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Frequently Asked Questions

What benefit will insulating my house give me and my family?
1. Your home will be warmer and more energy efficient. You will feel this in many ways. It will stay warm for longer after the boiler goes off, so you can reset the timeclock to operate over less hours. Chilly rooms will heat up more quickly - and you can wander about larger areas without shivering; try the dressing gown test. You will also be able to turn down the boiler thermostat. Just being able to reduce your heating thermostat by 1°C when you are too warm can cut up to 10% off bills.

2. In summer, your home will stay cooler

3. Hot water pipes lose heat right the way along, so we insulate them as part of the service offered by our loft insulation team. This can save around £10 a year on your fuel bills

4. Silence is golden. The mineral wool we use in the attic will cut down on sound transmission between rooms on the top floor. Together with the boiler operating for shorter hours, life will be quieter. Cavity wall insulation helps dampen the sound coming from outside.

5. You heating system will emit less carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that causes Global Warming.

Loft Insulation

How much will loft insulation cost?
The cost depends on the size of your house, however, with subsidies, it will usually cost between £150 and £250 - which can pay for itself in about 1 year.

How much loft insulation do I need?
To meet current Building Regulations you need 270mm (10") of mineral wool insulation. 100mm (4") between the ceiling joists and 170mm (6") laid over the joists.

How do I find out how much loft insulation I have?
Simply push a tape measure or ruler down the side of a piece of loft insulation until it hits the plasterboard ceiling and read off the depth.

I have lots of clutter in my loft. Do I need to clear it out or will the installer do this for me?
We will be happy to move items after discussion with you. However, if the items are large, of high value, easily breakable, or moving them risks damage to your ceilings, wiring or pipework, or danger to our operators working in confined spaces, you will need to have things moved before we start work. If in doubt, call us and we can advise.

How long does it take us to install loft insulation?
It takes about 2 hours for an average sized loft.

Can we get subsidised insulation?
Yes, we can offer subsidies in most cases, even bigger where lofts have no existing insulation. Householders on certain benefits can even have free installation. Why? Because the UK Government is obliged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 as part of the Kyoto Protocol. One of the easiest ways to achieve a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is through increased home energy efficiency. The Government has stated that cavity wall insulation and loft insulation are the most effective methods which is why they have legislated for power/energy utilities and power companies to provide subsidies.

I live in a rented property, can I still get my walls and loft insulated?
Yes, people living in rented property can get their homes insulated, but you must get the permission of the owner or landlord. If you are a tenant of the local council or housing association check with them. Nearly all social landlords now have programmes to insulate their housing stock.

Cavity Wall Insulation

How do I know if I've got cavity walls?
We can insulate your cavity walls, so long as they are hollow. In most houses built after the 1930s, the external walls are made of two layers with a small air gap or 'cavity' between them.

Most cavity walls are identified by two factors.
1. They are about 10 1/2" to 12" (270mm - 300mm) thick overall (You can measure this at a door opening).
2. All the bricks visible on the outside of the wall are all 9" (225mm) long (except at corners and openings).
Solid walls have repeat patterns of 4" (100mm) wide bricks as well as 9" (225mm) long bricks over the main area of the wall. The walls are usually a little over 9" (225mm) thick, although in larger properties the walls can be 13 1/2" (330mm) thick.

Un-insulated cavity walls account for over 30 per cent of heat loss in your home, adding up to 25 per cent extra to your heating bill. Our service, which involves drilling small holes in the mortar joints on the outside brickwork of you home, injecting mineral wool insulating fibre, and then refilling the holes with matching mortar, usually takes 2-3 hours.

Drawing of two types of brick wall?

Why wasn't my house built with cavity wall insulation and the right amount of loft insulation?
Houses are built to comply with the Building Regulations that apply at the time the property is built. Since the oil crisis in the early 1970s, the insulation standards in the Building Regulations have been progressively upgraded a. click here to view . Then the Government planned to increase insulation standards again in 2005, and this is unlikely to be the last change. So, most homes need extra insulation to keep up with current insulation standards.

