Wall insulation in Walhampton and Portmore
In a flat the first question is which face of the wall is yours to insulate, and that decides everything that follows.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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A post-war house in Walhampton and Portmore usually has a cavity a borescope can check for a fill, older cottages are solid wall and are lined, and around three in ten homes are flats, and in a flat the first wall question is not what to insulate with but which part of the wall is actually yours. The outside face and the structure usually belong to the freeholder, the party wall belongs to nobody on their own, and the inside face is the part you can do something about without asking anyone.
The usual problems in Walhampton and Portmore are a top floor flat with a cold outside wall and mould behind the wardrobe, a converted house where one flat is freezing and the others are not, or an older cottage on the lanes with solid walls and no cavity to fill.
We come and work out the ownership before the specification, then price the parts separately so you can see what is yours to decide. The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote, and where the sensible thing is a letter to the managing agent rather than a job, we will tell you that. For the loft, see insulation in Walhampton and Portmore.
The work
Flats, cottages and who owns which face of the wall
Working out what is yours. In a converted house the external wall is normally the freeholder's, so cavity fill, external wall insulation or anything drilled from outside needs their agreement. Internal wall insulation on the inside face is usually within a lease, though most leases want consent for alterations. We put the scope in writing in a form an agent can take to the leaseholders.
Section 20, when the block does it properly. Where the freeholder insulates a whole Walhampton and Portmore building and the cost is recovered through the service charge, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 means the leaseholders are consulted before it is committed. Slow, but a building done as one beats four flats each lining a room, because it deals with the floor junction and the eaves rather than stopping at them.
Internal wall insulation in a flat. Insulated plasterboard on a continuous adhesive bed, or PIR such as Celotex or Kingspan between battens or a stud, taped and skimmed to BS 8000-8. It is the one thing you can normally do on your own, and it works, provided the reveals are returned and the ceiling and floor junctions are dealt with. A vapour control layer goes behind the board on a solid wall, or the room dries into the wall.
The party wall you share. The wall between two Walhampton and Portmore flats or cottages is a party wall, and cutting battens or fixings into it can bring the Party Wall etc. Act into play. It is rarely a problem, but it is worth knowing before somebody starts drilling.
Houses with a cavity. Where a Walhampton and Portmore house has a cavity we drill one hole in a mortar joint and put a borescope through first. That gives the width, whether it is clear and dry and whether a failed or slumped fill is in there already. A clear cavity takes bonded bead or blown mineral wool from outside. We do not offer a guarantee scheme of our own. A fill by a registered installer normally carries a CIGA certificate, so ask who is drilling to show it.
Solid walls on the older cottages. Cottages in Walhampton and Portmore built of nine inch brick, or brick with a rubble core, have nothing to fill. Lined inside, or insulated outside behind render on a render carrier where the National Park will accept it. Reveals take a thin board or aerogel, joist ends keep air around them, and an old wall wants a breathable build up, because penetrating damp behind a sealed board has nowhere to go.
Ventilation and mould. A tighter Walhampton and Portmore flat with the same number of showers in it puts that moisture somewhere, usually the coldest corner. Insulation raises the surface temperature above the dew point, which is what actually stops the condensation, but only if trickle vents, a working extract fan and clear air bricks go in with it. Approved Document F sets the ventilation and BS 5250 covers interstitial moisture in the fabric.
How it runs
Insulating solid and cavity walls on older homes
Thomas surveys the walls himself, checking for damp before anything else, and where there may be a cavity he drills a small hole to look inside with a borescope. The written quote then breaks down the survey, the system and its thickness, making good at windows and doors, ventilation, and waste removal. The quote names who installs any fill.
Many older houses in Walhampton and Portmore have solid walls that need to breathe, so they are lined inside with breathable board or mineral wool behind a new plasterboard face rather than filling them. Post-war houses usually have cavities that can be filled from outside. Internal lining goes room by room, with furniture moved and floors covered, and in a flat we agree access to shared walls with the agent. Waste leaves with us every day. If we uncover damp, rot or a cavity full of rubble, you will see images of it and a price to fix it before the lining goes on.
Planning here is decided by the New Forest National Park Authority, and the National Park sets out its heritage position. External wall insulation or cladding can need an application, and Walhampton lies in the Forest South East Conservation Area; in Portmore, check your address. Lining a wall inside is not development at all, which the guidance on insulation confirms. There are nearly a hundred listed entries in Walhampton and Portmore, mostly around the Walhampton estate rather than the newer housing, and on those internal work needs consent too. Regulation 23 brings a whole wall up to standard once more than half of it is renovated.
