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Hi. This is my first post. We bought a house around 4 years ago. I'm not sure of the exact year it was built but we have records that somebody requested to turn it into a pub in 1905 but was denied permission. A survey estimated it was built between 1875 and 1900. It's detached but very close to one neighbour and all the other houses in the street are terraced. When we had a survey completed, we were told that the house was originally built with a single skin but a second skin was added at a later date, and the surveyor said he'd not seen anything like it before but spotted the same on some other houses nearby. I'm not sure if this is the case for all 4 walls which I need to try and establish. My house is horribly cold. It takes a long time to heat and it doesn't retain the heat. Today for example, its 10 degrees outside and only 12.5 degrees in my living room. In the recent cold weather its been as low as 8 degrees with the heating on. We have loft insulation but our EPC report assumes there is no wall insulation. We have upgraded all windows (except one original sash which has the clingfilm type cover over whilst we get around to ordering some plastic glazing and magnets). We changed the front door which was in poor condition with a hole in it. Has anybody here seen or owned a house like this? Is it likely we will be able to install cavity wall insulation? I'm not sure how wide any cavity is and whether there are width requirements when considering insulation. Any advice at all is welcome. I work in healthcare but do a bit of DIY and anything I can't do myself I like to research before contacting trades people, hence this post. Thanks!

Hello. We have a first floor bay window that sits on a brick wall that is 1 brick deep with render on the outside. The render had a few vertical cracks which were repaired and the outside of the house was repainted a couple of years ago. Please see the photos. In the middle of the bay window is a long radiator. On the wall beneath the window cill there is damp on the left side where the cill touches the side wall and this damp continues across most of the bay under the cill. There is no dampness on the side walls above where the window cill touches them. There is also white mould on the wallpaper. Where wallpaper has been removed for photos the plaster is cracked and discoloured. Two questions - 1. Could this dampness be due to condensation? 2. Will replastering the wall then insulating it cure the problem? All thoughts welcome. David.

Hey Folks, Needing some advise on the construction of our planned integrated double garage which has one wall attached to the utility room. It was originally planned to have what I believe is called a 'double skin' construction, from what I can gather this is basically external brick with a cavity gap and another brick wall internally. However I have been informed there is another option to have either a single skin construction (one layer of brick?) or a single skin with a studded internal wall. The latter seems to provide better insulation etc and also the added benefit of a cavity for cables etc - is it more common practise to have a studded internal wall for an integrated garage or is a double skin construction still used? Any examples from your own builds would be greatly appreciated! Cost comparison would be great also! Thanks.?