This tragic fire has been attributed to a faulty fridge freezer and the cladding that was put onto the building. So how could a simple electrical fault cause the deaths of so many and strike fear into many more living …
Blinkered energy efficiency focus brings death and dispair Read more »
This is the tool of choice for damp proofing companies https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feuchtemesser.jpg The Protimeter is pretty much ubiquitous in the damp and building surveying world. The meter is used to show owners how damp their homes are. This is also invariably …
Bristol City Council came to the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (the STBA) to address the issues associated with the Solid Wall Insulation (SWI) works that they were doing. The video and associated tools (that can be found at https://warmupbristol.co.uk/content/planning-guidance-your-home) have been …
Health is really important to all of us, yet many of us live in houses with poor internal environments. Some of this is our own fault – we clean using dangerous chemicals; we allow properties to get into a poor …
Building Regulations in the UK have been interpreted for years as demanding that refurbished walls need to meet a U value of 0.3. Products have therefore been designed using BR443 and BS5250:2011 to comply with this. Unfortunately, BS5250:2011 states that …
From RIBA The pressure for energy saving in solid walled buildings is real and tangible. Green Deal and rising energy bills are encouraging us to insulate our walls. Where we have external features / facades that we want to keep …
Wood fibre board insulation being used externally Many of you will be aware that I am slightly reticent in recommending certain insulation types on older buildings. This is because of the risks associated with damp, thermal bridging and structural failure. …
How much insulation is it best to use on solid walls? Read more »
From Nick Heath / English Heritage report A great report by Nick Heath for English Heritage is available that looks in detail at the issues raised by large scale retrofit. There are a number of horror stories there waiting to …
Barry Turner’s picture shows how IWI is commonly fitted There will be some research coming out soon that starts to explore the importance on the detailing aspect of insulation works. The work has focused on the issues of thermal bridges …
Cavity walls were designed to keep damp out of homes Cavity walls have been the standard way of building for the past century. They are designed to have two walls (bound together by wall ties) with one acting as the …
