Would you externally insulate this house?

[timhotep]

I have a 3 story victorian property and i’ve been offered the chance to have the front and back externally insulated for free from a grant.

the house is extremely cold and there’s no insulation there at all at the moment, there’s also no working boiler or heating system. There are other issues of disrepair with fascias, soffits, gutters etc (all things i thought i could get done at the same time while the scaffolding is up)

my worry is the look of it, will it look ridiculous and ugly on a Victorian house? And also i read there’s issues with increasing the moisture in the house so what measures would i have to make sure they carry out? (Vents?)  

[Nickfromwales]

It is only my opinion, but I think it would utterly destroy that house, looks wise for one, and piss your neighbour off, particularly your immediate attached neighbour.

You are right that it will then be a moisture trap, so you'd be using or introducing trickle vents to all windows ( and then have to use them routinely ) to manage the new problem.

 

That added ventilation heat loss will massively outweigh the EWI benefits, and this should only really be considered if you're going the whole 9 yards, inside and out, eg to EnerPHit standards.

 

Don't get me started on the chimneys, and how much heat is disappearing up there all winter.....

[Adsibob]

I think it would destroy the look of the house.

[Nickfromwales]

Just now, Adsibob said:

I think it would destroy the look of the house.

Yup. If anything, a candidate for IWI instead of EWI, but would need the occupants to accept a little less GIA.

[Mike]

No, IWI at the front, maybe EWI at the back and the side.

[Adsibob]

6 minutes ago, Mike said:

No, IWI at the front, maybe EWI at the back and the side.

That’s a good idea. If you did that, and then only had IWI on the front wall, you would minimise the loss of floor space internally. Make the house airtight, and install MVHR as well. If you can change the floor construction on the ground floor, from a vented timber floor, to an insulated slab, that will also help.

[ProDave]

BUT If your neighbour is having it done at the same time for free on the same grant scheme, then I would say yes, but only then.

[Mike]

18 minutes ago, ProDave said:

BUT If your neighbour is having it done at the same time

Still no for me. I'd only go EWI if the entire street was being done together.

[nod]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

It is only my opinion, but I think it would utterly destroy that house, looks wise for one, and piss your neighbour off, particularly your immediate attached neighbour.

You are right that it will then be a moisture trap, so you'd be using or introducing trickle vents to all windows ( and then have to use them routinely ) to manage the new problem.

 

That added ventilation heat loss will massively outweigh the EWI benefits, and this should only really be considered if you're going the whole 9 yards, inside and out, eg to EnerPHit standards.

 

Don't get me started on the chimneys, and how much heat is disappearing up there all winter.....

100% agree 

I do loads of external insulation 

man’s while it’s a great solution It would leave your home with lots of straight lines 

I would line the inside 

[Jilly]

Read the Haynes Period House Manual, it explains the principles and pitfalls of insulating period properties.

 

In my view you would seriously devalue the house, and possibly your neighbour's too,  with external wall insulation.

[ETC]

No - just no. Don’t do it. You will completely devalue your house. Look at internal insulation, a new up-to-date heating system and renovate the windows with draught stripping or secondary glazing. Failing that put a coat on.

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, timhotep said:

externally insulated for free from a grant.

I hope and expect that this offer (if genuine and not a con), would be withdrawn once an expert sees your lovely house.

And I agree with everyone else: it would be a terrible mistake in many ways.

[Dave Jones]

it would give it that nice housing association look where they have done this to council houses.

[Mr Punter]

It would be an awful thing to do.  A small amount of internal insulation would be fine.

[timhotep]

Ok thanks for the replies everyone, it kind of confirms what i was thinking.

unfortunately it is the entire front and back of the house or nothing on this scheme.

I’m almost certainly not going to go ahead with it but i was just wondering in general terms how easy it is to remove and make it look as it was?

[Adsibob]

34 minutes ago, timhotep said:

but i was just wondering in general terms how easy it is to remove and make it look as it was?

Very difficult. Please don’t do this. It’s a terrible idea.

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

BUT If your neighbour is having it done at the same time for free on the same grant scheme, then I would say yes, but only then.

2 piles of dogshit, then, instead of one.

[Nickfromwales]

45 minutes ago, timhotep said:

i was just wondering in general terms how easy it is to remove and make it look as it was?

Impossible, not 2very difficult". The insulation will need hundreds of holes drilling for the mechanical fixings.

 

Go to triple-glazed doors and windows, get rid of the functioning chimney(s), even if the external stacks still stay for aesthetics, and go for bio-ethanol fireplaces ( if you really need these things alongside gas CH? ). Get a new 'hydrogen-ready' gas boiler and new convector radiators, get the floor up and insulate / draught-proof it well, and super-insulate the roof.

Leave the front alone, as with new door and windows, this will be a quite nice-looking house imo.

[ETC]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

2 piles of dogshit, then, instead of one.

Absolutely- great way to totally destroy two lovely houses.

[saveasteading]

5 hours ago, timhotep said:

the front and back externally insulated for free from a grant.

Now that is unanimous and decided...what is the logic for front and back but not side?

 

Me first. The front and back 'get a grant'  but you have to pay for the gable and the secret gutters and the window reveals.

 

timhotep, how did they get in touch with you? Was it the council, or a commercial approach?

 

[SteamyTea]

Anyone remember the 1980s fad for stone effect cladding.

Hardly see it now, that was meant to enhance the value.

 

Regarding the 'moisture' problem. All houses have the same issues, just the better insulated and airtight they are, the more sophisticated the control of it has to be.

 

'Hydrogen Ready' reminds me of Windows 95 Ready. An OS that lasted 3 years before something better came along.

[Mike]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Anyone remember the 1980s fad for stone effect cladding

I remember seeing a house in Bristol that someone had stuck stone cladding to - right in the centre of a new brick-build housing estate. Hideous. Think it would have been in the 90s.

[timhotep]

17 hours ago, saveasteading said:

Now that is unanimous and decided...what is the logic for front and back but not side?

 

Me first. The front and back 'get a grant'  but you have to pay for the gable and the secret gutters and the window reveals.

 

timhotep, how did they get in touch with you? Was it the council, or a commercial approach?

 

I got in touch with Eon i think it was who give out the contract to other smaller companies, in this case IZ Energy

[Jilly]

It reminds me of the dodgy cavity wall insulation that was sold by the type of fly by night companies which always appear in response to government incentives. They were so keen to get their subsidy that they didn’t do due diligence on building suitability. Soggy cavity insulation is worse than useless and difficult to remove. 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Jilly

[Onoff]

3 minutes ago, Jilly said:

It reminds me of the dodgy cavity wall insulation that was sold by the type of fly by night companies which always appear in response to government incentives. They were so keen to get their subsidy that they didn’t do due diligence on building suitability. Soggy cavity insulation is worse than useless and difficult to remove. 

 

Just like heat pumps.