Hello,

I've got a conservatory on one side of my house (1960's council-build
semi-detached).

A company has looked at the house and said that it isn't possible to do the
cavity wall insulation without scaffolding. Furthermore, it isn't possible
to insulate only two walls of the house because condensation will develop in
the third, uninsulated wall. We aren't prepared to pay for scaffolding.

This is the back of my house:

/ roof |
/__________________________|
| | | | | | | | | | |
| ----- ---- ---- |
|-----------------------------------| NEXT DOOR
_____| |
flat | |
roof | conservatory |
utility | |
room | |
------------------------------------------

1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation be a
problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to insulate half
of a semi-detached house?

2) Why can't the installers just drill through the interior wall of the back
bedrooms to install the cavity wall insulation? We've not got wallpaper or
anything difficult to re-decorate.

I've got another surveyor coming round next week to talk about it, but I
wanted some info before I hassled him.

Thanks in advance for help!
ROSIE

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 10:32:15 +0100, "Rosie" wrote:

Hello,

I've got a conservatory on one side of my house (1960's council-build
semi-detached).

A company has looked at the house and said that it isn't possible to do the
cavity wall insulation without scaffolding. Furthermore, it isn't possible
to insulate only two walls of the house because condensation will develop in
the third, uninsulated wall. We aren't prepared to pay for scaffolding.

This is the back of my house:

/ roof |
/__________________________|
| | | | | | | | | | |
| ----- ---- ---- |
|-----------------------------------| NEXT DOOR
_____| |
flat | |
roof | conservatory |
utility | |
room | |
------------------------------------------

1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation be a
problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to insulate half
of a semi-detached house?

If you insulate two exterior walls, have a party wall and an
uninsulated exterior wall, the last of these is likely to be the
coolest assuming your neighbour heats their property.

So, if there is moisture in the air, it is going to tend to condense
on the windows and on the uninsulated wall.

Whether it does, will partly depend on insulation.

It would be better to insulate all the walls, but is not the end of
the world if you can't.



2) Why can't the installers just drill through the interior wall of the back
bedrooms to install the cavity wall insulation? We've not got wallpaper or
anything difficult to re-decorate.

I see no reason why not, but can understand that they wouldn't want to
climb on the conservatory without scaffolding.



I've got another surveyor coming round next week to talk about it, but I
wanted some info before I hassled him.

Thanks in advance for help!
ROSIE






..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation be a
problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to insulate half
of a semi-detached house?

When doing half a semi, the missing wall is a warm interior one. If you miss
off a cold exterior wall, you'll get mould and condensation on it.

2) Why can't the installers just drill through the interior wall of the
back
bedrooms to install the cavity wall insulation? We've not got wallpaper
or
anything difficult to re-decorate.

They can, but probably didn't think of it because most people would be
terrified at the prospect of their horrible floral wallpaper being damaged.

Christian.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Rosie wrote:


1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation
be a problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to
insulate half of a semi-detached house?

I suppose that if *all* the walls are cold, any moisture in the room
condenses all round in a very thin layer and isn't too much of a problem.
But if you just have *one* cold wall, it *all* condenses on that wall.

2) Why can't the installers just drill through the interior wall of
the back bedrooms to install the cavity wall insulation? We've not
got wallpaper or anything difficult to re-decorate.

I've never heard of it being done from the *inside* - but can see no
compelling reason why it shouldn't be. I suppose that the contractor may be
a bit wary about drilling through buried cables etc. - which wouldn't be a
problem when done from the outside. Most likely they drill from the outside
"because it is the way we always do it"!
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

A company has looked at the house and said that it isn't possible to
do the cavity wall insulation without scaffolding. Furthermore, it
isn't possible to insulate only two walls of the house because
condensation will develop in the third, uninsulated wall. We aren't
prepared to pay for scaffolding.

If scaffolding is required to do the job safely then you have little choice
under the current Health and Safety rules. Certainly it would be required
above the conservatory. Doing the work from within avoids any potential
problems with hidden pipes or wiring within the inner wall or plaster.

gee six jay en

Replace the words with the numbers to email me

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Peter Crosland wrote:

Doing the work from within avoids
any potential problems with hidden pipes or wiring within the inner
wall or plaster.


Are you sure that's what you *meant* to say?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
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"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Peter Crosland wrote:

Doing the work from within avoids
any potential problems with hidden pipes or wiring within the inner
wall or plaster.


A friend of mine, when he had cavity wall insulation installed, removed the
relevant panes of glass from his conservatory roof first, to save on the
cost of scaffolding (£500 I think). Meant the installers just used ladders.
Put glass units back afterward, job done.

Are you sure that's what you *meant* to say?

Mea culpa! Of course I meant the opposite. Thank you for correcting me.

A friend of mine, when he had cavity wall insulation installed,
removed the relevant panes of glass from his conservatory roof first,
to save on the cost of scaffolding (£500 I think). Meant the
installers just used ladders. Put glass units back afterward, job
done.

