Comments on: Insulation

By: maria

maria — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:05:39 +0000

Hi George, We had a damp course fitted a couple of years as ago.We had terrible condensation on the walls afterwards and still have problems on an interior wall in the kitchen.We were advised when damp course was fitted the interior wall didn’t need it. We have since had damp patches halfway up the wall above the radiator. Have you any ideas what could be causing this?
We were advises to have a Drimaster 2000-35 fitted in the loft.
Our house was built in the 1940′s, and we are thinking of having cavity wall insulation fitted by Bgas.
I would appreciate your advise on this as I have heard conflicting reports about cavity wall insulation eg:such as damp patches on the walls.

By: keith nuttall

keith nuttall — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:13:00 +0000

george my teenage son is moving into the bedroom above the living room what insulation/ sound proofing can i use in the void between the cealin and floor boards

By: Ruth Mathews

Ruth Mathews — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:05:34 +0000

Hi George. We’re currently building our new house and have tried to do it to a fairly high spec. We have 120mm insulation in the floor and are pumping in 150mm bonded bead insulation in the wall. However, when it comes to the roof we seem to be slipping back to the old rockwool option. We were looking at putting on spray foam but our Engineer doesn’t like the stuff (says it hasn’t been proven enough) and it’s expensive. Any recommendations. We have installed underfloor heating throughout and have a Heat Recovery system installed. It’s a 2 storey house with a ground imprint of 133 sq m.
By the way I love your show. I met you this weekend at the Grand Designs show and my birthday present from my husband was a pic with you. Thanks. Ruth

By: Sonia

Sonia — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:04:50 +0000

Hi George

We are about to embark on renovating an old stone building (originally 4 weavers cottages) into a family home with grandad annex. We are keen to use renewable energies but the stumbling block seems to be getting our insulation right . We are currently looking into ‘Spacetherm’. Have you had any dealings with this product or are there any alternatives products out there which will insulate whilst allowing our walls to breathe.

Kind regards

By: Jitka

Jitka — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:09:11 +0000

Hi George (again),
Following on from the query that I left you on the heating page, we have a small (8sq m) cold bathroom, with high ceilings (3m+). We are investigating how best to insulate the room and most people are recommending to put seperate insulation on the internal walls, we are worried that we will lose a lot of space if we do this. We are also worried that if we do this in the bathroom we could get moisture into the cavity and being retained in the room and that this will lead to mould etc. We were also thinking about dropping the ceiling level (a bit) but again we’re worried about moisture getting trapped in the cavity here. Can you give us any advice on how best to insulate the bathroom and protect against dampness/moisture causing mould etc.
Cheers
Jitka

By: Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:38:08 +0000

Please can you help ? I am looking at designing my own camp site and from what I can see most of the up to date sites seem to have leave good design at the main gate. I was looking to contact George Clarke to get some input. Many Thanks Ryan Johnson

By: Jeannie

Jeannie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:03:59 +0000

Hi,

One of my family members bought a new house, less than 2 years old at the time. They bought it from first owner, not builder. During the investigation of a defect which was raised in the first two years with both the builder and the NHBC, it has been established that the builder has not put any floor slab insulation in. Neither under or at the edge. It is a in situ concrete floor slab. Also DPM is breached as there is no sand blinding between MOT1 and DPM. It is a Timber frame house with floor slab and first floor way off the level.

If worst case they need to do the insulation and Fix DPM in some way themselves, do you have ideas of how they can do this without it costing the earth and without it taking inches off the floor to ceiling height? Also, any other useful information or knowledge you may have in general about this situation would be gratefully received.

Jeannie x

By: Patricia

Patricia — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:15:28 +0000

i was thinking about getting cavity wall insulation in my flat, my down stairs neighbour is all for it, but a few people i have spoken to about it have said its not a good idea, saying the cavity space between the walls is there for a reason, whats you take on it

By: Amax

Amax — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:54:07 +0000

Hi George

I am reasonably good at DIY but never done any major insulating.

I am in the process of building a workshop / art room in the garden for my kids (and myself!) which we intend to use all year around.
Basically it is a glorified shed which I intend to insulate and I am getting my electrician to run electricity to it so that it can have light and heating in the winter evenings.
It is quite a big shed (6.0 x 3.6 x 2.6m) with 15mm T&G Shiplap on the outside, heavy duty felt on an apex roof and 45X34mm framework and a wooden floor on bearers. It will sit on a concrete base.

I want to insulate it as effectively as possible. I intend to clad both the walls and ceiling/roof on the inside with pine tongue and groove and put flooring ontop of the wooden floor of the shed.

I have been searching the net to find info on the correct way to insulate it but can’t seem to find a definitive guide just lots of different bits of info. Any chance you can advise please.
Do I use a vapour barrier on the walls and ceiling? What about the floor? What is a vapour barrier? Is there a specific make that is good? If so what thickness and does this go between the outer wall and the insulation or the insulation and the inner cladding.
Do I follow the same method on the ceiling?
What insulation should I use for the walls and ceiling?
How do I insulate the floor? What insulation should I use? Should I use a vapour barrier here? Should the vapour barrier be on top of the existing shed floor before the insulation or after the insulation but before the flooring? Any advice on product?

Thanks very much for your help in advance.

By: marioshea

marioshea — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:35:04 +0000

Hi George, I live in Spain and I don’t think the Spanish builders know much about insulation! In the summer the house is like an oven and in the winter I freeze! I’m pretty sure it’s just brick and render with no cavity insulation. Apart from knocking the house down and starting again, how do i go about fixing this problem?

Mari