so bought a house last year, the house was build in 1962 block and render construction / semi detached.

the old dear that owned it before me had cavity wall insulation installed under some grant scheme so i hadnt really bothered about it. Especially as when i was fitting a new flue for the gas boiler and i drilled through the wall lots of white fluffy stuff was in the cavity.

Anyway fast forward to last week and i was up the loft and i noticed i could see down the cavity on the gable wall and i notice that i dont really see much insulation, in fact i recon that there isnt actually any above the ground floor for the full width of the wall!! the rooms always been a bit cold.

I take it that this isnt normal??
Can i just go and buy some of these wee white balls and pour them down the cavity? or will mixing types of insulation cause problems?
can i have this fixed under the grant schemes or will the fact that its been done before / possibly crap will mean the property wont qualify?

Is there anyway of finding out from the previous owner/or family when/who ‘installed’ it? It seems like the installer came from the wild west, unless there’s a valid reason not to have done that wall?

Things have probably changed a lot since I was an installer in late 80s. There were loads of dodgy cowboys about then and gave us all a bad name. If we ever had a problem with an installation, the boss man used one of those scope thingies to look into the cavity and see what was going on.

If there is no way of getting hold of the original installers it might be worth trying local installers to see if someone can take a look in the cavity for you and insulate that wall out for you if possible?

Rather that than trying to pour stuff in from the top, you need more pressure behind it.

the wall isn’t totally empty it does have the white fluffy stuff as high as i’m guessing here…the floor of the upper level, just nothing higher

cheers for the help

I wouldn’t mix personally, all installations in the later years have to be BBA approved and carry a guarantee, I would see if you have any paperwork regarding to this.

So they installed it half way up……..wouldn’t surprise me if they also put dabs of muck on the bricks to ‘fill’ the pretend drill holes on the top half of the wall as well?

Defo worth trying to find out who did it then!

will have a look through any information i have in the house tonight but i dont think i have anything on who actually did it

the only thing which rings a bell is a conversation that i had with the previous owners daughter (the owner herself was pretty old and wasnt really active in the sale) and i think she mentioned scottish gas had done it as they had boiler care etc with them

would scottish gas carry out insulation works?

scottish gas will have funded or part funded the work through schemes like warm front a sub-contractor will have done the work.
Speak to your local Energy Savings Trust Advice Centre (ESTAC) as the work will have probably been arranged through them. If not the ESTAC the local council may have organised the work

Is the white fluffy stuff damp? It sounds like it’s settled to me and damp speeds settling. If it is damp then getting it sucked out and finding an alternative is probably best.

Just had the insulation removed from our cavities. About £4500. 😐

Blimey 😯

Why did you have to remove it?

Water was bridging accross the cavity causing a lot of damp inside. Getting in through the render which is being redone, but needed to take the wet insulation out so the walls can dry. Won’t be putting it back in!