insulation in 1930s house

[goodwood]

We wanted to insulate the cavity walls of our 1930s house but have been told that this can cause problems - lack of ventilation, condensation etc plus the insulation can cause the metal ties within the walls to deteriorate. Sometimes these problems aren't evident for a few years so do share your experience on this. Thanks!

[FrankUnderwood]

Wanting to do the same in a 1950's house but holding off for the same reasons. Hope someone can advise us both!

[DingbatsFur]

We have cavity wall insulation in our 1930s house. No issues other than we find the heat in the house tends to last longer. Wahoo!
I know of someone who had issues with damp but this is caused by them living near the sea with very strong driving rain.

[Sybilvimes]

I wanted to put insulation in ours, but all the rooms had fireplaces,
so the guy told us he would need to put so many air bricks in that we would end up losing more heat than we gained.

Something else to think about!

[DingbatsFur]

Maybe should point out ours is a semi so only one major cavity wall. No issues with airbricks though, we already had them externally and our fireplaces were on the wall between the two houses. Biggest difference though was loft insulation and double glazing.

[goodwood]

Interesting that loft insulation and double glazing made the most difference as we'll definitely do both of these. Not sure about the cavity wall insulation though.

[PigletJohn]

Return on investment, and magnitude of energy saving, is best from CWI and loft.

New windows do not recoup their cost, but if you have to fit new windows for some other reason, you may as well take advantage of their reduced heat loss. They will leak less and reduce draughts so you have to remember to add ventilation, for example with trickle vents on every window. Shockingly, some new windows are supplied without vents to save a couple of pounds off the cost.

[goodwood]

just read in yesterday's Telegraph 'Ask the Builder' section that there are enough people who have problems with their cavity wall insulation, that there are companies now who specialise in removing it.

[PigletJohn]

it has long been the case that before starting work, the insulation companies are supposed to inspect your walls and assess the exposure to see if your house is suitable. If they get it wrong, they can be forced to vacuum it out FOC.

AFAIK they do try not to expose themselves to such avoidable effort and expense, so try not to make mistakes.

I had mine done at a subsidised price by BG, I felt sure they would not run off with my money or abandon me with a poor job, and mine has been excellent, even though I live in a exposed coastal location.

[goodwood]

I'm sure in the past a lot of companies set up to do cavity wall and didn't do it properly with the right checks. Hopefully now that is no longer the case so good to know they have to check if the house is suitable. Good tip about using BG.

[PandaNot]

We've had it put in our 1936 house, it's warmer and no issues at all but it's quite a draughty house anyway with plenty of ventilation!

[MummytoMog]

You have cavity walls? Ours are solid, and we were a bit sad we couldn't have them insulated. We've covered most of them with extension instead :)