Cavity Insulation

The answer is NO, as nothing is free in this world! However, you should understand that providing heat insulating item in the cavity walls continues to pay back for a long time to come. If you are living in an area with varying climatic conditions, you can considerably save your energy expense thru proper insulation of your home. During winters if you are required to increase heat more than what you like, it’s a sure indication that your house needs insulation.

But, first of all you have to ascertain if there are wall cavities available for insulation. In case of wooden houses it’s not difficult to make that assessment. That’s because in such houses the outer cladding is very much the same as the inner wall and there is no cavity in between. Most often there is some gap between the inner and the outer wall and this can be used for housing insulating material. You may choose to have mineral wool or polyethylene foam as the material; the former being fire resistant should be preferred for wooden homes. Certainly, it is not at all desirable to include a flammable material in a wooden house. For brick and mortar walls, you can know if there is some cavity or not by checking its thickness. Usually, a brick wall has two layers of brick, one on the inner side and the other on the outer side. Unless the house is more than a hundred years old, there is a good chance of the cavity being there in the two walls. Take a close look at the opening of a window or door and assess the thickness of the brick. That should help you to assess if there is a cavity or not.

Having confirmed the presence of cavity, how does one proceed with the installation of insulation? The best option is to entrust the job to cavity wall insulation installers. They are professionals who are equipped to handle different types of buildings and capable of doing a proper job in the shortest possible time. The installers have special equipment. They would drill a hole in the outer wall and by use of air pressure inject the granulated material into the cavity. The required equipment is available on hire and you may rent it too, but then you should know exactly what is to be done. Even if you think you can do it by yourself, it will be good to take some helpful tips from an experienced hand, because if you do it the wrong way, the natural ventilation of your walls, which is necessarily needed to get rid of built up moisture, may get ruined.

Whichever way you may opt for including wall insulation, you will not regret having invested in this project, as you’ll soon notice considerable reduction in your energy bills. Moreover, you’ll not be adding to carbon dioxide emissions.

Cavity problems are often faced in buildings and many cavity related issues could crop up because of that. Formerly, cavities were set up to prevent the problem of dampness that was widespread in older buildings that had solid brickwork. As, such walls transmitted dampness from to inner leaves, a gap of 50mm was provided to separate the two. In the mid 1990s, a government-sponsored study made it apparent that filling up of cavities in the walls could reduce the frequency of dampness occurring in the cavity walls. Comparative studies taken on the prevalence and effects of condensation, dampness, rain penetration etc. in filled and unfilled cavity walls support the idea that insulation can improve the efficiency of buildings to stay away from such problems.

There is quite a variation of cavity related problem of dampness in non-insulated and insulated walls. Before applying insulation cavity problem like condensation crops up in 14% and dampness in 8% cases. The problems relating to condensation can be reduced from 14% to 10% whereas dampness is reduced from 8% to 3.5% by filling of cavities with insulating material.

The following cavity problems could affect insulation process and should be taken care of before application:

o internal walls affected by dampness
o walls affected by rain penetration
o constructional or structural defects
o penetrations of external wall due air ventilators or flues

These are usually caused by lack of proper maintenance, structural problems or if the walls were not made properly. Here are the most likely causes for cavity related problems:

o improper pointing
o spelled brickwork
o cavities having ruble at the bottom
o presence of mortar droppings on the walls caused by poor construction
o insufficient ventilation
o formation of thermal bridges like concrete lintels, bridges wherever the cavities are closed at eaves level providing colder surfaces
o absence of damp proof courses

Having insulation is a god remedial measure in such like cases with problematic

You may avail of 100% grants for providing insulation to your home or get a grant to the tune of 40 to 70 percent of the entire expenditure. Buildings that were constructed to retain a cavity or gap between the two covers of external walls can have cavity wall insulation.

Advantages of Insulating Walls

Having cavity wall insulation helps reducing your energy bills, which means you are able to reduce the carbon footprints of your household. Energy saving results to reduced emission of carbon dioxide. Saving energy also saves your money. It’s good to have cavity wall insulation, as it is fast, taking nearly three hours and inexpensive too. Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency or CIGA offers an independent guarantee of 25 years for installation.

Funding for Cavity Wall Insulation

Some of the organizations and utility companies that offer financial support for cavity wall insulation grants include Scottish & Southern Energy, Scottish Power, EON, NPower, EDF and British Gas among others. This is in line with the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, or CERT. The UK Government has already set targets for these companies to reduce carbon emission by 2011.

