Wall insulation in Ashley
Rendered elevations tapped and repaired before a cavity is ever filled, old fill checked by camera, and solid walls lined from inside, across Ashley and BH25.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Most bungalows around Ashley have a cavity wall, and whether it can be filled comes down to a borescope check for a clear, dry cavity and the state of the outer face. Many have a rendered outer leaf, and render changes the cavity fill question completely. Sound render keeps water off the brickwork behind it. Cracked or blown render funnels water into the wall and holds it there, and no cavity behind a wall like that should be filled until the outside has been put right.
So the render gets tapped before anything is drilled. On a single storey house the warning signs are a cold room, damp showing on an inside wall under a cracked patch of render, or a quote for a fill from somebody who never looked at the outside first.
The survey covers the render, the pointing, the sills and the cavity, and it goes into a free written itemised quote with each part on its own line. The site visit and the quote are both free, and if the loft is due as well, see insulation in Ashley for the whole house.
The work
Rendered walls, and what has to happen before a fill
Tapping the render comes first. A hollow note means the render has parted from the brick behind it, and water is getting into that void and staying. We tap the whole elevation, look at the cracking, the sills and the bellcast at the bottom, and only then drill. Most of Ashley is late 1950s and early 1960s brick and block with a nominal 50mm cavity, and a good deal of it was rendered either at build or since.
The borescope. One hole in a joint tells us the cavity width, what is already in it and whether the inner face of the outer leaf is wet with penetrating damp. On a rendered wall that reading matters more than usual, because the render hides everything the eye would otherwise pick up.
Cavity fill. Clear cavity, sound render and a dry outer leaf, and it takes bonded polystyrene bead or blown mineral wool, drilled on a pattern and injected under control, eaves and every reveal closed off first. On a rendered wall the drilled holes are made good in render rather than mortar and knocked back to match the texture. A fill put in by a registered installer normally carries a CIGA certificate, so ask for that paperwork before the drilling starts.
Failed and slumped fill. An older fill under render in Ashley often finds the worst of both: an empty band at the top of the wall and wet fibre lower down where the render has been letting water in for years. It comes out with a vacuum through a drilled pattern, is bagged and taken away, and the wall dries before a refill is even discussed.
Solid walls. The older properties in Ashley are nine inch solid brick, sometimes rendered over. Internal wall insulation means insulated plasterboard fixed back, or a stud and batten frame with mineral wool or PIR board such as Celotex or Kingspan between it, with an aerogel backed board where a reveal or a threshold has no room. External wall insulation, boards on a render carrier under a thin coat finish, replaces the render altogether and cures the cold bridging at the same time, which on a rendered bungalow is often the tidiest answer of the lot.
Junctions. Reveals returned, the floor junction carried down, joist ends thought about, the eaves closed and a breathable vapour control layer taped so the dew point cannot sit in the build up as interstitial condensation. Miss the edges and you leave a thermal bridge where the black mould will come back.
Ventilation. Extract in the kitchen and bathroom, trickle vents in the windows and air bricks kept clear at the base of the wall. Approved Document F sets what the ventilation has to do once airtightness improves.
How it runs
Checking the render and the cavity before anything is drilled
Thomas looks at the walls himself, taps any render, drills an inspection hole and checks the cavity with a borescope before pricing. The quote itemises the survey and borescope check, the system and how thick it is, making good at the window and door reveals, any ventilation work, and disposal. If a fill goes ahead, the quote names who installs it.
Most post-war bungalows and houses in Ashley have cavity walls, and plenty are rendered. Cracked render lets rain soak the outer leaf, and filling a cavity behind a wet wall can carry damp across, so the render is checked and repaired first. A bungalow is drilled from a ladder or tower, and a two storey gable needs a scaffold. Drill holes are filled to match, and dust and waste go with us.
If the borescope shows an existing fill, rubble or a bridged cavity, you get the image and a price, and we stop until you decide. New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Ashley, which is outside the National Park. There is no conservation area and only five listed entries nearby, so almost no address needs consent. Internal lining is not a planning matter, which the Planning Portal page on insulation confirms, and external wall insulation is the one that can, under the guidance on external walls. Building control applies through regulation 23, with the Part L target in Approved Document L.
Cost
Cavity, render and junctions: the price of wall insulation
Wall insulation is not priced per square metre, because the field of the wall is quick and windows, doors and junctions are not. Which wall. An empty, dry cavity is a one-day fill. A solid wall cannot be filled, and needs insulated plasterboard inside or a system outside, which is a much bigger job. A borescope settles which, and no quote should come before that.
