insulating 1970's bungalow

mimihops

Hi all, just wondering what are your opinions on the options for insulting a 1970's bungalow. Which is the most preferable method? I have heard a lot recently about dry lining being bad for health, not too sure about the facts behind that etc. Is the only other option to pump the cavity with beading? Which is better and is there other options out there? Its my fathers house and it's extremely cold currently and is costing him a fortune to heat. I'd be delighted if someone could point me in the right direction or give their opinion!!

Assuming the attic has already got at least 200mm in it, external insulation would be a good option if he is wary of internal drylining. Put simply, its like drylining the outside wall instead of the inside wall.

There are plenty of threads in this forum, can't think of any off the top of my head.

frag4

the house in question most likely quailfies for the warmer homes grant 400e for cavity inslulation ,2000e for dry-lining and 250e for the loft.

See www.sei.ie for details.
PUMping the cavity and doing the loft in a normal 1970 semi home cost between 1200-1400e minus the grant of 650e equals 550e-750e to your dad.

mimihops

Thank you both, thats very helpful about the grant as well. I was thinking of the external insulation as it would deal with the very naff pebble dash outside of the house too!! But I didn't really know much about it, have been reading up since. Just one more question I couldn't find the answer to. If you are doing external insulation, should you pump cavity as well, or is the external insulation enough? Thanks!

Ddad

If the external insulation is installed it should be more than adequate, pumping the cavity would not be needed. External insulation is about as expensive as it gets though so I would throw 300mm in the attic, draughtproof adequately and bead the walls and if it still remained very cold then I'd look into the costly external. Beading the walls and upgrading attic insulation won't impact on you while it's done either.

You'd be suprised what a difference upgrading the attic insulation will mean to the cpomfort of the house and interms of return for your money you won't get a better investment.

I'm assuming all of the windows and doors are already upgraded.

frag4

Ddad wrote: »

If the external insulation is installed it should be more than adequate, pumping the cavity would not be needed. External insulation is about as expensive as it gets though so I would throw 300mm in the attic, draughtproof adequately and bead the walls and if it still remained very cold then I'd look into the costly external. Beading the walls and upgrading attic insulation won't impact on you while it's done either.

You'd be suprised what a difference upgrading the attic insulation will mean to the cpomfort of the house and interms of return for your money you won't get a better investment.

I'm assuming all of the windows and doors are already upgraded.

I

I'd agree with the above.
external insulation is expenvsive and could take 10-20 years to re-coup the costs. Try the simpler methods first.

mimihops

Thats great thanks for the advice. The first job will be upgrading the windows and doors and then we'll start with insulating the attic properly and doing the beading. Thanks!

Do-more

What sort of floor is in place?

A mate of mine had a 70's bungalow with a suspended wooden floor. The house was very cold and when they pulled up some floorboards they found that water was sumping under the floor. They dealt with the problem and insulated below the floor and it was a great improvement.

MicktheMan

Ddad wrote: »

If the external insulation is installed it should be more than adequate, pumping the cavity would not be needed.

I disagree with this statement. IMO, there is little point in externally insulating a cavity wall if the cavity is not pumped. Air movement in the cavity will cause significant heat loss from the house.