Should I replace my cavity wall insulation?

[rowan_bradley]

I've just had some people come and check my cavity wall insulation. They say that it currently has rockwool insulation, which I should have removed and replaced by polystyrene beads. They haven't yet given me a price for this but it sounds expensive. Is this worth doing? Will it reduce my heating costs? How much? Will it have other benefits? Will it make the house easier to sell? The surveyor that I had before I bought the house couldn't tell whether it had cavity insulation at all. The EPC only says that they " assumed" that it had insulation. It was built in the mid 80's.

 

Thanks for your advice - Rowan

[JohnMo]

With rockwool and poly beads have the same R value, would make zero difference to your heat loss. Only thing I would do wait until winter and use a thermal camera on the outside of the house to make sure the outside walls and even colour.

 

An 80s house is likely to have a thin cavity anyway so no huge gains with way. You will be better off looking for drafts and fixing and doing loft insulation well. Then looking at the heating system itself to get efficiency gains there.

[marshian]

Do you live in an area that gets a lot of driving rain and or the house is in an exposed location?