ceiling is insulated too.
All big windows PVC triple glazed uw 1.0. A couple of small window secondary triple glazed. One small window secondary double glazed. Original doors secondary double glazed and fitted with insulation (Madame wanted to keep the external look of the original doors).
To be honest, a lot of time and effort that I feel has been wasted.
Reinsulated the loft to 150mm, the remaining 100mm was supposed to be done but was floored over before it could get done and not had the chance since.
Ground floor has 150mm rock wool but I'm not convinced it's tight enough, again was a rush job due to crappy circumstances.
A lot of good intents that can be easily fixed but still not great.
If I had the money new windows and doors that don't leak air when a fly farts would be awesome but, life.
Wall cavity and loft insulation.
New windows and doors.
Sealed up the garage door and put a floating floor down has made a huge difference to the roof above and generally made downstairs warmer.
Extra loft quilt, house internally fully replastered with insulated boards, all new Windows. Mine was done with the main purpose of a renovation to remove mold growth, extra insulation hasn't seen a huge reduction in gas usuage but all damp/mild has gone.
Loft only. House is a 1967 timber framed structure so internal insulation would bring the dew point into the wood, external is the only possibility but would be very expensive.
Our old house was built after the war in the same style as the house that had stood before from the thirties but in the GDR, so with poor materials. Houses in this part of Germany aren’t built with cavity walls so we had outer insulation installed. Basically large blocks of polystyrene bolted onto the wall with a plaster render on top. We also had a new roof done at the same time where we found out the old roof had absolutely no insulation at all (the loft was also a living space so under plaster) so we had insulation boards between the rafters and tiles and insulation under the rafters. Made a big difference in winter as the house was always cold before and we had the fireplace pumping nearly twenty-four seven just to have one warm room. We sold it last year and under German law houses have to have an energy certificate when on the market and we got an A+ ranking.
Replaced ancient double glazed back windows with new ones with great thermal efficiency/ upgraded glass.
New DG units in front of house, all upgraded glass from standard.
When I renovated single storey extension I added 150mm of glass fibre and 100mm of foam on ceiling and 100mm glass fibre under floor.
New roof this year and I'm taking opportunity to double the attic insulation, including the 'sealed' but that has no access.
Boiler died two years ago, so we also have A rated boiler and new TRV's throughout.
New front door (currently single glazed) this year will be composite.
Windows and boiler. 1930s semi.
With our loft you could see the back of the roof slates. So I’ve screwed 100mm celotex to the beams and sealed them. There’s still lots of ventilation between the celotex and slates.
Before you could feel the cold coming from the loft hatch and down the stairs. It’s not so bad now.
I had assumed that the heat would rise and get trapped in the loft. It’s surprising how cold the loft still is. One of the chimneys was taken out and the other I’ve stuffed full of bubble wrap. We do have snow settle on our roof whereas the nearby loft conversions don’t.
I think full length thick curtains would help hugely to keep the house warm but Mrs Zip likes her blinds.
Our rented house had no insulation what so ever. A company (Insulation King) has just fitted insulation in the bedrooms FOC under some government scheme. 300mm in the loft and 50mm insulation backed plaster board on the externals of the bedrooms. Skimmed the plaster boards and 2 coats of paint too.
On the waiting list for another scheme to do the rest of the house. This house will probably need clad with insulation board and rendered as there's no cavity. Not sure about the ground floor as its concrete. Double glazing has been blown since we moved in and 5 years later we're still nagging the landlord about it.
Housing here is limited and rent very high other wise we'd have moved to a more modern(ised) house.
Interestingly our party walls are quite cold as well (mid terrace) which is a pain but plaster is a dirty word in our house after a few less than optimal experiences.
I plan on adding more insulation board to the loft, I'd like to get the cross beams raised or removed (pretty sure they are redundant but would need a structural engineer to advise) then insulate between the roof timbers. There is a bit of roof work needing done including a new skylight and chimney removal. If I could I'd like to insulate externally then tile over the top, eventually having the loft as a just about completed conversion. One day.
Our house is half modern, half 1900 detached. The old half has solid walls and suspended timber floors. We added 50mm thermal boards to the walls and 50mm kingspan boards under floor with UFH. You could feel the difference as the work was carried out.
The loft and cavity walls already have sufficient insulation.
