Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was £160. The
heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

I use about 20500 kw of gas per year and at present, to heat my hot water
with gas is about 20 kw per day, which means I use about 13500 kw for
heating per year. So I should be using 4500 kw less per year at a saving of
£70.

If I take a lower figure of 20% the savings will be approx £43. Though after
the next round of price increases more than likely £50

So even at 20% effectivness I will save £50 per year, not as you are led to
believe, a 20% saving on your year gas bill.

I think I have answered my own question as typing this out and doing the
figures shows a saving, but not as much as is made out. i.e a saving on the
part of the bill that is for heating not the whole bill.
I was not going to post this but then I thought someone might find it
usefull.

Thanks Mark
p.s. I added more insulation to my hot water tank and now my wife is
complaining that the towels are not so warm anymore, so it must be doing
something.

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:56:29 GMT, "Mark"
wrote:

|Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
|save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
|heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was ?160. The
|heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

I had mine done in Yorkshire, not quite as cold, mumble years ago and it
has been paying back more every year as the price of fuel goes up.
Do it as soon as you can afford it. Makes the house feel much warmer.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Mark wrote:
Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was £160. The
heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

I use about 20500 kw of gas per year and at present, to heat my hot water
with gas is about 20 kw per day, which means I use about 13500 kw for
heating per year. So I should be using 4500 kw less per year at a saving of
£70.

If I take a lower figure of 20% the savings will be approx £43. Though after
the next round of price increases more than likely £50

So even at 20% effectivness I will save £50 per year, not as you are led to
believe, a 20% saving on your year gas bill.

I think I have answered my own question as typing this out and doing the
figures shows a saving, but not as much as is made out. i.e a saving on the
part of the bill that is for heating not the whole bill.
I was not going to post this but then I thought someone might find it
usefull.

Thanks Mark
p.s. I added more insulation to my hot water tank and now my wife is
complaining that the towels are not so warm anymore, so it must be doing
something.

savings depend on construction of house of course. If you can use it,
get it.


NT

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:56:29 GMT someone who may be "Mark"
wrote this:-

Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills?

Yes, provided it is installed properly. It also makes the house
cooler in summer by stopping some of the solar heat getting in.

Also get the loft insulated as much as possible, stop drafts through
windows and insulate hot pipes as much as possible.

Various grants are available for some/all of this depending on
circumstances.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

"Mark" wrote:
Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was £160. The
heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

I use about 20500 kw of gas per year and at present, to heat my hot water
with gas is about 20 kw per day, which means I use about 13500 kw for
heating per year. So I should be using 4500 kw less per year at a saving
of £70.

If I take a lower figure of 20% the savings will be approx £43. Though
after the next round of price increases more than likely £50

So even at 20% effectivness I will save £50 per year, not as you are led
to believe, a 20% saving on your year gas bill.

I think I have answered my own question as typing this out and doing the
figures shows a saving, but not as much as is made out. i.e a saving on
the part of the bill that is for heating not the whole bill.
I was not going to post this but then I thought someone might find it
usefull.

Thanks Mark
p.s. I added more insulation to my hot water tank and now my wife is
complaining that the towels are not so warm anymore, so it must be doing
something.

Any saving will be partly off-set by the installation cost, but with
escalating energy prices the savings will far outweigh the costs. Good
insulation will also add value to the property, and energy ratings will be
covered in the new house sellers packs. No one should pay the full price for
installing insulation as government grant subsidies are available.

The message .com
from contains these words:

savings depend on construction of house of course. If you can use it,
get it.

Wish we could. I'd have to take the tile hanging off the walls to do
ours and even then I could only do upstairs.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:56:29 GMT, Mark wrote:

Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was £160. The
heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

I know my brother dropped his thermostat by 2C after having it fitted.

I've just had it done to a 4 bed detached through powergen and it cost
£150, even using your predicted returns, the payback rate is still quite
quick.

Steve

Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills?

Just do it. Apart from the savings in fuel, you also get other benefits,
such as reducing your carbon footprint and making the house much more
comfortable, as the walls get warmer giving radiative heat, which the human
body finds particularly acceptable.

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
...
Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out,
e.g
save 30% on heating bills?

Just do it. Apart from the savings in fuel, you also get other benefits,
such as reducing your carbon footprint and making the house much more
comfortable, as the walls get warmer giving radiative heat, which the
human
body finds particularly acceptable.

Christian.


Hear hear!