The render. A rendered bungalow needs any cracks repaired first, because driven rain on the south west walls can track across a filled cavity. That repair is priced as its own line.
Access. A rendered bungalow, a fair faced brick semi and an older solid wall set up differently. Bungalows come off a tower, a two storey gable needs a scaffold, and internal lining is done room by room. The work at height rules still set the platform.
Junctions. Heat leaks, and condensation forms, at the window and door reveals, where the wall meets the floor and the eaves, and along any party wall. Getting those details right is most of the labour.
Ask each installer whether they actually looked inside the cavity, how the reveals will be finished, and whether the render repairs are included.
If damp has appeared
Damp or mould appearing after a cavity fill
If damp or black mould has shown up on an outside wall since the cavity was filled or the wall was lined, rain may be bridging the cavity, or warm air from the room may be condensing on a cold corner.
On a rendered bungalow, look outside for a crack in the render at the same spot. Photograph both, and keep the room aired. We diagnose which before removing any insulation. Scheduled work is Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Talk to us by phone rather than the form, and if the call is not picked up we come back to you as soon as possible.
Worth knowing
Render hides the wall, and it hides the fault
On a fair faced brick wall you can read a lot from the pavement. Washed out joints, a spalled face, a stain under a sill, all of it is visible. Render takes that away. A rendered elevation in Ashley can look perfectly sound and be holding water in a void behind it, and the only way to find out is to go along it with a knuckle or a small hammer and listen.
This matters for wall insulation because a rendered outer leaf that has blown is a permanent supply of water into the wall. Rain runs down the face, finds a crack, gets behind the render and cannot get out. Fill the cavity behind that and you have connected a wet outer leaf to the inner one, and the damp patch that turns up in the bedroom afterwards gets blamed on the insulation when the cause was on the outside all along.
So on a rendered house the order is fixed. Cut out and repair what is hollow, deal with the cracking, sort the sills and let it dry. Then fill the cavity, and the U value improves the way it should. Where the render is far gone across a whole elevation, we will usually say that insulating externally is worth pricing, because you are paying to re-render anyway and the boards and the finish go on together.
Who you are dealing with
Who drills the test hole, and how to check the firm
We insulate walls in Ashley, New Milton, Bashley, Bransgore and the BH25 streets round them. Our Boscombe base is 8.9 miles off, and planning and building control are New Forest District Council's.
You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, run by its owner Thomas Hannen. He looks at the render, checks the cavity and puts a price on the work himself. A verified customer gave us a 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Both the survey visit and the written, itemised quote are free. Before you book a visit in Ashley, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Ashley?
Most repairs in Ashley need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Ashley |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Ashley. The National Park boundary runs close by, and the Park's property map shows which side an address falls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Ashley, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Ashley. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Ashley. |
Questions
Questions about wall insulation in Ashley
Can a rendered house have cavity insulation?
Yes, provided the render is sound. Hollow or cracked render lets water behind it and holds it, and filling the cavity behind that gives the water a path to the inner leaf.
How do you check render before quoting?
By tapping the whole elevation and listening. A hollow note means the render has parted from the brick. We also look at the cracking, the sills and the bellcast at the base.
What happens to the drill holes in render?
They are made good in render rather than mortar and textured back to match what is there. On a painted elevation the patch will want painting in, which we will say up front.
Our render is failing across the whole front. What then?
That is the case where external wall insulation is worth pricing. You are paying to re-render anyway, so the boards and the new finish go on together and the wall gets warm at the same time.
Would damp under a cracked render show up inside?
Often, as a patch that comes and goes with the weather rather than a steady stain. That pattern points at the outside of the wall, not at condensation, and it needs fixing before any insulation goes in.
Nearby, and next door
Wall insulation near Ashley
Nearby places we also cover for wall insulation, with straight-line distances from Ashley, and the other trades we offer in Ashley itself.
Wall insulation nearby
Our other trades in Ashley
Wall insulation guides
Damp at the bottom of a wall: what it is PIR board vs mineral wool: which insulation? Hollow-sounding wall: blown plaster or dot and dabEverything we do in New Milton Wall insulation, all areas Every area we cover
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Have the render checked before the cavity is filled
Thomas comes out, taps the elevation, looks in the cavity and prices the outside and the insulation separately. The visit and the written quote are both free.