Wall insulation in Lover

The wall that faces the weather is the one that decides what you can safely put into any of the others.

The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.

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A cavity wall in Lover can usually be filled, but only after a borescope shows it clear and dry and the weather side has been judged for driven rain. On a house here the south west elevation is not just the coldest wall, it is the one that gets wet and stays wet. That matters because a fill in a cavity that driven rain can cross gives water a path to the inside face. So the exposed wall is where we start, and what we find there sets the specification for the whole house.

The problems in Lover follow the weather. A gable that goes dark after a wet spell. A bedroom on that side with black mould in the corner. Or a house where cavity fill went in and only that elevation has been trouble since.

The free site visit is a survey, not a pitch. A borescope through one drilled hole, moisture readings on the inside face, a look at the pointing and the rainwater goods, and then a written itemised quote with the survey, the system, the reveals and junctions, the ventilation and the making good on separate lines. Insulation in Lover covers the loft too.

The work

Insulating a wall that has to take the weather

Mineral wool insulation being fitted between studs against a wall (illustrative photo for wall insulation in Lover)
Into the wall, not onto itWhat goes in has to suit the wall behind it. Illustrative photo.

Exposure comes first, then insulation. BS 8104 is the code for assessing how much wind driven rain a wall takes, and it is why a specification that suits a sheltered inner elevation is wrong on the gable next to it. On this side of the village we treat the south west wall as a separate decision from the rest of the house.

The borescope. One hole in a Lover mortar joint tells us the cavity width, whether it is clean or bridged, whether the outer leaf is wet on its inside face, and whether an old fill has slumped. Age and reveal depth are guesses; the camera is the survey.

Bonded bead on the exposed elevations. Bead blown into a Lover wall with adhesive locks together, flows past obstructions, does not settle and sheds water rather than holding it against the inner leaf. On anything that faces the prevailing weather it is the only loose fill that makes sense. Blown mineral wool goes in clean, wide, sheltered cavities and nowhere else. Where a cavity does take a fill it is the shortest payback on this page and the biggest single cut in heat loss, and Part L sets what the finished wall should reach.

When the honest answer is to leave the cavity open. A wet cavity, one under about 50mm, one bridged with mortar droppings or a wall with no cavity trays over the openings. On a weather facing Lover gable with soft pointing, sorting the outer leaf comes first, because penetrating damp through open joints is a wall repair rather than an insulation problem.

Solid walls. Nine inch brick, cob and flint rubble walls in Lover have nothing to fill, so they take internal wall insulation or external wall insulation. On an exposed elevation EWI has a real advantage: the render and basecoat keep the rain off the masonry altogether and the whole wall sits on the warm side, so the dew point moves out of the structure.

Internal linings, carefully. Insulated plasterboard or PIR such as Celotex or Kingspan on a batten or stud frame with taped joints and a continuous vapour control layer, or wood fibre and lime where the wall is old and needs to breathe. On a wall that gets wet from outside, a vapour tight lining is a way of hiding water rather than removing it, and interstitial condensation behind a board is far harder to spot than the kind on your windows.

Reveals and junctions. The reveals, the threshold, the floor junction, the eaves and the joist ends are the cold bridge points, and on the weather side they are also the wet points. A shallow reveal takes an aerogel laminate rather than a thick board. This detailing is most of the labour on any lining job.

Ventilation and old fill. Trickle vents, working extract fans, air bricks left clear, to the rates in Approved Document F. Where a fill has failed, extraction is drilled from outside, the wall is dried, and we say plainly whether it should go back.

How it runs

Wall insulation on the weather side: how we do it

Insulated plasterboard lining taped and jointed ready for skimming (illustrative photo for wall insulation in Lover)
Taped and sealedThe joints and junctions are where the heat actually goes. Illustrative photo.

Thomas comes out and checks each wall himself before pricing. The first question is what kind of wall you have. He drills one small hole and uses a borescope to see whether there is a cavity, how wide it is, and whether it is clean or already filled. A solid wall cannot be filled and needs lining inside or insulating outside.

The quote gives the inspection, the insulation and its thickness, finishing round each window and door, vents, and waste their own figures. Cavity fill is drilled through the mortar joints by a registered installer, with a CIGA certificate, and the holes are pointed to match. Internal lining goes room by room, with furniture moved and floors covered, and each room is cleaned at the end of the day. At 18.1 miles out, the boards and fixings come with us on day one. If the reveals or skirtings hide rot or damp, you are sent pictures and a cost and asked before we touch it.

Because the National Park Authority plans for Lover, external wall insulation on a visible elevation is an application, and its interactive property map shows what covers your address. Internal work is not development, per the Planning Portal's insulation guidance. Regulation 23 brings Wiltshire Council's building control in once more than half a wall is renovated.

