General Chat

I don't know about keeping the hot air out but the house has been so hot saying that the back windows get the sun all morning and the front all afternoon .Bobtanian thanks for that never thought to keep hatch slightly open in winter but will do so in future.

Yes be aware that in winter, there needs to be a "Bleed" of air INTO the loft or your pipes and tank might freeze........I tend to leave the loft hatch askew so that air CAN get in..........and also to create a draught ventilating the loft,

another thing that can be dangerous, if you have recessed lighting those lamps can get awfully hot.. make sure that there is no lagging on or near them......

Thanks, Nolls :-)

I am wondering if our new insulation will actually keep the hot air out of the house! I have been trying to only have the windows and doors open on the shady side of the house. (So not the bedroom window until later in the day when the sun has gone round to the back of the house).

That's good to hear Sue we too got ours done 2 yrs ago and yes think it's made a difference the one thing we have noticed in winter the loft is Freezing and during this hot weather OH went up to loft and found it to be over-heating the rafters were hot! and the fan which we brought down was actually warm AND I have not had my water heater on during the heat wave as the water is warm we add a kettle to it If needed so elec bill better be much smaller than usual !! However not sure if the heat there is a good thing so for the last couple of weeks we have left the loft open. :-D

Lofts & cavities all insulated now. Took a lot of visits from them and a few broken appointments, but it's all done. Didn't cost a penny, only my time to be there while they did the job.

It is odd, though, I tried months ago to find a government website that told me we could get it done for nothing, because I was very suspicious. Still can't find one. Lots of websites about 'hard-to-treat' but they are not government ones.

Also very strange that the only way to get it done was to answer the door to the 'salesman' back in March and to trust that it wasn't a scam. I think there are a lot of fly-by-night companies out there but we seem to have been lucky.

Well they turned up and did the cavities with little grey beads. While this was taking place another team turned up and topped up the insulation in the main loft, including sticking a bag of insulation onto the loft lid.

After they had gone I phoned my husband to tell him & he asked if they had done the smaller loft above the kitchen. Doh! They hadn't read the paperwork and I had forgotten about it too. The insulation team returned later and discovered that they couldn't do the small loft because there were two huge piles of grey beads up there, that had leaked out from the cavities!

Have recall appointment for next week for this and because neighbour complained about mess. I thought they worked quite neatly myself and would expect a bit of mess when you have workmen in.

Definitely haven't paid anything and it did say 'free' and 'no charge' all over the paperwork. :-)

@PigletsPal - I think you are probably right & someone is making a lot of money somewhere.
@ Sue in Leeds - thanks for your advice on Emoticons - it worked!! :-D :-D :-D

Anyway, I looked on the form we had and it had the initials HTT which apparently means Hard to Treat. I think there is some sort of scheme for old houses with narrow cavities. Ours is c1906. I will report back when June comes with the appointment as to how we got on.

There are lots of thee companies around offering 'Free' insulation

All they do is apply to the local council for you to see if you are eligible for the grant that all councils have funds for.

So if you are eligible for the free funding thats fine if not you will have to pay.

A lot depends on your savings et.,

Do be very wary of these people, it is not necessarily a scam but they are not really giving anything away. They are making money out of it in some way.

had mine done 10yrs ago, i contacted british gas after reading the leaflet which came with gas bill. the contractors were a nightmare....an air vent had to put in the lounge. they never checked for cables in the wall, despite me telling them, there was cables. yes they drilled right into an electric cable. plaster had to be taken off the wall, so it could be repaired. a total mess.after many months of complaining, b.g. sent somone round to see the mess. i was threatened with court action, as i would not pay the £200 bill. i payed nothing in the end..but please be very wary, it sounds to good to be true that its "free" if your working.

Cost us £90 for cavity wall insulation in 1980!

i had an expert come around offering to do me cavity wall insulation
iasked him if he was fully clues up on cavity wall insulation and he assured me he was

i then asked him why he couldn't tell i had not got cavity walls
(they are what i believe are flemish bond where some of the bricks are put in edge ways to join the two walls so its like a honeycomb effect)

Had mine done back in 2009 when I was recovering from breaking my leg.

Got it for free .

They did the loft and wall insulation but not sure my house is any warmer.

As Terryj says Warm Front scheme is finished.

I applied through my energy supplier and you can qualify for free installation if over 70 or receiving certain benefits.

There is another scheme at the moment which is ATP - which I believe is means tested.' Ability to Pay' or something like that.

My house survey showed that I have an asbestos concrete water tank cover which was common pre 1970s and is safe whilst left in situ, but as it has to be insulated to keep the tank from freezing is dangerous for contractors to handle.
Also as my house is so far from the road with no outside parking that cavity wall insulation is not possible . I had not asked for that anyway, so in my case I cannot get zilch :-(

I too urge you to look into this further as two working inhabitants.

Sue Car,

Top right hand of screen,,,click on TOOLS.
sCROLL TO compatability view,,,click on Compatability view and you will get your emotions.

Sue - I thought it was only for those on some benefit or of pensionable age.

Ooh, thanks, everyone, especially Sue in Leeds. I will take your advice and check it out. I was assuming it was part of the EU Warm Front Scheme. I won't be paying, that's for sure. And I have got my union to back me up if it does all turn out to be nasty. ;-)

PS Still no Emoticons visible - think I will post this as a separate issue . . .

Sue

mine was free - something to do with the EU

i noticed the other day that the warm front scheme to help with upgrading insulation and heating has been stopped

SueCar,

I have walked away from this thread twice for the simple fact I didn't want to upset you..

Please just double check that it will be FREE insulation before you have it done as there very well could be a very big bill after they have put the insulation in..

Contact the Trading Standards in your area for advice also check with Trading Standards that this firm is Genuine.

Sue
ps sorry if this has upset you..

. . . and we're both working. We've been trying to get it for about three months now but it does look like they finally will come to ours in June and install cavity wall insulation & top-up loft insulation for absolutely free. The guy said they have been doing it for people on benefits first so that might be why we are having to wait a bit longer. He did turn up for the appointment - I am always sceptical about people who knock your door - so it looks likely that it is going to happen in June.