Cavity wall insulation.

We used to get cold calls about cavity wall installation. I asked the caller if they knew the area where they were calling. She had no idea she was wasting her time as most of the houses in the area are stone built with solid walls. She wasn’t interested in a single storey extension.

We had a house on the south coast and had this put in. It was around 2012. Within a couple of years mould appeared and looking into it this was a problem in seaside areas. Looking further into it we were horrified to discover that this was a common situation and in Wales some of the local authority estates were haveing it removed. So I can see mortgage companies being wary of lending if this is in the property. A friends son was turned down for a mortgage on a house that had the roof foam insulation. This is also another thing that has turned out to be a problem.

Have just asked DH about ours. He said it wasn’t foam, it was little polystyrene type balls.

If ours need removing in time to come, (no problems as far as we know, touch wood after 20 years), I hope it will be the AC who have it to sort out, as with luck, they will inherit the property.

Just to let you know. A Social Housing Surveyor I spoke to tld ne thatcMice love walls with cavity insulation. Especially in blocks flats where to they can move from flat to flat through the walks.

Apparently they eat this insulation

Buyer beware

Insulation was a legal UK requirement, at least in the 90s, checked by the building inspectors. We have the fibre sheets, not unlike those you can buy to lag the loft.
(Has not stopped the ants getting in and digging it out, as we found when we changed the patio door)

Our DS &DIL bought a house just a few years' older and it was really cold, so they looked into it. They were told they could not have the newer pellet type because it would leak out over the top of the walls (Perhaps this is what happened to your cat Missdeke?)

ClicketyClick

Slight different - but lenders won't generally lend against properties with foam insulation in the lofts. Have even read where the some loft insulation firms are now in the game of also removing the stuff whilst still advertising it's merits. Talk about a win win for them.

This is where it has been sprayed as a layer on the back of the tiles

Mojack, a significant percentage of Britain's housing stock is pre war, or between the wars, and much of this doesn't have cavity walls to fill. Do you live somewhere else?

Never heard of that before. Most houses have cavity wall insulation,in fact it's recommended

Apparently it's because the foam stuff is now breaking down that it's being refused for mortgages. My little bungalow has recently had it's old insulation removed and replaced with what is the current trend in insulation. The old stuff was fibre glass and the new stuff is like tiny polystyrene balls. It was hell whilst it was being done, very noisy and messy and the garden was covered in the stuff. Loads of tiny balls blew in through the extractor fan covering the floor of the shower. My poor long haired cat was getting it all stuck in his fur but it certainly has been keeping the house cooler in the hotter weather, trouble is the front of my house where the lounge is never gets any sun on it so it's always cold in there anyway.

A house I pass regularly has had two vans parked on their front for days, the vans were marked Cavity Wall Insulation removal, they made quite a lot of noise while working on the property.

My last property had terrible condensation which is the main reason I moved, I believe this was due to the cavity wall insulation. After the survey was done the buyer did state there were issues but he was still going ahead, I didn't ask any questions just grateful it sold.

We are currently getting ours sorted out. We moved in a year ago and have recently discovered (through a survey) that the insulation installed 20 years ago has failed. When we bought the house we were given the guarantee certificate which was for 25 years. The company who installed it has closed but next week the manufacturer (Knauff) are coming out to do their own survey. We have been given a quote of £2250 to have the debris extracted and new insulation injected which should be covered by the guarantee.

A friend had it and wanted to move. It cost her £15,000 but she just added it on to the asking price for her house. A bit of a hassle but no real problem.
We also have it but were quoted considerably more than £15,000 so don’t know what to do as we are not intending to sell.😒

OP wise decision, my late husband was a structural engineer and saw many problems due to foam CWI. We wanted our walls insulated and first house we had rentokill blown in, loose fibres, could be removed if needed but that was unlikely

Foam is not fine if there is debris in the cavity and/or wall ties are rotted or badly installed

The family hone had no wall insulation, he had an insulating exterior wall put on with a gap

Many installers were not cowboys but acted in good faith

I have foam cavity wall insulation, it was already here when I bought the house back in 1998. It hasn't broken down as when driving through the walls recently having my outside lights rewired it was still foam and wrapped itself rather annoyingly around the drill bits and made it difficult to feed the wires through the walls. Apart from that it seems to be doing a fine job.

Yes, sadly, the success of the campaign to roll out cavity wall insulation did encourage a number of opportunists ( aka cowboys) who did not have the requisite understanding, or bought inferior materials.
Once it starts to degrade, it permits water ingress via the walls, and can prevent it escaping, causing damp .

Slight different - but lenders won't generally lend against properties with foam insulation in the lofts. Have even read where the some loft insulation firms are now in the game of also removing the stuff whilst still advertising it's merits. Talk about a win win for them.

We had it done when we moved into our bungalow 20 years ago.

At the time, it was government backed/encouraged.

No idea if ours is powder or what now, never had any issues as far as we are aware.

Hopefully in the fullness of time, when the bungalow comes up for sale, the buyers won’t require a mortgage! (Retirees).