How to Increase your Chances

Grants in U.K are available for domestic households, especially the ones that were built from1924 to 1982. You stand a better chance of getting a cavity wall grant if an approved local insulation installer carries the insulation from the ground floor to the roof, using the right material. You are eligible for this grant provided the cavity is at least 50mm wide and the condition of brickwork of your property is good.

How to Get a Grant

The best place for applying is the Internet. The advantage of applying thru the Internet is the convenience; you can apply any time of the day or night, all the year round. Moreover it is very cheap and remains anonymous.

You have to look for a dependable reputed company that is registered with the related bodies like Cavity the Insulation Guarantee Agency, National Insulation Association and British Board of Agreement. The easiest and among the best options will be to use a website and get insulation done free of charge.

Cavity wall insulation may be a good remedial measure for the energy deficiency experienced by many households in Ireland. Going by the available statistical data more than 60, 000 low income and 160,000 other households experience energy deficiency. It surely affects their health and makes indoors life quite uncomfortable, apart from causing massive wastage of limited wages. If you fall in the category of above householders, you can benefit a lot by properly insulating your home, especially with cavity wall insulation.

You can avail of funding of up to Euro 400 from SEAI if you undertake cavity wall insulation of your home. However, qualified installers must undertake the installation, needing special equipment. This is certainly not one of the DIY projects, however good you may be with your hands.

The construction of cavity wall can be achieved in two ways. One is to have two walls with an air gap sandwiched between the two. The other is to construct a wall with hollow bricks. In any case, the air gap has to be continuous for executing effective cavity wall insulation.

How are the Cavity walls insulated?

There are many ways of applying cavity wall insulation. It largely depends on the kind of insulating material and the construction of wall. Whatever material you may choose to have, the intention is to reduce the loss of heat mainly caused by conduction and convection, the two processes responsible for causing loss of heat. So, in the absence of an uninterrupted cavity, this procedure will have little negative affect because the heat due air movement is restricted to only small section of wall cavity.

Therefore, on filling the wall cavity with an insulating material you can easily take care of both the ways of losing heat.

What material can be used to insulate cavity walls?

Many insulating materials are available for cavity wall insulation. Some of the often-used materials are: Glass fibers expanded and extruded polystyrene (EPS and XPS) panels, rock wool, beads and cellulose material. In Ireland materials derived from cellulose are not so well accepted, but these are very widely used in the U.S. due its high R-value (at initial stages at least). Since it is made from recycled materials, it comes very cheap and is environment friendly too. Each material has its merits and demerits of varying degrees.

Though it is possible to use any of the above materials at the time of constructing the building, the practice is rarely followed. Only glass fibers or polystyrene beads can be used in old buildings or after the construction of the building has been over by employing a special technique called “blowing in”. During construction polystyrene bead insulation is done from the inside walls, but in case of houses already constructed, it is done from the outside walls. First they drill holes in the wall to check if some insulation already exists and if so, what’s its status. On realizing that there is no insulation present, fibers or insulation beads are blown into the cavity thru the drilled hole, using a hose connected to a pressure device. To keep the beads bonded together after curing, specific adhesive is blown in together with the beads.

Moisture, air leaks and insulation

Though leakage of air and moisture are not the main cause, they do contribute to the loss of heat apart from causing damage to insulation and thus reducing its insulating capacity, causing damage to the material of walls and encouraging mold growth. That’s why it is important to have vapor barrier even with cavity wall insulation. Application of aluminum foil vapor barriers with a water resistant adhesive or a liquid type vapor barrier is a good solution. Moreover, aluminum vapor barrier also acts as a radiant heat barrier to further improve the energy conservation.

Air leakage is not desirable, as with the leaked cold outdoor air, warm indoor air leaks out and defuses the pressure built up indoors. Moreover the moisture also enters together with the chilled air and condenses on inner walls to cause damages. (However, you can’t get rid of these entirely because you need some opening to outside, enabling weep holes to throw out any leaked in water).

If you are tired of high heating expense and are looking for means to save money you have a good option in the form of cavity spaces in the walls. Proper insulation reduces the amount of heat that can escape your house. By all means you should consider installation of cavity insulation as your long term investment, which continues to pay back for the many years to come. It not only helps you reduce energy consumption but also allows you to contribute to healthier environments by reducing CO2 emissions.

