Chicken bald back

[mullethunter]

Our new (6 months but still feels new!) house (1959s dormer bungalow) has some insulation in the loft spaces (beside the upstairs bedrooms) but I don't know about elsewhere.

 

Does anyone have any experience of using British Gas for free insulation, or any other ways of getting free insulation?

[Cat tails]

No personal experience as I live in a rental house.

But a colleague of mine got an offer. Now being the only house on the block who hasn't done it, he is also the only one left not having damp problems.

Get a good survey done first.

[soapdragon]

We had this cavity wall insulation done about five years ago....can't remember if it was British Gas but was free as OH was then not working. Quite honestly we cannot notice any difference; bills have not been signifcantly lower nor has the house felt noticably less damp/more cosy (its a 1980s detached.)

 

Still, if its free...why not!!!!!!

 

PS We have some loft insulation already but its so full of junk and detritus that no heat could escape anyway

[mullethunter]

Thank you. Our loft is still fairly tidy - it won't last

[Saronne]

We got subsidized cavity wall insulation (cost about £150 instead of £500 - some deal with Eon about 4 years ago). Also bought additional loft insulation from Wickes DIY, the cost of which was subsidized (about £30 - or £5 per roll - instead of £20 per roll). Didn't have to do anything special, just went to Wickes and bought it. It definitely has made a difference; the house feels more cosy and retains the heat much better. My heating bills did go down afterwards as I didn't need to have the heat on as much to feel the benefit. In the past 4 years I also had a woodburner installed and more recently, another one in the kitchen/diner. Rarely have the central heating on at all.

[The Dogmother]

My roofs are insulated to the max and I have reflectors behind the radiators, but have solid walls, so can't have cavity wall insulation.

[Willow]

We had cavity wall insulation done a few years back and noticed the difference. Been increasing the insulation in our loft the last couple of years and almost finished - last bit is above spare room and behind water tank so a bit of a faff to get to, that room is a little cooler than the rest right now. We also have the roof slop down at the front of the house over the stairwell with a cavity. Just had the roof replaced and got the roofers to stuff celotex in that gap, that really did make a difference.

 

But you need to be careful to leave gaps for air circulation to prevent damp/condensation. OH has been going around the loft with a torch to check he can still see the vents at the edges after the insulation has gone in.

 

you also want to make sure you don't crush the insulation after its laid with boxes or loft boards. OH has been building up platforms for my boxes using loft board legs.

 

We used lots of the narrow space blanket rolls as they are an easy size to move around and fit between rafters and the foil outer makes them much nicer to work with. I noticed the diy stores have the giant rolls at the moment so I'm going to need to shop around to find the smaller rolls this time.

 

Definitely worth doing and it is a easy diy job that you can do in stages. Although if you can get someone to do it for free definitely go for it - just check they have left air gaps

[mullethunter]

Thanks everyone this is really useful stuff - gonna book in British Gas to come and do a free survey.