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In homes without insulation it is estimated that a third of all heat lost escapes through the walls. Many houses built since1920 are constructed with exterior walls made up of two skins – an outer wall built from brick and an inner wall built from block – with a narrow gap of about 50mm between them. To dramatically reduce heat loss the cavity between double-skinned walls can be filled with an insulating material.
Cavity wall
Solid wall
Holes of about 25mm diameter are drilled through the mortar of the outer wall and then the insulation is injected into the cavity from outside. It is mess free and quick to install; the whole process taking around two to three hours for an average sized property. Once the installation is completed the contractor will plug all the injection holes with mortar, matching it as closely as possible to the colour of the existing mortar.
But first it needs to be established whether your property is suitable for this type of insulation. If you have a traditional brick built property there is a simple test you can carry out to see if it has been built with cavity walls. This involves checking that no brick ends (headers) appear in the wall, for this is an indication of a solid wall construction. Other influencing factors include:
Cavity wall insulation is suitable for terraced and semi-detached houses even if the neighbours don’t wish their property insulated, as the contractor can install a cavity barrier at the party wall between two properties.
Three types of insulating material are used in cavity wall insulation: mineral wool, polystyrene beads and Urea Formaldehyde (UF) foam. Tests have shown all three materials share a similar insulation value.
Although a relatively simple operation, cavity wall insulation is specialist work that needs to be carried out by trained technicians with the expertise and equipment to ensure the insulation is filled to the correct density. Look for a contractor whose work is covered by CIGA (Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency), as the work will be guaranteed for 25 years.
Next: Draught proofing