It is interesting as our indoor signal is very poor, we had several alcoves ‘dry-lined’ and lots of foil covered insulation has been put in place. I also wonder if dry lining only masks a problem behind it.
Insulation is a big subject matter where, as you allude, work can be done (e.g. dry-lining) which simply covers up an issue. Normally, it’s OK.
Many years back, using pine T&G was a way to cover up damp under bays and in elderly houses with ineffective DPCs. It’s only when it’s ripping off does it become clear what it’s been hiding.
I find YouTube is a wonderful resource for decorating & construction information - and many of the comments are interesting to read, especially around damp management, where many parties tend to treat symptoms (often not very well!) and not the root cause, which is often obvious but not an easy fix.
The damp proofing industry doesn’t come out well. Old houses with fireplaces were designed to breathe and things like lime mortar should be used or brickwork can rot over time.
With insulation I find there are some key things to consider:
1- does the subject surface need insulating e.g. why restrict airflow to the underside of a roof (unless it’s a proper dormer).
2- if you insulate, are you using breathable product (e.g. like standard loft insulation) or foiled foam board/foiled bubble-wrap type stuff.
If you park a non-breathable product against a cold wall without ventilation then, odds are, a condensation trap may arise. This is why insulating elderly buildings with foil insulation board and alike can be dangerous…and requires a lot of knowledge.
3- where are you trying to establish the insulation barrier? In the loft, it’s normally simple that the ceiling line is where it needs to be, leaving the roofline free to breath, to protect against minor moisture and any build-up of condensation - noting roll insulation is noted to be moisture resistant.
One can line the rafters with insulated foil* (as happens with barn conversions and alike) but attention has to be paid to what’s above and installation. It’s very rare that a roof is 100% watertight in all weather conditions.
*think foil which is ~25mm thick and was NASA developed and is highly efficient.
If you want to learn more and see some examples of what goes on, have a look on YouTube at vid’s made by Peter Ward and his take on ‘the damp proof wallies’.
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Great, thank you. That video sounds strangely familiar, though I may be wrong. Will take a look later.
Lid and wrap all around and on top with i sulation.
That comes from under-specifying the boiler. With the last three boilers I installed (my present and previous house and one installed for a friend), finding a boiler with high enough hot water flow was a critical part of the my specification. In my house people can shower in two bathrooms at the same time with good flow, and only marginal flow reduction if a third use is added such as washing up. The bath fills at about the same speed I recall in tanked systems that I have experienced. The great thing with combi is never running out of hot water even when you have visitors with lots of people all wanting a shower or bath in succession. I would never go back. A combi can be harder to use In conjunction with solar water heating - something I’d like to have - but I believe the two can be combined.
Incidentally, a major contribution to comfortable showering is to install a pressure balancing valve between the hot and cold supplies just before the shower controller. Used to supplement a thermostatic shower controller the only effect we ever have with any other water use in the house, is a slight change in shower flow rate. My experience before discovering these was that thermostatic shower controllers on their own sometimes aren’t enough to prevent temperature changes.
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um perhaps?
OK - the products are called things like SuperFoil and come in varying thicknesses. They are very expensive.
In the application I saw, the ‘foil’ was used in the eaves of a barn conversion and was cited as an alternative to using foiled foam board.
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Another consideration for many perhaps is that insulation measures while providing year on year savings can be expensive in the short term and they may prefer just to spend a bit more on fuel instead.
Ah, is this the foil coated plastic bubblewrap? I think its claims are hyped… It works rather better on spacecraft because in space all heat loss is by radiation, not conduction or convection.
The most effective insulation material I have come across is Kingspan Optim, which uses vacuum to prevent conduction and convection not trapped gas So can be a lot thinner for same thermal conductivity (but not perfect because the wall material conducts heat). However it is somewhat limited in practical use because panels can’t be cut to fit, and it is very expensive.
That depends on the part of te house being insulated. Some, loft being a prime one, is so cheap as to make that a false saving. And with the grants that continue to be available in parts of Britain I struggle to understand anyone who has not yet got their loft insulated at least up to a half-decent standard. Other parts can be a lot more expensive depending on the house construction, especially if done by a contractor, so longer to recover cost, e.g. underfloor, and improved glazing. We have triple glazing, and it may never recover cost (though if energy prices soar that may change - the third thing in life of which you can be sure, as well as death and taxes, is that energy costs will increase!). BUT with triple glazing and heat recovery ventilation the house is so much more comfortable. With triple glazing not only is there no hint of cold close to the windows when very cold outside, but we never get any condensation on the inside, unlike not uncommon on sharp frost days with double glazing in the past. However, also unlike double glazing we frequently get condensation on the outside of the window, just like you see on greenhouses or car windows because the pane of glass cools so much more rapidly without any heat from inside warming it.
Not foiled bubble-wrap but blanket layered with insulation material (composition of the layers not stated), sandwiched with foil – the R value was suggested to be far better than foam board. I don’t think it was a SuperFoil branded product - it was suggested it was ‘very special’.
Like you, I am sceptical of some of these claims, as much is dependent on precise usage and installation.
…and when I saw it being used, it was simply being stapled to the rafters.
Tangential to this, is that proper corrective action for damp/salts reaction & efflorescence, can be worse than actually living with it.
I was told a story by a property managing agent, who had been tasked with explaining to a long list of luminary occupiers of an aged block of apartments in Kensington, that all the fireplaces would need to be inspected and ‘treated’, as material salts contamination was apparent, which could generate severe damp issues throughout the block if left unchecked.
It was likely that post a thorough investigation, many of the occupants would be asked to vacate for a lengthy period of time…news which was not going to be well rec’d, nor was the cost of doing the work albeit much of this was to be found from a sinking fund.
Good Evening All,
Responding to the original post - get a hold of a decent FLIR camera. That will tell you where the draughts and all cold points are.
Regards
Richard
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