Insulation

mrebel

Hi all,

Was all set to insulate my 150mm cavity wall with 100mm Xtratherm Insulation and was them quoted a cheaper price per msq. for Ballytherm Insulation (same standard)

I cant see how insulation can vary much (if thermal properties are the same) when there are no moving parts etc.

Is there any reason I should be unsure of Ballytherm? Anybody have experience using this brand?

Thanks
Mrebel

sydthebeat

basic production costs...........

it could cost one company X to product a product while it costs another company X + 50%

4Sticks

Ballytherm is fine I have seen it used over and over on many different sites.

kkelliher

mrebel wrote: »

Hi all,

Was all set to insulate my 150mm cavity wall with 100mm Xtratherm Insulation and was them quoted a cheaper price per msq. for Ballytherm Insulation (same standard)

I cant see how insulation can vary much (if thermal properties are the same) when there are no moving parts etc.

Is there any reason I should be unsure of Ballytherm? Anybody have experience using this brand?

Thanks
Mrebel

No issue with ballytherm but why not go with 110 or 120mm insulation as you dont need a 50mm gap in the cavity and could maximise your insulation

Situation

I bought and used ballytherm on my extension, ive no experience with any other brand of insulation but the boards were off square and i noticed holes on the edges.

galwaytt

sydthebeat wrote: »

basic production costs...........

it could cost one company X to product a product while it costs another company X + 50%

True.

And remember, not all insulation is actually manufactured by the name on the pack..................some what would appear to be competitors, actually make insulation for their competitors but vary the colour slightly, or packaging to differentiate it. I have seen production lines in one factory making two brands of the same insulation.

Pricing comes down to volume they make/sell.

Just like all those breakfast cereal company's that make...'corn flakes' :P

jonniebgood1

Situation wrote: »

I bought and used ballytherm on my extension, ive no experience with any other brand of insulation but the boards were off square and i noticed holes on the edges.

This sounds more like an installation problem than the product. Block layers can be messy when not watched closely. If mortar is left set on the insulation joint it will result in wider joints and boards go off square.

Dr Turk Turkelton

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

This sounds more like an installation problem than the product. Block layers can be messy when not watched closely. If mortar is left set on the insulation joint it will result in wider joints and boards go off square.

If you had taken the time to read his post you would see he is referring to the insulation boards themselves which is very common.
No where does he say that the boards were in-situ in the cavity.

A lot of the time this happens as the insulation boards have been wrapped too tight(in plastic) or else been badly stacked when on storage.

jonniebgood1

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

If you had taken the time to read his post you would see he is referring to the insulation boards themselves which is very common.
No where does he say that the boards were in-situ in the cavity.

A lot of the time this happens as the insulation boards have been wrapped too tight(in plastic) or else been badly stacked when on storage.

And if you had taken the time to read my reply you would already know what the real problem was...

Dr Turk Turkelton

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

And if you had taken the time to read my reply you would already know what the real problem was...

From reading Situations post he is talking about the product not the way it was fitted.

Maybe have another look...

jonniebgood1

A saying comes to mind- You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink.

What I explained was not very complicated Dr Turk. Maybe the boards in there factory situation were wrapped with magic insulation warping plastic as you suggest. With years of experience of listening to the suggested symptoms I would digress as outlined in my previous posts... Its 2 different opinions and the OP can take which he wants( magic wrapping or poor installation) or neither if he wants.

bryaj

in relation to costs a rep from xtratherm tells me that insulation prices are to go up by 8% at the end of this month

hexosan

bryaj wrote: »

in relation to costs a rep from xtratherm tells me that insulation prices are to go up by 8% at the end of this month

That's Funny I was told similar about 4 months ago except it was they just gone up that week but if I ordered straight away I'd get it at the old price.
Decided against PIR & went with eps instead.

mrebel

Thanks for all the info.

I heard about the price increase too. Was told the same about roof timbers too! Probably wont be the last time I hear it :rolleyes:

Decided to go with Xtratherm after looking into it more and talking to my brickie.

Another thing I found was Ballyterm has F rating (untested) for fire resistance while Xtratherm has a C (Scale A-E).

Reason I decided to go 50mm cavity is, i am in an exposed area and am old fashioned. Don't like the idea of allowing moisture a bridge to travel across or to penetrate the outer leaf straight onto my insulation.

893bet

Timber has gone up twice since Xmas.

mrebel

Ha! that shut me up.

It would be great to have a ware house to buy stuff now and store it. Hopefully it will stay put for another while yet.

galwaytt

bryaj wrote: »

in relation to costs a rep from xtratherm tells me that insulation prices are to go up by 8% at the end of this month

hexosan wrote: »

That's Funny I was told similar about 4 months ago except it was they just gone up that week but if I ordered straight away I'd get it at the old price.
Decided against PIR & went with eps instead.

893bet wrote: »

Timber has gone up twice since Xmas.

Exactly, and this never seems to take root in the building cost thread. Materials are still, and will continue to rise into the foreseeable future. There is huge demand in markets outside Ireland for a lot of what we use, and it is those markets that are driving costs. Imported timber in particular is a good example, and importers here are having to bid over other markets just to get it - that's a material price premium, reflected in costs on the ground here.

Insulation went up by 15% last year alone.

And people expect building prices to drop ? :rolleyes:

893bet

Low energy near passive build for 55 euro per square foot yatter yatter

Quest

Does anyone know if the building regulations on insulation apply to an existing house that's only being done up?

So we're doing the family home up a bit and have decided to take the opportunity to put in some insulation on the interior of exterior walls (there was none there at all). We thought we could decide ourselves what thickness of insulation to go for, balancing room size with increased efficiency but a friend who is an engineer is suggesting we have to comply with the 2011 building regulations - which apparently require a much greater thickness than we'd been planning.

Does anyone know if that is definitely the case and if so, where can I find that in the regulations? We're just giving the house a freshen-up and don't want to shrink already small rooms and halls too much. Are we legally obliged to follow a regulation as our engineer friend suggests, and if so, what thickness of interior wall insulation are we required to go for?