No cavity wall insulation in 14 year old house

[NordVeg]

I bought this house a couple of years ago. It's not as warm as I'd expect a modern build to be, so got an insulation company to do a survey, lo and behold, empty cavity.

Now I was under the impression the builders had to insulate properties built since the early 90s.... so do I have any chance of complaining to the builder and getting them to pay? (about £600)

How should I approach it? I've tried looking on coucil planning website but not sure if they would intervene.

The house is 4 years past the NHBC warranty, which was my other though.

Can anyone give me some advice on where to start please? And what to say to get them to pay for what they skimped on back in the day!

TIA

[NordVeg]

sigh.

*thought

[PinkSwimGoggles]

yes a modern building should have a cavity and plenty of insulating material.
can you take it back as 'not as described'? :o

[NordVeg]

unfortunately it's been through several owners since new build, and I don't think insulation is checked when estate agent / solicitors sell on. I bet they just assumed it was insulated when they did the energy survey!

[dementedpixie]

Does your energy provider not provide cut price cavity wall/loft insulation? We got ours done really cheaply a couple of years ago

[NordVeg]

No, that was part of the Green Deal which the Tories decimated in the last couple of years. Can only get a grant if you're on benefits or receive child tax credit

[dementedpixie]

I don't think it could have been law at that time as none of the houses round me had cavity wall insulation and they were built in 2000

[NordVeg]

demented I've been trying to find the actual legal 'bit' but my Google skills are failing me this evening.

That's a bugger if it's the case. especially cos I rang British Gas when I moved in (

[dementedpixie]

EDF looks as if it still does cheaper insulation as it says it's for all eligible homes. It only specifies benefits if you want a new boiler

www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energy-efficiency/eco-government-scheme

[NordVeg]

Gah! Beta testing new app and it's list the rest of my post

Anyway

BG refused to even survey at the time cos the house was built after 90s.

Only started thinking about it again when a surveyor knocked and said he'd just checked a neighbouring house and that wasn't insulated so chances are mine isn't either. Turns out it definitely isn't

[NordVeg]

Thanks demented

Just rang EDF, they can only fund it if it was built pre-83

[Suttonmum1]

Did you have one of those energy surveys done when you bought and shouldn't that have picked it up?

[dementedpixie]

You have to drill a hole in the wall to check if it has a filled cavity. Don't think that's part of the survey

[NordVeg]

EDF just looked at the report while I was on, it says 'walls insulated as built' or similar. So easy to assume they have been done properly

[NordVeg]

had a surveyor out this week equipped with drill and boroscope. definitely empty

[PigletJohn]

I'd avoid door-to-door canvassers. Try to stick to established companies.

BG had a good scheme which they have now closed, but it's worth checking to see who else is still open. You might also ask which contractors they use, and see what the cost would be without subsidy. IIRC it is about half a day's work and they have all the skills and equipment. Round here BG use (used?) a company called Saxon who I was very pleased with.

There are contact numbers on here

[Hermano]

You won't get anyone doing it free under a scheme as the scoring metric for the scheme refers to build year - if built recently the score will assume it's already insulated, so company won't get any credit for filling the cavity. The fact that it isn't filled is unfortunately irrelevant.
Your best / only bet is going back to the builders, but tbh I don't fancy your chances.
This is yet another scandal waiting to hit headlines one day, if any newspapers choose to pick it up - the fact that new builds across the country completely ignored building regs

[PigletJohn]

If you weren't sure when the house was built, and said "about 1985" what would happen?

[Murphysgirl]

Our house is less than ten years old and doesn't have cavity wall insulation. The walls are constructed with some other type of insulation but I can't remember what it's called. I did ask the builder about having cavity wall insulation installed but they recommended against it as it would interfere with the cavity drip trays.

[FrostyLeaves]

I too was recommended by a builder friend NOT to have cavitiy wall insulation. Most neighbours have however.

[YelloDraw]

I too was recommended by a builder friend NOT to have cavitiy wall insulation. how come?

Thanks for this thread - my 1960 house doesn't ave cavity wall insulation and I didn't relaise any of the suppliers were still doing discounted installation. I'm going to contact EDF.

[YelloDraw]

This is yet another scandal waiting to hit headlines one day, if any newspapers choose to pick it up - the fact that new builds across the country completely ignored building regs

Yes - like lots of the PPP . PFI build schools totally didn;t build to fire safty regulations etc even tho were signed off as that. Big issue. Not well publisised. Quietly did the works to recitfy.

[salsamad]

Cavity Wall Insulation isn't always the right thing for every property. We had it installed a couple of years ago and its caused no end of damp problems in the bedrooms. After several months in the winter we noticed mold along where the walls meet the ceiling in our bedrooms, on the North facing walls. Our lovely expensive wallpaper and decore was totally ruined.
We had to have the company back twice - their initial advice was to have windows open when the heating was on!! We complained they fitted air bricks both ends of the loft to allow air to circulate. We had to pay to have vents fitted to our upstairs windows and also fit lots of vents along the sofits to allow the house to breathe. We have to decorate with special anti mold additives added to our paint now and we can't wallpaper the north facing walls either.
It's the worst thing we ever did. Our house is a modern 3 bed detached built in the 80s. You can read that lots of people have had issues with it on the Internet, but we didn't look into it in detail as we were getting it free under the government scheme, so thought it was a good idea.
Incidentally it's made hardly any difference in our heating bills.

[Longdistance]

Ours was built in 1999.

We had an extension added two years ago, and the insulation was patchy to say the least.

Always wondered why the house was cold easily. Thought it was because of the wooden doors and windows and that we're detached.

Nope, shit insulation.

Don't know where you'd get it done cheaply/reasonably. I'm sure contacting a builder may get you into contact with someone.

[YelloDraw]

This is quite interesting about why CVI isn't always a good idea
www.askjeff.co.uk/cavity-wall-fill/