Poor insulation, any comeback?

DEVEREUX

Apologies if this is in wrong forum

We bought our home in 2007, it was a new build. In the brochure thingy it said that the house came with a high standard of insulation. DRAFTY is how i would best describe the whole house. Just as an example the plaster board on external wall in sitting room is blobbed on with a gap of about 50mm to the brick with no insulation in sight, is this standard?

My main question is do I have any comeback with the builder? Would I just get a BER guy in and list the issues which I'm sure will be many and then take it up with the builder?

plasteritup

the blob is bonding compound i would imagine,it should be an insulated plasterboard on all external walls,normally 50mm,the blob should be tight to the brick or blockwork,no more than about 7 to 10mm,a standard 12.5mm board on external walls is a waste of time.

will be a hard and stressfull job trying to get any comeback from a builder i would think.

DEVEREUX

plasteritup wrote: »

the blob is bonding compound i would imagine,it should be an insulated plasterboard on all external walls,normally 50mm,the blob should be tight to the brick or blockwork,no more than about 7 to 10mm,a standard 12.5mm board on external walls is a waste of time.

will be a hard and stressfull job trying to get any comeback from a builder i would think.

Thanks for getting back to me...yeah I thought as much on the comeback. It's a well known developer though and still building houses. Dug out the brochure and it says "High degree of insulation in roof spaces and external walls", It is far from high degree, its zero!

Carlow52

Best address the problem.

Take off a room vent cover and look to see if the vent from the outside is ducted and sealed to the plaster board.

My guess is that it is not and this is the root of the draught problem.

If it is not ducted send me a pm and I will send u a solution.

The material cost is c 25 yoyos

Ps re ur zero comment

the cavity wall may be insulated so u cant say there is none without knowing.

I am not defending the builder but the order is ready, aim, fire, not ready, fire, aim:)

plasteritup

no probs dev,
suppose all you can do is take it up with him,if its 12.5 board used on all your externals,he does not really have any arguement,threat of legal action may make him sort you out,because he doesnt have a leg to stand on ya know!!

it is a case of cutting costs coming back to bite him in the ass,and dont forget you would have been charged for insulated boards also,which are 3 to 4 times the price of a normal board,especially important point if you employed him to build a one off house,suspect as you have brochure it was in an estate though!!

Carlow52

plasteritup wrote: »

no probs dev,
suppose all you can do is take it up with him,if its 12.5 board used on all your externals,he does not really have any arguement,threat of legal action may make him sort you out,because he doesnt have a leg to stand on ya know!!

it is a case of cutting costs coming back to bite him in the ass,and dont forget you would have been charged for insulated boards also,which are 3 to 4 times the price of a normal board,especially important point if you employed him to build a one off house,suspect as you have brochure it was in an estate though!!

Without knowing what else is in the wall construction this contribution is out of order:mad:

sinnerboy

Quite. If the wall is a cavity wall there may be insulation in the cavity. That's not to say the house isn't defective - my suspicion would be that it is not very airtight.

BryanF

i agree with Carlow52, slow down there plasteritup:)

first things first, OP you may be confusing air-tightness and poor attention to detail with poor levels of insulation - its possible you have both - with the way things are being built and the lack of regulation in this place, you probably do..

the way to approach this is to carry out an air-tightness test & thermal image survey and then consult an arch, with the necessary skills to look at your home, suggesting appropriate upgrades. If there is a case to made against the builder, your architect can begin proceedings with a stern letter on your behalf, to the contractor/ developer outlining what is wrong and how it should be rectified. If this guy is still in business, he probably values his reputation, start with a reasonable approach..

best of luck

Carlow52

sinnerboy wrote: »

Quite. If the wall is a cavity wall there may be insulation in the cavity. That's not to say the house isn't defective - my suspicion would be that it is not very airtight.

The OP has confirmed by PM that the wall vent pipes stop at the block-work and is not sealed to pb so the wind gets in to the fabric of the house and comes out at sills. sockets, skirtings, kick boards, rad pipes holes etc.

The heat loss is horrendous and all houses I have provided a simple solution are just amazed at the improvement.

There are 100's of houses like this.

ps

Alans post below reminds me that the meter box is another source of wind infiltration

AlanConnolly

You could always open the door of the ESB MeterBox.

Tis often an easy way to determine the build of cavity wall (and check if insulation installed)



Alan

plasteritup

Carlow52 wrote: »

Without knowing what else is in the wall construction this contribution is out of order:mad:

12.5mm board on external walls regardless of whats in the cavity,with 50mm dabs of compound???

you know of people that spec 12.5 mm boards on external walls,cause ive never come across it?

you say my contribution is out of order with ur angry face????
you are only contributing because u are blatantly trying to source work!!!!!:mad:

sinnerboy

Mod Warning Calm it down Carlow52 and plasteritup

No more angry faces please