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Cold room - insulating

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  • 14-02-2008 12:18pm
    #1
    Just The One
    Closed Accounts Posts: 595 ✭✭✭


    The box room in my house is pretty cold and some of the neighbours have found the same thing it their own houses.

    I have found that if you knock on the plasterboard it sounds hollow and the wall actually feels much colder than other parts. Could it be that there is no insulation behind wall? A neighbour also told me that the plasterboard is almost wafer thin.

    I know that I could rip off plasterboard and put in new insulation and plasterboard but there is a radiator on same wall and I want to minimise the mess/amount of work.

    I have heard there is some stuff you can pour into wall to insulated????

    anyone have any other suggestions?


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    #2
    10-10-20
    Registered Users Posts: 7,168 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Which walls are knocking on? The internal or the external ones?
    If the external walls are hollow sounding this is probably down to insulated plasterboard ads is a good thing. If the internal walls are hollow, then this is quite normal and insulation on these walls is not going to assist matters.


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    #3
    Just The One
    Closed Accounts Posts: 595 ✭✭✭Just The One


    10-10-20 wrote: »
    Which walls are knocking on? The internal or the external ones?
    If the external walls are hollow sounding this is probably down to insulated plasterboard ads is a good thing. If the internal walls are hollow, then this is quite normal and insulation on these walls is not going to assist matters.

    knocking on internal walls (plasterboard) sounds hollow... wall feels colder than elsewhere


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    #4
    GreeBo
    Registered Users Posts: 27,164 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    Hey just to clarify, when you say internal walls do you mean the walls that join onto other parts of the house?
    These walls should be warmer than externals walls (wall that have the outside on the other side of them)
    Typically you would insulate the external walls for heat and the internal ones for sound (If you bothered at all)


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    #5
    Just The One
    Closed Accounts Posts: 595 ✭✭✭Just The One


    I did a little bit of checking out at the weekend. They are cavity walls with 2" insulation. Inside each room the walls are slabbed with plasterboard - these are stuck to the wall with mortar. I also discovered that I need to do a little bit of pointing to the outside brickwork.

    However, still in a quandry as to why the room is so much colder than the others.


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    #6
    Reyman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,297 ✭✭✭Reyman


    It sounds like it's a house corner room with two external walls?


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    #7
    Just The One
    Closed Accounts Posts: 595 ✭✭✭Just The One


    Reyman wrote: »
    It sounds like it's a house corner room with two external walls?

    correct


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    #8
    Reyman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,297 ✭✭✭Reyman


    That's your answer - with two external walls your heat loss is twice what it is in any of the other rooms, assuming you have the attic well insulated.

    With 2" of insulation though it should be pretty ok. Probably a U value of 0.4W/m2/deg C. You could remove the plasterboard and put up insulated boards which include say another 2" of insulation. This would reduce the U value to approx. 0.22. (your wall heat loss would drop 40-50%)

    It's a lot of work though and you would lose about 2.5" all around the room (Nb. I'm ignoring the windows and ceiling for simplicity)


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