Cost

Cavity, solid wall and exposure: what it costs

What the survey finds. Everything starts with the borescope. If one drilled hole shows a clear, dry cavity, filling it is a short job. If it shows solid masonry, there is nothing to fill, and the choice is boards fixed inside or a system fixed outside, which is far more work and a very different price.

The south west faces. Around Lover the walls that take the weather face south west. On a wall like that the fill must be a type that will not wick rain from the outer leaf to the inner one, and a solid wall that is lined must still be able to dry outwards. Getting that right can change both the product and the cost.

Edges and openings. Round each window and door, at the floor, under the eaves and along any shared wall, heat slips out and condensation forms if the detail is careless. Those details take the most time, and a cheap price usually skips them.

Reaching the wall. Filling is done from outside, from a ladder on a single storey wall or a tower on a tall gable, with the platform set by the HSE rules on roofwork. Lining is done from inside, room by room, so the disruption is in your house instead.

Put these to any other quote: did someone actually look into the wall with a borescope? Which product, how thick, and what U value will it reach? How are the reveals and floor junction finished, and who replasters?

If damp has appeared

Damp or mould since the walls were insulated

Ring rather than use the form if damp or black mould has turned up on an outside wall since it was filled or lined. Normally it is rain crossing the cavity, or warm indoor air meeting a cold spot at a joint.

Tell us which side of the house it is and whether it appears within a day of heavy rain or builds up gradually, because the answer points to one cause or the other. A damp patch on the south west wall after a gale suggests one thing, and mould behind a wardrobe suggests the other. Meanwhile, air the room. Nothing is removed until we have looked. Booked jobs are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Should the line be busy, we will phone you back as soon as we can.

Call now: 07435 839745

Local

The south west wall is a different wall

Most of the driving rain that lands on a house here comes in from the south west, and it does not spread itself evenly. One elevation takes the great majority of it while the others stay comparatively dry, which is why so many houses have a single wall that misbehaves and three that never give any trouble, whatever the U value on paper says they should do.

For wall insulation that changes two decisions. The first is the material: a loose fibre fill in a cavity that driven rain can cross carries water to the inner leaf, and the damp turns up as a patch on the inside of that wall alone. Bonded bead does not behave that way, which is why we specify it on the weather side even when mineral wool would be cheaper. The second is order of work. On a wall taking that much water, repointing the open joints, clearing the gutters and checking the verge come before any insulation, because a wall you have made warmer and wetter is worse than one you left alone.

It is also why we survey elevation by elevation rather than quoting a house. It is normal here for the right answer to be a fill on three walls and nothing at all on the fourth.

Who you are dealing with

Who is behind your wall insulation in SP5

From Boscombe it is 18.1 miles to Lover, and the lanes we cover run through Redlynch, Nomansland and Hamptworth across to Landford. Building regulations for wall insulation go through Wiltshire Council, and outside changes through the New Forest National Park Authority.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns it. He drills the test hole, looks into your wall and does the pricing. Checkatrade shows a verified 10 out of 10 from a customer. Coming out costs nothing, and the itemised quote in writing is free. Before you book a visit in Lover, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Planning at a glance

Do you need planning permission in Lover?

Most repairs in Lover 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.

The planning position in Lover, from council and national records.
Question In Lover
Who decides New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority for Lover. New Forest National Park Authority's heritage pages set out what it controls.
Conservation area None covers Lover, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance.
Listed buildings Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Lover. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent.
Protected landscape Inside the New Forest National Park, where design is looked at more closely and permitted development rights are narrower.

Questions

Questions about wall insulation in Lover

Why is only one wall of my house damp?

Almost always because it faces the prevailing wet weather and the others do not. That wall takes the great majority of the driven rain, so its cavity, its pointing and its fill all matter more.

Can you insulate three walls and leave the fourth?

Yes, and on an exposed house it is often the right answer. The one thing to detail is the corner where the insulated wall meets the one left alone, because that becomes the cold strip.

Does external insulation keep the rain out as well?

The basecoat and finish do shed water, so the masonry behind stays much drier. That is a genuine advantage on a weather facing wall, and it is a reason to ask about it even in a protected area.

My cavity was filled with fibre years ago. Should it come out?

If that wall is wet on the inside face, or the fill has slumped and left the top empty, then yes. If the wall is dry and the fill is intact, leave it and spend the money on the loft and the draughts instead. We do not run a guarantee scheme of our own, so ask whoever filled it for the CIGA certificate and keep it with your EPC.

Should I repoint before insulating?

On the weather side, yes. Open joints let water in faster than insulation saves heat, and pointing after a fill is harder than before.

Nearby, and next door

Wall insulation near Lover

Free quote

Start with the wall that takes the weather

Thomas comes out, surveys each elevation separately and prices the work in writing, line by line. The visit and the quote are free.