An insulated cavity wall is about R1.6 and a solid wall insulated with 50mm of kingspan about R2.5. You should be aiming at better than R3.
There's no way an insulated cavity wall is "sufficient" if Britain is to become gas free.
We’ve just finished a renovation and where went back to walls we fitted kingdoms insulation boards. We didn’t do the whole house as not all the rooms were being taken back to the bare walls but the house is noticeably warmer. We did also change out all the radiators, fit new windows (and yes we put a stove in too) so it’s difficult to say exactly how much difference the insulation made. I don’t regret it though.
If Britain goes gas free it'll be back to the 1970s and the 3 day week.
Anyway I've done as much as reasonably practical but without ripping the roof off(both mines and my neighbours) we ain't gonna get any more into the roof space and maintain a suitable airgap for construction method.
Our extension that's going on will make the exposed Northside of the house up to current regs though by virtue of extending over the entire north aspect of the house which is boon.
Having seen the issues another neighbours had with cavity insulation. In the same style property I'll be running a mile from that .... My parents had it done in a sheltered town location and it worked well I live atop an exposed hill where the driving rain has on occasion driven water back up through uPVC doors drain vents......neighbours soon after having it done had damp appearing all over , insulation slump and wall tie rotting out. Cost them a fortune.
Certainly need to have your wits about you when doing it. It's not simply a case of throwing insulation at things as some would have you believe.
No, it's just a case of throwing suitable insulation at things.
Well it is if you ignore many facts and engineering principals sure.
But you have proven your self in the past to be quite the Google engineer so I'll bow down to your selective googlings
No, it’s just a case of throwing suitable insulation at things.
Those who have done insulated plaster board, did you remove any render back to block then board and skim or just sit and dab the insulated plaster board over the top?
I've been thinking about external insulation again. Most of our double glazed windows are blown so if I ever get the cash I could do the whole lot at one go which would mean the reveals wouldn't have to be stupidly big. I also see that the Americans reckon 2" rockwool is R8. I don't fancy a rendered finish - is it possible to timber clad?
US insulation numbers are different. 2" or 50mm rockwool is about R1.2 EU.
Timber cladding will need a structure to nail it to. Some types of wood don't even need treatment. You need to check with planning as it will change the look of the house. The same is true if you go from brick to rendered.
In my case the contractors screwed through the existing plaster board to battens behind it to secure it for the dormer roof and coomb areas. The external wall I assume they used a fixative for the insulation board, there certainly wasn't any stripping back of existing plaster.
Can't believe that the Americans can't use the same value for R as the rest of the world!
Would it be worth just doing my north wall (no windows)?
Tempted to go for external insulation here, outside is rather horrible pebble dash mock Tudor finish which needs tlc
What companies / websites are worth researching?
I saw someone mentioned grants, are these national? What are they called.
So far all I’ve 50mm Kingspan between rafters on the 2 ceilings I’ve had replaced, and have a good amount of rock wool in the loft, with some spare for the flooring when I get round to it. I’m not sure the KS has made that much difference, but it’s only 2 rooms
In my last house, a 1920s brick built bungalow, the previous owner did cavity wall and loft. It was warm as toast, or so I thought. Then after a spell with an unkillable ants nest under the concrete kitchen floor, I decided to rip that out and put a suspended floor in. That had jablite and super insulation then an insulated laminate over floor boards. Oh my word that made a HUGE difference to how the place felt and noticeably reduced the amount of heating required in the kitchen.
My parents live in a 4 storey semi detached 6 bedroom heap built in 1875. My sister and I grew up in the stick, originally the servants quarters. That had no heating and single glazing. Now we’ve long flown the nest, they’ve installed double glazing on the top floor. &£@“!!! The number of mornings when I’d wake up for school and have to de-ice the curtains. The DG has utterly transformed that floor. They also had a 1970s 60kw industrial boiler which consumed between £2000 and £3000 worth of gas a year. I finally managed to persuade them to bin it and fit a regular Bosch one two years ago. That alone has literally halved their fuel bill.
My flats are both in the attic of a 150 yr old building. Lath and plaster walls / celing straight onto sarcking boards then tiles. Zero insulation when bought.
I have fitted as much as I can - a 4 inch overlay on the flat roof, celotex stuffed between the rafters on the sloping ceilings, celotex around all the vertical walls. Heritage spec DG in the sash and case windows. Made a huge difference - we hardly use heating at all now.