Gable end conundrum

[john0wingnut]

Evening all,

 

Hopefully I have put this is the correct part of the forum.

 

We are in the process of renovating our bungalow, and we are currently focusing on the front of the house. Plan was to add wood fibre EWI to the gable and porch, then clad the gable and render the porch, to improve insulation and appearance. 

 

Originally a 1970s bungalow, and previous owners carried out various extensions and alterations to it. Below is an original picture and a current picture of the front of the house:

 

The gable wall was fully cladded with exception of the corner returns of masonry from the side walls. Prior owners opened up the wall and put a porch on, and essentially stitched the new outer leaf into the original, up to where the window lintels are. Above this it remains original block, which is inset about 30-40mm depending on where you measure across the front, to allow for the cladding and battens.

 

I pulled a window cavity closer out and can confirm full fill cavity batts have been used up to the window lintels

 

Now, inside the porch, we have an inner door to the house. Above this there are 2 concrete lintels, with about 20-25mm gap between them. Through this gap, I can see all the way up the gable cavity and there is a constant draft coming through............. explains why the porch was always cold.

 

 

 

I can currently think of 2 options to resolve this, which I have put below, but would appreciate what others think of those options and/or if there are any other ways others would approach it:

 

1) Should I remove the plastic cladding, battens and block outer leaf above the lintels, and then rebuild with blocks aligned to the outer leaf and full fill with cavity batts, up the gable, and use something like Siga Fentrim tape to seal off that gap in the concrete lintels, then install my EWI / new cladding to the whole gable end.

 

2) Should I remove the plastic cladding and leave the upper block work and battens as is (eg inset), seal off the lintel gap and then get upper gable cavity filled with EPS beads, and then install the EWI and new cladding over the top of the existing inset blocks / battens?

 

Many thanks

 

John