We had it done years ago, there were no grants, it cost more than twice as
much as it does now not taking account of inflation. We noticed a difference
in comfort from Day 1. I haven't looked at bills but we had to adjust our
thermostat, our outgoings must have decreased.

That's the individual point of view. Christian's point of the general effect
on the environment is more important.

Do it.

Mary

Doctor Drivel wrote:

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Christian McArdle" wrote in
message ...
Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make
out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills?

Just do it. Apart from the savings in fuel, you also get other benefits,
such as reducing your carbon footprint and making the house much more
comfortable, as the walls get warmer giving radiative heat, which the
human
body finds particularly acceptable.

Christian.


Hear hear!

We had it done years ago, there were no grants, it cost more than
twice as much as it does now not taking account of inflation. We
noticed a difference in comfort from Day 1. I haven't looked at bills
but we had to adjust our thermostat, our outgoings must have decreased.

That's the individual point of view. Christian's point of the general
effect on the environment is more important.

Which is all negated by the millions of insulationless conservatories
heated. People build conservatories to gain extra living space because
our houses are too small. Change the Draconian Stalinist planning
system, up the insulation levels in the building regs and energy usage
will eventually drop.


I am in the process of getting loft and cavity wall insulation. To date
I have had 2 bods round to give estimates, they could not have been
different. The first simply measured and gave the estimate, I asked a
few questions to which he barely replied. The second chap brought up
every query I had and his solution without my saying a word. Also he was
very precise about making sure everything is well sealed (waste pipes
etc.)before cavity wall insulation, also pointed out that the vents I
have in the wall for the toilet and cloakroom must be through vents, the
installers will check and if not install the required types at
installation time, at an extra cost of course. Strangely his estimate
was the lower one. So pick your installer with a little care.

David Hansen wrote:

Also get the loft insulated as much as possible,

But make sure there's adequate ventilation to prevent condensation (and
thus damp) in the now colder loft.

MBQ

Guy King wrote:
The message .com
from contains these words:

savings depend on construction of house of course. If you can use it,
get it.

Wish we could. I'd have to take the tile hanging off the walls to do
ours and even then I could only do upstairs.

Exterior tiles dont prevent cwi, just feed the hose in thru the window
and inject on the interior side instead of the exterior. Is that what
you mean?

NT

The message .com
from contains these words:

Wish we could. I'd have to take the tile hanging off the walls to do
ours and even then I could only do upstairs.

Exterior tiles dont prevent cwi, just feed the hose in thru the window
and inject on the interior side instead of the exterior. Is that what
you mean?

It's already got /some/ rather tatty insulation behind the builder
paper. Some houses in the row have had the tile hanging removed and a
render applied over thicker insulation. Trouble is it doesn't look as
nice.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Broadback wrote:

I am in the process of getting loft and cavity wall insulation.
I have had 2 bods round to give estimates, they could not have been more
different.

The first simply measured and gave the estimate, I asked a
few questions to which he barely replied.

The second chap brought up every query I had and his solution
without my saying a word.

Also he was very precise about making sure everything is well sealed (waste pipes
etc.) before cavity wall insulation, he also pointed out that the vents I
have in the wall for the toilet and cloakroom must be through vents.

That
installers will check and if not install the required types at installation time.
His estimate was the lower one. So pick your installer with a little care.

I wonder what the costs are?

You use labour at just over the national minimum rate. A lorry, a pump
and some piping. An SDS type drill and some packing. Replacing vents is
a bonus and the material is light as air so doesn't cost an arm and a
leg to transport.

The alternative is to carry you own bags of vermiculite or whatever to
the loft and try and pour it down the cavity. An unpleasant job you
could do in the winter as the mood took you. Total cost = the material
used.

Thinking about it now. You could put a piece of ply on the inner leaf
of the cavity and rest a 4 or 5 inch downspout on that and pour the
material from the middle of the roof quite easily.

The particles would spread out in a cone filling half way up the cavity
by the time the pipes needed moving.

How feasible is that?

Weatherlawyer wrote:
Broadback wrote:

I am in the process of getting loft and cavity wall insulation.
I have had 2 bods round to give estimates, they could not have been more
different.

The first simply measured and gave the estimate, I asked a
few questions to which he barely replied.

The second chap brought up every query I had and his solution
without my saying a word.

Also he was very precise about making sure everything is well sealed (waste pipes
etc.) before cavity wall insulation, he also pointed out that the vents I
have in the wall for the toilet and cloakroom must be through vents.

