Understanding Cavity Wall Insulation
How the process works and what are the benefits
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to keep your house warmer during the cold seasons and at the same time lower the electricity bills? And how about if you were also saving the environment by leaving minimal carbon footprint for heating? Well, that’s what cavity wall insulation is all about.
Cavity wall insulation simply means filling up the empty gap (known as the cavity) between the walls of your home with insulation. This helps to conserve more heat in the winter. As a result, you save energy, pay less to heat your property, and subsequently reduce your carbon footprint.
Follow the discussion below to learn more about this process. You will hopefully gain more knowledge on the topic and find enough good reasons to get cavity wall insulation for your home.
What Is Cavity Wall Insulation?
A cavity wall is a wall with a gap or cavity in-between. Most homes built after the 1920s have them. Cavity wall insulation means filling up that gap with insulation materials such as mineral wool or foam beads to improve the thermal efficiency of your walls.
As a result, your home loses less heat through your walls. This translates to greater energy efficiency, energy savings, and carbon reduction.
Is My Home Suitable for Cavity Wall Insulation?
The first thing you need to find out is the type of walls you have. You can usually identify cavity walls from the outside of your home by studying the pattern of the bricks. If it’s a cavity wall, you will see that the bricks have an even pattern. Plus, the bricks will be laid in parallel to the length of the wall.
On the other hand, solid walls tend to follow an alternating pattern in their brickwork. This means when you look at the wall from the outside of your home you’ll see some bricks appear longer and others appear shorter. Another alternative way to tell if the walls have a cavity is to measure their width. If it’s thicker than 250mm and your property is of a conventional build then it likely has a cavity. Brick walls thinner than that are more commonly solid.
Cavity Walls Typically have an even brick pattern with all the bricks going lengthways
The construction date of your house tells a lot about whether or not your walls were built with insulation or not. If it was built more than twenty years ago then the chances are high that the walls have a cavity that will have been built without insulation.
However, the best way to find out if your house has cavity walls (and to confirm the level of insulation present) is to conduct a borescope inspection by a registered installer. As a PAS2030 qualified business for Cavity Wall Insulation, we conduct borescope inspections to ensure your cavity is suitable for insulation and free of any problems before carrying out work.
If you have solid walls on your property don’t worry – our team can still help just get in touch to find out more or check our services page.
How does the installation process work?
When the day comes to have your cavity insulated, the team will arrive with all the relevant equipment and materials to complete the job. Your survey will already have been carried out and identified all the work that needs to be done and how it will be conducted.
Drill holes will be made to specific areas of each of the external walls to allow for the insulation material to be pumped inside of the wall to fill the cavity. The materials used to insulate the area are usually mineral wool, polystyrene beads or polyurethane foam. The material used on your property will depend on the initial surveys and discussions with you beforehand but all three are effective ways to keep your home warm.
Installation of Cavity Wall Insulation
In some cases if access is difficult, drilling my need to be done inside the property to fill the cavity. This however is less common and you will be informed prior to any work being carried out if this is the case.
Once the cavity is filled, the drill holes will be refilled with concrete to make sure they are sealed again and these areas will be sealed professionally to ensure they are difficult to spot with the naked eye and leave no negative impact on the appearance of your property.
Cavity Wall Insulation Improves the EPC rating of your home
What are the main benefits?
There are several benefits of insulating your cavity walls and it’s definitely worth doing! The main benefits are:
- Keeping your home warmer. Around 35% of the heat from your home is lost through your walls – that’s a big deal if they’re not insulated!
- Saving on your energy bills
- Cavity Wall Insulation is quick and relatively inexpensive to install at most properties. For only a few hours of work and a few hundred pounds spent you could be more comfortable in your home and saving hundreds of pounds annually
- Lowering your carbon footprint as a result of less energy use on heating
On top of all of this as a Trustmark Registered PAS2030 installer we always provide a CIGA guarantee on every job we carry out. This means that you will have a 25 year insurance backed guarantee to give you peace of mind knowing the work is done right.
Conclusion
Cavity wall insulation is a great choice to improve any home suitable for the measure. In a standard property, the cost savings on heating bills over the years will greatly outweigh the initial cost leaving you with a warmer home and more money in the bank. With rapidly rising energy prices this is more true than ever.
We hope that you’ve found the information here helpful. If you have cavity walls that you think are in need of insulation then get in touch via our contact page or give us a call on 01763 208563 and the team will be happy to help get you started.