For having cavity insulation installed, you have to evaluate the structure of the house. The walls may be with solid structure or with cavities also. Each type needs a different treatment and materials. Cavity insulation requires filling of cavities with natural or synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers used include like foams, wools, and polystyrene beads and by and large last for many years. Natural fibers include straw, sheep’s wool, flax, or a recyclable fiber. As can be estimated these materials will need frequent replacements as these are prone to pets and fungal growth caused by moisture.

The cost of insulation depends upon the volume of work and the materials used. Treat this as an investment that saves your yearly heating bills. As you reduce the amount of energy burnt for heating your home, there will be a corresponding reduction of C02 emissions. Isn’t it nice to have an efficient heating system that saves expense while contributing to have a better world?

The difference caused by incorporating such like changes should not be underrated. It helps you save money and the environments. Some governments offer grants to encourage cavity insulation and thus provide better living conditions to its people.

Consult a professional to have a better understanding of the subject. They are equipped to offer you the right information for getting the best results.

Before 1924, most of the properties were constructed without a cavity, and the construction was known a solid wall construction. Beginning 1924, properties were constructed to have a cavity or air gap between the two layers of brickwork. Many consider that cavity was provided so that water from the outside would not enter the inside and filling of cavity with insulation helped it to happen. As a matter of fact, the properties were designed to include a cavity as it hastened the process of construction and reduced the cost also. Had filling of cavities with insulation caused problems, building regulations that came to effect in 1982, wouldn’t have specified all new properties be provided with cavity wall insulation. Moreover, had it really caused any significant difficulties, the Government and Utility Companies couldn’t be spending billion of dollars to insulate old properties, as they did since the late 1990’s.

Cavity wall insulation will not be the cause of dampness in a properly surveyed building. Problems arise only when the property is so located that the rainwater continuously remains in contact with the external brickwork. The surveyor on checking the exposure may suggest a different product or even advise against the installation of cavity wall. In case of cavity having any rubble or blockage of any kind, damp spots could appear on the inside of the building. This is called “cold-bridging” as the internal wall surfaces become colder in such areas. While surveying, a small inspection hole is drilled in each wall to confirm if there is any rubble or other blockage inside the cavity. Spoiled guttering, drainpipes or poor condition of brickwork could be the cause of problems, but here again the surveyor will check and suggest repairs prior to starting of work. If you notice any dampness, you should get it checked and rectified by a builder before going for a cavity wall insulation survey. Condensation on internal walls as a result of poor ventilation or excess water vapors can be remedied or controlled by installation of cavity wall insulation.

In most cases, installation of cavity wall insulation causes no damage to the brickwork. The insulation is achieved by drilling holes of the size of a 20p piece between the T-joints in the cement. Drilling may bring out small chips of brick corners, but after the holes have been re-filled with cement in matching color, these chips are hardly visible. Very few properties have bricks with perfect corners, making it really difficult to tell after the job has been completed. It may become more obvious in case of bricks with perfect corners and narrow cement gaps. The surveyor should be able to confirm if installation of cavity wall insulation will affect the appearance of the property.

The only major problem that may arise could be due loose render but the surveyor would ensure that it’s in good condition. Holes of the size of a 20p piece are drilled into the wall and after the insulation is complete, those are filled with cement. If the render is painted, the cement will be smoothed over. Generally, cavity wall installers do not undertake painting. Moreover, if the paint is already weathered, complete paint may be needed, rather than just touch up. In case of pebble-dashed property, installers push some small stones (that have already gone loose and got collected at the base of the walls) into the color-matched cement.

Installation of cavity wall insulation certainly reduces the natural flow of air into the building. If you are using devices needing plenty of oxygen (like an open fire), you may essentially need a vent, usually on an external wall. The surveyor can confirm its requirement for the property.

A dependable company ensures to have only those cavity wall installers who are registered with CIGA (the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency), an independent organization. A guarantee, valid for a period of 25 years, is issued at the completion of installation. In case of any problems, you should approach the original installer who is obliged to remedy the problem. If that’s not feasible, CIGA will appoint another contractor and bear the expense.

Wall cavity insulation can be installed in a matter hours. You also get help by way of Government-backed grant, making it a cost effective way to help you save money on your utility bills, creating a more comfortable home for you and helping to protect the environment from global warming.