However, it may well be that the rest of the job is too high to do without
scaffolding these days. But of course the OP knows better than the people
who quoted.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message .net...
1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation be a
problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to insulate half
of a semi-detached house?

When doing half a semi, the missing wall is a warm interior one. If you miss
off a cold exterior wall, you'll get mould and condensation on it.

whys that? The interior temp and RH will be the same as before, and
the temps on the uninsulated wall will be the same as before.

Regards, NT

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
N. Thornton wrote:

"Christian McArdle" wrote in
message .net...
1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can
condensation be a problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is
possible to insulate half of a semi-detached house?

When doing half a semi, the missing wall is a warm interior one. If
you miss off a cold exterior wall, you'll get mould and condensation
on it.

whys that? The interior temp and RH will be the same as before, and
the temps on the uninsulated wall will be the same as before.

Regards, NT

My guess is (see my earlier post) that with just one cold wall, all the
moisture in the room will condense on the same wall - rather than being
evenly distributed - making it much wetter than it would otherwise be.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

Peter Crosland wrote:
But of course the OP knows better than the people
who quoted.

Was that meant to sound bitchy? I don't know anything about it, I just
don't have the money to pay for scaffolding.

ROSIE

"Set Square" wrote in message ...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
N. Thornton wrote:

"Christian McArdle" wrote in
message .net...
1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can
condensation be a problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is
possible to insulate half of a semi-detached house?

When doing half a semi, the missing wall is a warm interior one. If
you miss off a cold exterior wall, you'll get mould and condensation
on it.

whys that? The interior temp and RH will be the same as before, and
the temps on the uninsulated wall will be the same as before.

Regards, NT

My guess is (see my earlier post) that with just one cold wall, all the
moisture in the room will condense on the same wall - rather than being
evenly distributed - making it much wetter than it would otherwise be.

I've not lived in a house yet where condensation happens on the walls,
so I still dont see it making a difference. If one had running walls
already I guess it would make things worse.

But of course the OP knows better than the people
who quoted.

Was that meant to sound bitchy? I don't know anything about it, I
just don't have the money to pay for scaffolding.

Not really, but your original post sounded as though you felt scaffolding
was unnecessary even though the company quoting did. It is not unusual to
find people have a quite unrealistic view of what may be required. If the
company is professional then they presumably feel the job requires
scaffolding to do the job safely. By all means get other quotes but don't be
too surprised if they say the same.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
N. Thornton wrote:


I've not lived in a house yet where condensation happens on the walls,
so I still dont see it making a difference. If one had running walls
already I guess it would make things worse.

I've not witnessed excessive condensation myself - but I assume that it *is*
a problem in some cases - otherwise the current building regs about
ventilation are a waste of time!
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Rosie wrote:


1) Why isn't it possible to insulate 2 walls? How can condensation
be a problem with insulating two walls, and yet it is possible to
insulate half of a semi-detached house?

I suppose that if *all* the walls are cold, any moisture in the room
condenses all round in a very thin layer and isn't too much of a problem.
But if you just have *one* cold wall, it *all* condenses on that wall.

2) Why can't the installers just drill through the interior wall of
the back bedrooms to install the cavity wall insulation? We've not
got wallpaper or anything difficult to re-decorate.

I've never heard of it being done from the *inside* - but can see no
compelling reason why it shouldn't be. I suppose that the contractor may
be
a bit wary about drilling through buried cables etc. - which wouldn't be a
problem when done from the outside. Most likely they drill from the
outside
"because it is the way we always do it"!
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

I had a house foamed from the inside once. It was a new house and I was
planning to redecorate. The reason? The outside was smooth stucco. When I
asked the contractor whether I would be able to see the holes on the outside
he said not. I was suspicious. Then I saw another house he had done. Yes-
lots of obvious filling.

Rule one? Never believe what you are told by someone after your money. (that
applies to poiticians as well!)

Peter Scott

"Set Square" wrote in message ...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
N. Thornton wrote:

I've not lived in a house yet where condensation happens on the walls,
so I still dont see it making a difference. If one had running walls
already I guess it would make things worse.

I've not witnessed excessive condensation myself - but I assume that it *is*
a problem in some cases - otherwise the current building regs about
ventilation are a waste of time!

Ah yes. Why would one spend time effort and money draughtproofing AND
spend time effort and money installing little fixed vents AS WELL.

NT

Set Square wrote:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
N. Thornton wrote:


I've not lived in a house yet where condensation happens on the walls,
so I still dont see it making a difference. If one had running walls
already I guess it would make things worse.


I've not witnessed excessive condensation myself - but I assume that it *is*
a problem in some cases - otherwise the current building regs about
ventilation are a waste of time!

Try a single brick bathroom extension with almost no heating in winter.

Water cascades off the walls over the bath

whys that? The interior temp and RH will be the same as before, and
the temps on the uninsulated wall will be the same as before.

The RH is higher, as before, there were an additional 2 walls permeable to
water. The insulation saw to those.

Christian.