How to fix the £100/week house heating?

kboc

A friend of mine has a poorly insulated house. A product of the celtic tiger. Heat pumps are costing nearly 100 euro/week to keep going.

I suggested pumping cavities

. Insulation boys are not really interested because of insulation boards already in cavity.
2. Owner not really interested as expensive coloured plaster on outside of house, does not want to drill thro this!!!

Somebody else has suggested the following;

1. Take off roof tiles at bottom of roof just above fascia, exposing the block work, cavity and wall plate.
2. Fish/push blue alkathene (maybe 40 mm diameter) pipe or equivalent down cavity through shabby insulation boards to the bottom of cavity.
3. Pump beads down thro alkathene and pull alkathene up to wall plate at a slow rate filling spots in cavity
4. move over maybe 400 or 500 mm and repeat procedure.
5. Do this whole way round house.


I know it would be slow.

But,
1. Has anybody done something similar to this before to rectify a similar problem?
2. Any other suggestions on how to do this?

Kind regards
Happy Christmas

michael999999

If it was costing me that to heat house every week, id move and let the owner worry about it!

kboc

michael999999 wrote: »

If it was costing me that to heat house every week, id move and let the owner worry about it!

i don't live in it.

The owner lives in it.

laugh

kboc wrote: »

i don't live in it.

The owner lives in it.

Drill from the inside out? Depending on how the inside walls are finished.

kboc

laugh wrote: »

Drill from the inside out? Depending on how the inside walls are finished.

i know it sounds rather silly, but he is not interested in drilling from inside or out, despite the weekly heating bills!

Thats why i suggested the above to fill cavity.

Anybody any thoughts/experience of filling cavity retrospectively as suggested

Regards

johnboysligo

Have your friend get up into the attic during daylight and tell him to look for pin pricks of light (make sure he doesnt go poking at the felt under his roof tiles) and to check that his fiber glass ceiling insulation covers every inch of his ceiling

Get him to map out any cold areas or spots on walls ceilings and floors its possible who ever built the house did a quick and very poor job in certain areas and if he is lucky only spot maintenance / work is required.


there is also this crowd who will probably help your friend more than anyone on boards :P

flutered

you buddy has too much money and unreal ideas.

Outkast_IRE

would external insulation be an option and he could redo the plaster over the new insulation

Poor Uncle Tom

kboc wrote: »

Heat pumps are costing nearly 100 euro/week to keep going.

Heat pumps are expensive to run anyway.

kboc wrote: »

I suggested pumping cavities

What width is the cavity? what thickness insulation is already in there?

kboc wrote: »

Insulation boys are not really interested because of insulation boards already in cavity.

If the remaining clear cavity is 50mm or less then it becomes very labour intensive to pump the remaining cavity properly, lots more holes at closer intervals, etc.

kboc wrote: »

2. Owner not really interested as expensive coloured plaster on outside of house, does not want to drill thro this!!!

What can you do if the owner is happier at paying large heating bills.

kboc wrote: »

Somebody else has suggested the following;

1. Take off roof tiles at bottom of roof just above fascia, exposing the block work, cavity and wall plate.
2. Fish/push blue alkathene (maybe 40 mm diameter) pipe or equivalent down cavity through shabby insulation boards to the bottom of cavity.
3. Pump beads down thro alkathene and pull alkathene up to wall plate at a slow rate filling spots in cavity
4. move over maybe 400 or 500 mm and repeat procedure.
5. Do this whole way round house.


I know it would be slow.

This method is a very very hard way at going about the job,
What if:
You break the roof tiles,
You tear the roof felt,
Do you drill the cavity closer? if so, what if the wall plate is in the way,
How fast do you pull the pipe up the cavity to guarantee full fill?
Is 400mm or 500mm centres enough?
What about pushing down the pipe over windows and doors?
How do you fill gables with this method?

flutered wrote: »

you buddy has too much money and unreal ideas.

No need for that, if you can't say something constructive then say nothing at all.

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

would external insulation be an option and he could redo the plaster over the new insulation

Best option IMO, also cheaper than the elabourate method outlined.

Just a thought, but, maybe the current form of heating has more to do with the high cost than the insulation.

CJhaughey

If he doesn't mind losing a bit of room space, he could batten out the walls and insulate then reslab. That could make a bit of a difference.

Stinicker

Knock it and build again with himself and someone else competent watching every cowboy every step of the way. The Celtic Tiger did produce some monstrositys.

He's certainly not the only one, one of my neighbours (a builder) built his own house, but skimped on insulation. Now they are always cold and afraid to run the CH at the rate required the heat the house. The living room has an open fire that's always roaring! They also have a "superserv" sp that they take into other rooms to fight the cold.

imitation

Just to play devils advocate for a minute, is there a real need to increase his insulation ? The weather we have been having is exceptional, and hopefully won't be the norm all winter in the future. Is there anything in your friends use of the heat pump that can be changed, turning it down for unused rooms, turning down the temperature ( I have seen people running central heating at scandalous temperatures 25-26 deg C, and on a heat pump no less).

The options available to you don't seem great, External insulation is expensive, and pumping the cavity seems labour intensive (and its hard to see how pumping say 50mm of cavity will provide much of a u-value improvement compared to the effort)

galwaytt

kboc wrote: »

A friend of mine has a poorly insulated house. A product of the celtic tiger. Heat pumps are costing nearly 100 euro/week to keep going. 2. Owner not really interested as expensive coloured plaster on outside of house, does not want to drill thro this!!!

he needs to get over his ego.

kboc wrote: »

Somebody else has suggested the following;

1. Take off roof tiles at bottom of roof just above fascia, exposing the block work, cavity and wall plate. I know it would be slow.

But,
1. Has anybody done something similar to this before to rectify a similar problem?

Well, where we work, we've just added an extension to an existing 60's built bungalow, using a modern method of construction (airtight, etc etc). Now, as part of the project, they decided to insulate the existing attached building (bungalow), by removing the tiles etc. Then insulating the roof from outside. Then discovered exising rafters had sagged. Felt had rotten, in places. Fascia and soffitt backing behind lovely alu was rotten.........the list went on and on. They spent 3 weeks up there alone. So, you're right: it WILL be slow. And expensive.

testicle

kboc wrote: »

i don't live in it.

The owner lives in it.

Why do you care so, as a matter of interest? You don't pay the bill...