Cavity Wall Insulation - Should We Bother?
Many of us have had 'free' cavity wall insulation installed over the past few years. The council part funded the work but the main funding came from the energy companies who were legally required to support these initiatives.
Whilst obviously a worthwhile concept, the practice may not have been as effective as intended.
Many companies sprang up who were guaranteed payment for insulating properties if they could get the owner or tenant to sign the forms. It did not matter how suitable the property was for this type of insulation or how well or completely the work was done.
I know from my own experience, I have houses where whole walls were not insulated due to access issues (if it took more than 2 hours for the whole job they were behind schedule), I also have limited or no paperwork from the companies that did the work even where I know which company did what as so much was sub-contracted.
I am also aware of members having more black mould than they used to have because a uniformly cold wall will not concentrate condensation while a badly insulated wall may have cold spots at the edges or corners where mould regularly appears as that is where the condensation now concentrates.
Worst of all, with our strong prevailing winds straight off the Solent, we know of cases where previously good walls have shown penetrating damp during this years wet winter because the 'blown insulation' is inappropriate for these conditions and can bridge the cavity, become sodden, drop down to the bottom of the cavity and provide no benefit, just a damp trap.
So if you are offered 'free insulation' do please make sure you get supporting paperwork in case of future problems and that the installers spend sufficient time to ensure no cold spots or weaknesses. If you already have such insulation, and are experiencing problems, please let us know as if this is sufficiently common, we will need to make sure the local council realise their responsibility before supporting more of these schemes.