Soppydot4

Has anyone had insulation injected into their walls?

I have a house built in the 70's and only when my sister (who also has a house built in the 70's - we only live 2 streets away) had some renovations done was it realised that there was nothing but what looked like a piece of tin foil between the jib and the cladding outside. I know ours will be the same as only a small drop in temp outside and our bedroom especially, as it has 3 outside walls, is like an ice block.

I've asked a builder which would be cheaper, take the jib off and use pink batts or take the cladding off and pink batts and his answer was to have it insulated by a company who inject insulation through holes made in the cladding and Airfoam is one of those companies.

Has anyone used this company or another one for the same reason and what were your experiences? Was it worth it? Has it made a difference?

Any responses would be appreciated.

Fooferfish

Have seen it done on mnay houses in Dunedin and yes they need it down here, also whats under your floor ??? if you can gain access under the floor than i would seriously put either Cosy floor pink batts, or the polystyrene stuff expol, we did it to ours and we used to get a cold level around your knees, i measured the temp under our house and it was -13 in winter, now if you havn't got carpets, well there is about 18mm between you and -13 and it soaks up through the floorboards, i spen around $1200 on cosy floor and took about 3 week ends to install it, did the lounge first and it made a big difference, Airform is not Branz approved as yet, but it does a good job, i priced up an house for someone who wanted it done to and old brick place with Oak panelling on inside walls and the guy told me because the airfoam goes in as a liquid it can damage Oak or any wood panels, but once it dires out it would keep you nice and warm, but this house was going to cost $15k bugger that, i also priced our own up and ex state house, of 120m2 it worked out cheaper to install double glazing, as thats where 60% of your heat goes, get someone to price up double glazing and get airfoam around as well and see what difference the prices are.

But if you can get under your floor, thats where i would start, also double up on loft insulation, or if that one room is the coldest, rip of the GIB and put wool batts in walls and get it relined with new 12mm GIB.

I have asked a builder for a quote to remove all weatherboards and use a modern material and insulate the walls on 120m2 he came back using Linea weatherboard or Corrugated, $20k have priced up double glazing at another $16k. would we get our money back ? not sure but it would be toasty warm and cheaper than moving and renting this out.

One chap i heard of poured those polestyrene balls inside his cavities by means of a vacuum cleaner on revearse, it did an awesome job of changing thr R value of his insulation, took some time and alot of those wee balls, but did the trick.

sparkie down under

Hi all

Living in the ice box that kiwi's call a home I totally agree with what you've said.

BUT, there's always a but. beware that foam stuff you put into the cavity. Back home, oh about 15 years ago there was a lot of that being done then. Warning ! It can effect the power cables quite badly. Not going to get technical here - but it does cause a possible fire hazard.

Which leads me on to point two. The balls thing. I'm a volunteer fire fighter and man you would not believe how quickly these house's go up, for goodness sake make sure you use the flame treated ones won't you.

Lastly does anyone have contact details for these balls and double glazing?

Batty

Nige! Thank you! I've been looking for an average price for new cladding for ages! I don't want to have to get someone out but just wanted a ball park figure. Our house has a lot of roof (one wall is all roof) so the amount of cladding wouldn't be as much as in normal houses - I'd reckoned it would be $10-$15k and that price makes it just about right. I want to completely reclad our place, replace the insulation (we do have it but I suspect it's the same stuff as you're talking about as ours is a 70s house too), do the underfloor and double glaze I reckon about $50k! Not bad really in the greatest scheme of things because the house is really solid and well built but the windows are probably there since new and the glass is thin and I hate the cladding - it's plastic sort of stuff - great to keep clean but I don't like it! And then when I'd have all that done I want a proper wood kitchen (not this chipboard stuff :curse and build another deck on the ground level and terrace the 'garden' (bush) so if I won the lotto I'd be grand

Charismatic

Seems to work well, especially once you have a good layer of fiberglass in the loft.

I know the folks who run the Lower Hutt franchise. I've seen how it's made and It's actually pretty safe stuff . I'd be most concearned about trapping moisture in your house (at least the drafty cracks often help ventilate air ) and you may need to buy a few dehumidifiers to keep the place dry.

Soppydot4

Hey Fooferfish

What great advice. Mentioned it to OH and he went investigating the underneath of our bedroom which is over dead space so no wonder the room's an ice box and guess what no insulation. Will definitely be investing in some pink batts for under the floors of all the bedrooms. I'd love to have double glazing here but the windows are sooooo flamin' big and there's so many of them, it will be a few years down the line and a lot of cold winters before we will be able to do it.
Thanks.

Soppydot4

My OH is a sparkie also. We are only at the beginning stages of lookin into it but really I would prefer to take off the cladding and use pink batts at least you can see where the insulation is going! As per usual its all down to money and not having enough to do what I (or should that be we) want The way these houses are made it wouldn't take much for the whole lot to go up.

Soppydot4

LOL

We have an HRV system so moisture isn't really a big problem well not yet anyway.