Cavity Wall Insulation- Grants - Warmer Home Scheme

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NotGotAClue2023

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Hi there. My parents applied through the warmer homes scheme to have their house wrapped. Someone from the company came out today to survey (2nd one) and said that they needed to have the bottom of the house pumped before they will wrap it. He gave my dad a number to ring for a price.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Should both of these not fall under the warmer homes scheme?
2) If not, can he avail of the grant for the cavity wall insulation too?

It's a started 3 bed terraced in Dublin.

Thanks
 
NotGotAClue2023 said:
Hi there. My parents applied through the warmer homes scheme to have their house wrapped. Someone from the company came out today to survey (2nd one) and said that they needed to have the bottom of the house pumped before they will wrap it.
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Never heard of that - sounds like they're looking for extra work to me. I'd get someone not from the company to do the survey..
 
Is the warmer homes scheme the one that is fully funded for elderly people?

If so I believe that they send out their own surveyor does the BER assessment and recommends the steps.
The cavity wall insulation would be covered under this scheme, and generally would be done before any external insulation or wrapping.
 
Firefly said:
Never heard of that - sounds like they're looking for extra work to me. I'd get someone not from the company to do the survey..
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Cavity must be filled, otherwise you'll allow the heat escape up through the cavity rendering the external wrap pointless.
 
Firefly said:
Thanks - didn't know that!
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Same until not so long ago myself. When I read it though it made complete sense as the top of the cavity is was always left open to allow for ventilation. That ventilation would just give an easy exit for any heat that made it that far.
 
Does it make sense to fill the cavity then also add external insulation, cannot imagine much heat is going to make it through the two leafs of the wall and the cavity fill insulation to the external stuff? Or is this a special case where only part of the house is a cavity wall so it makes sense?
 
Zenith63 said:
Does it make sense to fill the cavity then also add external insulation, cannot imagine much heat is going to make it through the two leafs of the wall and the cavity fill insulation to the external stuff? Or is this a special case where only part of the house is a cavity wall so it makes sense?
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The question to be answered is if the cavity is already insulated properly (cwi) then why add external insulation (ewi) outside it.
To answer this you need to understand the issues (or weaknesses) of cwi in the first place (notwithstanding the fact the cavity width is finite).
The main cwi issue is that the insulation layer in the cavity is not a seamless or continuous layer of insulation when you take into account such things as cavity closer blocks at window/door reveals and the top of walls, lintels over opes depending on construction era, rising walls etc. What I'm getting at here are what are known as thermal bridges i.e. short circuits for very high conductive heat flow through the insulation layer. These thermal bridges (tb's) significantly reduce the effectiveness of the cwi layer).
Properly designed and installed ewi virtually eliminates these tb's. (Note the phrase 'properly designed and installed' ... a rare beast!).
And has been already said, the cavity needs to be filled before ewi has a chance of being effective.
 
@Micks'r, I'm living in a (hard to heat) mid-sixties bungalow in the south-east midlands. Would you know a good person to do an energy audit and give me pointers on how to get the best bang per buck when it comes to an upgrade? Happier to communicate in another setting. Thank you.
 
This document is nearly 10 years old but gives good details of typical construction methods used here over the years and some of the measures that could be applied to improve performance.
 
Leo said:
This document is nearly 10 years old but gives good details of typical construction methods used here over the years and some of the measures that could be applied to improve performance.
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I'm familiar with that, thanks @Leo. It doesn't go into much detail on air tightness which seems to be an area of expertise of @Micks'r . To be honest I am in a position to spend tens of thousands on an upgrade (including external insulation) but I don't know if it would be worth it. I'd consider all options and might post a series of updates here for people in a similar position, once I get advice on how best to proceed.
 
Powderfinger said:
@Micks'r, I'm living in a (hard to heat) mid-sixties bungalow in the south-east midlands. Would you know a good person to do an energy audit and give me pointers on how to get the best bang per buck when it comes to an upgrade? Happier to communicate in another setting. Thank you.
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If it's a heat loss survey type of energy audit you're after then I can definitely help you. I assume you are in Kilkenny / Carlow area?
 
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