That
installers will check and if not install the required types at installation time.
His estimate was the lower one. So pick your installer with a little care.

I wonder what the costs are?

You use labour at just over the national minimum rate. A lorry, a pump
and some piping. An SDS type drill and some packing. Replacing vents is
a bonus and the material is light as air so doesn't cost an arm and a
leg to transport.

The alternative is to carry you own bags of vermiculite or whatever to
the loft and try and pour it down the cavity. An unpleasant job you
could do in the winter as the mood took you. Total cost = the material
used.

Thinking about it now. You could put a piece of ply on the inner leaf
of the cavity and rest a 4 or 5 inch downspout on that and pour the
material from the middle of the roof quite easily.

The particles would spread out in a cone filling half way up the cavity
by the time the pipes needed moving.

How feasible is that?

How do you get it to fill under the windows?

wrote:

How do you get it to fill under the windows?

Good point, is hat the only difficulty?

Either remove the window boards and fill them and use the occasion to
check on the method while at it.

Alternatively drill a hole through the boards and fill through them.
Less messy but not appealing for the nosey, find out how it ticks, type
of DIYer.

How do conventional firms get it to fill under the windows?
How do customers of conventional firms get check it filled under the
windows and everywhere else?

If you run a tape from the DPC to the wall plate and also measure the
length and width of the house, you can work out the likely volume of
filler required. If you fill to the probable height of the cills of the
lower windows and let it settle it might level out with the draught
that seems to accompany cavity walls.

Some time later, further filling should get it to the bottom of the
upper windows. After another period the house could be filled. And then
some more added intermittently to top up for settlement.

If I couldn't afford it I'd see if I can get a grant for DIY. If not;
see about setting up a company called the I'm going to do it myself co.
And reapply for the grant.

On 14 Jul 2006 05:12:08 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
wrote:


|If I couldn't afford it I'd see if I can get a grant for DIY. If not;
|see about setting up a company called the I'm going to do it myself co.
|And reapply for the grant.

Setting up and closing down a company would cost more paying for the full
cost of cavity wall insulation.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On 14 Jul 2006 05:12:08 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
wrote:


|If I couldn't afford it I'd see if I can get a grant for DIY. If not;
|see about setting up a company called the I'm going to do it myself co.
|And reapply for the grant.

Setting up and closing down a company would cost more paying for the full
cost of cavity wall insulation.

That would depend on the clauses required for the council to accept the
quote. A letterhead produced by junior from the family PC would be
enough surely?

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:56:29 +0000, Mark wrote:

Hi, is cavity wall insulation as effective as some companies make out, e.g
save 30% on heating bills? I live in a 3 bedroom semi with gas warm air
heating and my last gas bill for the 3 months in winter was £160. The
heating is on for about 6 or 7 months. It's cold up here in Scotland.

This is a DIY newsgroup, so here's how to work it out for yourself :-)

Use a whole-house calculator intended for sizing replacement boilers such
as:
http://www.est.org.uk/housingbuildin.../boilersizing/
or
http://www.idhe.org.uk/calculator.html
(note that the latter, at least, has errors dealing with floors and/or
roofs of flats)

and see what difference selecting filled or unfilled cavity walls makes.
Then do appropriate arithmetic to see how that translates into what
difference it would make to your fuel bills.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On 14 Jul 2006 05:12:08 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
wrote:


|If I couldn't afford it I'd see if I can get a grant for DIY. If not;
|see about setting up a company called the I'm going to do it myself co.
|And reapply for the grant.

Setting up and closing down a company would cost more paying for the full
cost of cavity wall insulation.

Why? It costs nothing to set up as sole trader. If turnover is low
enough (as it would be for this single job) you don't even need an
accountant.

On 16 Jul 2006 03:18:00 -0700, wrote:

|
|Dave Fawthrop wrote:
| On 14 Jul 2006 05:12:08 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
| wrote:
|
|
| |If I couldn't afford it I'd see if I can get a grant for DIY. If not;
| |see about setting up a company called the I'm going to do it myself co.
| |And reapply for the grant.
|
| Setting up and closing down a company would cost more paying for the full
| cost of cavity wall insulation.
|
|Why? It costs nothing to set up as sole trader. If turnover is low
|enough (as it would be for this single job) you don't even need an
|accountant.

OP said Company, Sole trader is cheaper, but riskier than a Limited
Company.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.