Cost
Cavity or solid: what decides the cost here
Wall insulation is priced by the house, not the square metre, because the openings and edges take far more time than the open wall.
What kind of wall. Victorian cottages and the estate houses are mostly solid brick, which has no cavity to fill; they are lined on the inside, room by room. Houses from after the war usually have a cavity, and if the borescope shows it clear and dry, filling it is a much quicker job. We check before we quote.
The weather it faces. Gables looking south west take rain blown in off the Solent. Fill the cavity behind a wall like that with the pointing or render in poor order and water can bridge across, so repairs to the outer face may have to come first.
Windows, floors and eaves. Lining a room means reveals round every window, a detail at the floor, sockets brought forward and skirtings refixed. That is where most of the hours go, and where cold spots and mould appear if it is rushed.
Access and shared walls. In a converted house a wall may be shared with the flat next door, and filling from outside on a tall gable needs a platform; the work at height rules set what kind.
Ask other installers whether they have looked inside the cavity, what thickness they are fitting and to what U-value, how they will finish the reveals, and who redecorates afterwards.
If damp has appeared
Damp or mould appearing after walls were insulated
Phone rather than using the form. New damp patches or mould on an outside wall after it has been filled or lined point to two candidates: rain getting across the cavity, or warm indoor air meeting a cold patch where the insulation stops.
Opening the wall is the last step, not the first, because the cure differs for each. Meanwhile pull furniture away from the wall and keep the room aired. In a flat, photograph the mould and send it to your agent as well as to us. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. If you cannot reach us first time, we will return your call as soon as possible.
Worth knowing
In a flat, half the wall is somebody else's decision
The split matters because it decides what you can act on. The structure and the outer face are the freeholder's, the party walls are shared, and the inside face of your own rooms is yours subject to the lease. So the warmest answer, wrapping the whole building outside, is the one you cannot order on your own, and the answer you can order is the one that stops at your ceiling.
That is not a reason to do nothing. A lining on the two coldest outside walls of a flat, with the reveals returned and the ventilation sorted, makes a real difference to a cold corner and to the mould that comes with it. It is a reason to get the scope written down properly, because a managing agent will not act on a conversation.
Where a block is having work done anyway, roof or render, that is the moment to raise insulation, because the access is already paid for.
Who you are dealing with
Wall insulation east of the Lymington river
We cover Walhampton, Portmore, Norleywood and the lanes east of the Lymington river. That is 13.7 miles from Wolverton Road, Boscombe, where our base is, and planning here is the National Park Authority's. The firm is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Walhampton and Portmore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Thomas Hannen owns it, drills the test hole and prices the job himself. A verified customer’s 10 out of 10 appears on our Checkatrade profile. The survey visit and your written, itemised quote are both free of charge.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Walhampton and Portmore?
Most repairs in Walhampton and Portmore 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 Walhampton and Portmore |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority for Walhampton and Portmore. New Forest National Park Authority's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Forest South East Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Walhampton and Portmore. 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 Walhampton and Portmore
Can I insulate my flat's outside wall without asking the freeholder?
On the inside face, usually yes, though most leases want written consent. Anything drilled through the outer leaf or fixed to the outside is the freeholder's decision, not yours.
The flat below is warm and mine is not. Why?
A top floor flat has more exposed surface and a cold bridge where the wall meets the roof. The wall is part of it, but the eaves junction above your ceiling is often the bigger share of the heat loss, and it is the cheaper half to fix.
Is it worth insulating one flat if the rest of the block is not?
Yes for your own comfort, with the caveat that the thermal bridges at the floor and party walls stay, so the U value you are quoted is not the one the room feels. A whole building done at once performs better and has the shorter payback.
Do I need a party wall notice to line an internal wall?
Not for the inside face of your own external wall. Cutting into the wall you share with a neighbour is different, and a notice is then the sensible route.
Will lining the wall cure the mould behind the wardrobe?
Only if the ventilation changes too. Insulation raises the surface temperature, which helps a great deal, but the moisture still has to leave through a working extract fan and open trickle vents. An EPC will improve either way; the corner may not.
Nearby, and next door
Wall insulation near Walhampton and Portmore
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Find out which part of the wall you can act on
Thomas comes out, works out what is yours and what is the freeholder's, and prices each part in writing. The visit and the quote are free.