insulation options for 2 bed ex council house

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Petal

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Hello,

I've got one of those standard 2 bed ex-council houses, and whereas all of downstairs is drylined and warms up really quickly, upstairs is absolutely freezing (not lined). I've got tons of insulation in the attic, so that's more than well insulated. The front bedroom is really really cold (the backroom has the boiler and hotpress, so gets warm enough). I can't really put up drylining, unless I rip out the inbuilt wardrobe, so that would be a lot of hassle. I've been wondering about cavity wall insulation - and excuse my extremely stupid question, but can this be done with every house? I wouldn't even know if there is a cavity in the walls.... My house is end of terrace, so exposed on 3 sides. The bathroom is freezing, too, so would really like to do something about it. I've got double-glazed windows, although they are old and I am very much thinking of replacing them soon enough, too...

Any suggestions?

Many thanks...
 
Hi Petal,

Consider external insulation.
BTW I don't work for or with any of the guys doing insulation at the moment, good bad or indifferent.
I offer this link for your consideration - I have no connection with them
http://www.externalinsulation.ie/

This lets you see the kind of detailing fund you get around windows.
There may be a planning issue involved with some of the local authorities.
Section 4(1)(h) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 may not cover this new outside face to your dwelling.

FWIW

ONQ.
 
My house is a two bed ex-council house too and when I moved in I had 10cm think insulation put in on the front and back inside walls (I'm mid-terrace). I couldn't afford to replace the single glazed windows, but even so it's the warmest house I've ever lived in (and the cheapest to heat).

I would say go ahead and rip out your wardrobe, yes it will be hassle but the savings you make on your heating bills will pay for a new wardrobe to be fitted into the smaller space.

What would be hassle would be to insulate your bathroom, becasue you'd have to rip off the tiles and probably move some pipes too. (My bathroom wasn't tiled and the whole suite had to be replaced anyway, so it wasn't any extra hassle for me).

It may be possible to insulate externally (don't know anything about this, sorry) but I think all these council houses built in the 30s are made from poured reinforced concrete, so there is no cavity to fill.
 
I insulated my exposed walls with 50mm insulation backed plasterboard and got a plasterer to skim it. That was two years ago and the place is toasty ever since. I skipped an old built-in wardrobe and shelving beforehand.
 
thanks for all the replies, yes, poured concrete sounds about right... had a feeling there were no cavities :)
Will reconsider altering the inbuilt wardrobe...
This house! It's never-ending!!!

This external insulation option looks good, too, but very expensive... Has anyone done this, and how much is this likely to cost???
 
I've never done external insulation myself but I've done the spray-in kind and it works really well. You have to patch your interior walls afterward though to cover up the holes you will need to make to put in the spray foam insulation. It's not very difficult though and I found that it has really improved the comfort level in my home. That would probably be the easiest way for you to insulate behind your wardrobe but that's only a guess as I don't know what your layout is like.
 
External insulation is prob the best way to go for your house. If your walls are mass concrete the external insulation would work very well, plus no disturbance to the inside of your house. The government give a grant of 4000 euro for this. The pricing would depend on the size of the exterior wall area of your house. What type of house is it mid terrace or semi detached?
 
It's end of terrace. Your typical ex council 2 bedroom square box (like this one [broken link removed]) with an extension to the rear.
 
cavity walls?

hey i have same issues. i am mid terrace in 8 year old house, bought it 2 years ago. The rooms to the front are alway freezing in winter(cowboy developers) would love to avail of sei grant but dont thhink would have permission to do external insulation. Im totally ignorant when it comes to the walls do you reckon an estates built 8 ish years ago would have cavity walls?i realise i would have to do both exposed walls to get grant but would def be worth it
 
Really there are 2 issues to be considered here. Insulation is the primary one as highlighted earlier. The second one is airtightness. This is a measure of how much air can come into the house at ceiling/wall joints, doors, windows, servce entry points etc. These air leaks can create discomfort and heat is lost. They are like sives. Eventually all the heat will be lost and the inside temperature will fall unless an energy source e.g. a radiator is used. The heating system has to work more in a 'leaky' house than in an airtight house. If you go the whole way insulating and sealing up the house you will have to consider how to ventilate the house. This in the long run is just as important as heating. You must have fresh air to live. However I suspect that you would be most unlikely to achieve a totally airtight house.
 
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