How much will cavity wall insulation cost?
The cost depends on the size of your house, however, with subsidies, it will usually cost between £120 and £260 - which can pay for itself in approximately 1 year.

How is cavity wall insulation installed?
Small holes of about 20mm (3/4") in diameter are drilled about 2 metres apart (7") in the external brick wall where the horizontal and vertical mortar joints meet. Insulation is then blown along a flexible hose into the cavity through these holes.

Doesn't it make a mess?
No. All work is carried out externally through small holes in the brickwork joints. A small amount of dust is created when the holes are drilled. The cavity wall insulation is then blown into place using a hose, straight into the wall, so there is no dust or spills.

How are the holes filled?
The holes used to inject the insulation are filled with matching mortar and are barely noticeable.

My house is rendered; won't cavity wall insulation mess up the render?
The holes drilled to inject the cavity insulation are only about 20mm (1") in diameter and are filled with mortar after the insulation has been injected. The installer will match the existing render. If the render is painted, the filled holes should be touched up with matching paint when the mortar has dried.

I have a conservatory attached to the outside wall of my house; will this cause a problem?

Probably not, so long as the walls above the conservatory can be reached safely by ladder. In the few cases where we have to use tower scaffolds or scaffolding this may add to the cost. Our surveyor can advise when calls to inspect the property.

How long does it take to install cavity wall insulation?
Most homes can be insulated in about 3 hours, but larger houses may take a whole day.

If my house was built with a cavity, surely it's there for a reason?
The purpose of the cavity is to prevent rain that soaks into the outside brickwork from crossing to the inside of the wall. The cavity interrupts any water that soaks through the brickwork and drains it to the bottom of the wall where it drains to the outside. Injecting mineral wool insulation into the cavity still allows water to drain to the bottom of the wall. The cavity wall insulation we use contains a water repellent and so does not absorb water.

Can I install cavity wall insulation myself?
No. This is because specialist equipment is needed to install the insulation into the cavity and it's important that the cavity is fully filled with the correct density of insulation. This is why only trained and approved installers are used so that a guarantee can be given.

My house is semi-detached/terraced and my neighbour(s) doesn't want cavity wall insulation Can you still insulate my walls?
Yes, your house can still be insulated. The installer will need to form a hole at the top and bottom of the wall to insert a spacer at the junction between the two houses. This prevents insulation being blown into the cavity of your neighbour's house.

I've got a timber-framed house - can I still have cavity wall insulation?
Sorry, but it's not possible to inject cavity wall insulation into timber framed houses.

I live in a flat on the upper floor of an apartment block; can I get cavity wall insulation?
It's not practical to insulate a single flat in a block. If the property has cavity walls, the whole building should be insulated. However, by getting your neighbours together we can help you develop a scheme and grants to get the whole block insulated.

How can insulating my house help solve Global Warming and
Climate Change?
Well insulated houses use less energy to keep them warm. This means that less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is released into the atmosphere from burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas) in our power stations. Global Warming is occurring because large volumes of greenhouse gases - including carbon dioxide - are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere. This causes the planet's average air and ocean temperatures to increase and sea levels to rise, resulting in increasingly severe weather conditions. This effect is called Climate Change and it's already happening. By improving the insulation of your home, you will be playing your part in reducing the effect of Global Warming.

How much energy can be saved by using efficient electronic equipment and switching things off standby?

The average household wastes £37 each year by leaving appliances on standby. Across the UK this is equivalent to the annual output of about 2½ 700MW power stations
· Households in the UK now spend around 10% of their electricity bill on standby power
· UK households spend £1.9 billion every year on electricity used in consumer electronic products
· Set-top boxes for the reception of digital TV are being given away for free with subscription packages and by 2010 they could be costing UK households £366m every year in electricity or £14 per household
· Every year TVs in the UK use £116 million worth of electricity just waiting to be switched on.
· The UK's DVDs and VCRs consume over £255 million worth of electricity whilst on standby, producing over 1m tonnes of CO2
· If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of "filling" the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity in a year to run nearly half of the street lighting in the country