Search the Community

Hi all - first post! ?? I'd be extremely grateful to anyone who can offer me any advice ? I'm looking for some "explain like I'm 5" answers to some questions I have about insulating my newly-acquired 1920s end-of-terrace, which is (needless to say) built with solid stone/masonry walls. I am thinking to perhaps externally insulate the rear wall, which already has some sort of rendered finish. However, I doubt I can externally insulate the sandstone on the rest of the building so am hoping to add some internal wall insulation. The side of the building has old (unused) chimney flues as shown in the pictures. Don't be thrown off by the door in the interior picture - this is the exterior wall behind there ? Onto the questions: Does the internal/external approach I've described seem broadly sensible? Do we agree that it's definitely worth doing internal wall insulation (even if I also insulate the floors and loft?) (assuming yes); with regard to the old flues (which I guess are actually a 'cavity' of sorts?) what is the best strategy for insulating here? What needs to be done to prevent damp issues? Esp. during the winter months, when the sandstone will be cold and wet I've seen products like 'StrormDry', which claim to provide long-term waterproofing of exterior surfaces. Are these legit and effective and would they be of any help in reducing the chance of damp issues? I expect a lot of disruption here of course so I'd generally prioritise 'better' solutions over mimimising disruption. Thanks for reading! ??

In conversation in another place about heat pumps this has been asked: Thoughts? I would say insulate to approx current newbuild building regs probably with internal Wall Insulation, floor and loft, work out heat demand, and then look around. But I can't see many viable alternative to ASHP, unless something like Sunamp and off-peak electricity is now realistic (ie used as a storage heater).