Posts Tagged ‘Site Survey’

Home insulation

an eye witness report….with a little help from a special camera

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Two years ago I obtained part grant finance to put cavity wall insulation into my own house. Earlier this year I purchased a thermal camera for business purposes and needless to say I carefully inspected my own home. I was not a happy man when the thermal images revealed that the cavity insulation was poorly installed and/or had partially compacted excessively.

I will deal with my own home situation in due course. In the meantime I had eventually convinced my father that he should also have insulation installed in this late 1950’s built detached home. I was determined to make sure my father did not have the same problems as me and this started with the choice of contractor.

I had previously been contacted by a local sales Rep of a leading national company and had already been introduced to the company that was eventually choosen; the same company that was recommended by my Local Authority.

This company sent a Surveyor out and my father asked me to meet him to discuss the job. This survey took about 35 minutes including a 15 minute interview. During the latter it was determined that my elderly parents would not pay a penny. Great news.

Both loft insulation and cavity wall insulation were to be inserted. An appointment for two weeks hence was agreed.

Come the day, at 8-00 am prompt, the cavity wall insulation team arrived. The crew immediately recognized that the former baxi back-boiler vent (now used as a tamper – air flow regulator – for an infrequent solid fuel fire in the lounge fireplace) would be compromised by the wall insulation and so a room-vent would need to be introduced or else the wall insulation could not be inserted. Health & Safety Regulations could not be broken.

The initial site survey had not picked this up and my father was being asked to pay for this extra – or so it seemed: the contractors then said that it was the surveyors fault and so they would go ahead but at there own cost. Great news again.

The whole process took nearly 6 hours on-site: the debris and brick dust (from the drilling operations) was collected and the grounds (and my fathers car) hosed down accordingly. During this process the Loft Insulation team arrived and simultaneously introduced quilted insulation to the loft. The latter also included insulating the water tanks and pipes.

As a house Surveyor I made sure the loft insulation did not cover an electrical (typically 20-30 amp circuits) cables and did not impede essential loft space ventilation.

Despite the noisy drilling operations, that created large amounts of dust externally, the whole process was well executed and the two teams of installers both well trained and well mannered. My parents were delighted.

End of story? No….the benefits arrive by my parents turning the temperature thermostat down a couple of degrees and the timer being set to cut in 30 minutes later and 30 minutes earlier than previously programmed, morning and night. Why? Well, the house now heats up quicker and losses heat more slowly as well as uses less energy to create the required, same, environmental standard.

If the question was – why wouldn’t I have cavity insulation installed? My answer would be (1) cost grounds if you did not attract grant finance, (2) premises too exposed to high winds and rain, (3) house construction does not include cavity walling, (4) the general condition of the premises is too bad to justify cavity insulation that would suffer from adverse consequences of rain penetration or (5) there is no point to having the cavities insulated if you will soon be having other improvements done that may have create problems of insulation leakage (creating cavity voids) that may adversely affect the weather performance of the building.

In essence the pre-installation survey is perhaps the most important part of the process. A mixture of recognising small details and macro details that combine to ensure a safe and fully functional energy saving thermal improvement. A good example of the power and import of good surveying.

B