Damp Cavity Wall Insulation

[Triassic]

The elderly parents of a friend of mine have a serious damp problem in a bedroom, the whole house smells damp TBH, having removed a brick on the outside wall he's found blown in fibre cavity wall insulation that is saturated.

 

As he'd originally arranged for the work to be done he's dug out the invoice and it states that Insulation is supposed to be polystyrene beads, so there's the first problem, the wrong and probably cheaper Insulation was installed. As the scheme was originally backed by the Council he's contacted them and been told the firm has gone bust, so nothing they can do. So he's left having to pay to get the stuff removed.

 

Is there anyone he could get help from to sort this problem out? 

Edited January 25, 2017 by Triassic

[Barney12]

Its probably a long shot but have you checked to see if the companies warranty was insurance backed?

 

BTW you are not alone in this issue. The incorrect and sloppy application of cavity wall insulation is going to end up being a massive problem. All driven by the greed of companies profiteering off the back of the green deal incentives etc. As you've discovered many (including big names) have closed up shop or gone bust.

 

At a basic level I've never liked the idea of fully filling a cavity with anything. Surely its always going to result in damp?

[Brickie]

Might be worth getting professional advice on whether weep vents might help. As it's already built,perhaps drilling 10mm holes @450mm centres in the bed joints at say,dpc level,1st floor & then eaves might alleviate the problem. 

Just throwing it out there..

[Triassic]

He's had a surveyor out out with a boroscope and the whole cavity has been filled to below DPC level. The advice he's had is to remove the lot and leave the cavity empty for at least two years before re-insulated using polystyrene balls. He's been told the warranty is worthless.

[ADLIan]

You could try CIGA the cavity wall insualtion guarantee people, www.ciga.co.uk..

 

If regisitered they will have details of the job and any guarantee. Heard mixed reports of how they handle compliants!!

 

Ian

 

 

[Brickie]

Starting again is serious money-all the more reason to seek alternatives. Any future re-insulation is still going to have the issue of breaching dpc. 

If IWI is a no go then maybe air bricks would help?

if there are no issues anywhere else than one bedroom,have other causes been ruled out?

is the house in an exposed location?

Edited January 25, 2017 by Brickie

[gravelld]

So long as it's EPS why does it matter whether it breaches the DPC?