Hi All,
I have a 1960's brick veneer house which has already been double glazed throughout and has decent ceiling insulation, but the house fails to hold heat due to the walls having zero insulation.
The house was extensively renovated throughout courtesy of EQC not long before I purchased it. I have installed a log burner as the heatpump totally failed to provide enough warmth last winter. I now have plenty of heat while the fire is running which is great, but after the fire burns out, the heat is gone within an hour or two. This makes for very cold mornings still.
I got InsulMax to come and give me a quote to insulate the walls last week. Their insulation consists of the following:
Insulmax® is a soft, white blown mineral fibre. It is a thermal and acoustic insulation made by melting and spinning inert materials, treated with inert water repellent. It is non-hygroscopic (non-wicking), will not rot, degrade or sustain vermin and will not encourage the growth of mould, bacteria or fungi.
InsulMax is installed via drill holes in the external cladding, under pressure so that all voids are filled. The holes are then sealed up and mortar is applied prior to the holes being repainted. Because InsulMax material is water resistant, it can fill the entire space between the internal wall lining and the brick cladding - not just the space within the timber framing. This means that a significantly higher R value can be achieved when compared to standard batt insulation which requires an air gap to be maintained between itself and the cladding.
While I am generally sold on the product and an estimated wall insulation R value of 4+ at the conclusion of the work, I am concerned as to what standard the holes are drilled and patched up afterwards. My brick cladding was repointed and painted white after EQC works were completed, and the result is some pretty nice looking exterior walls. I'd hate for this to be ruined in the event that they can't match the pointing, meaning that the drill hole patches could be very noticeable on the cladding.
While installing via holes in the interior wall lining is an option, I really don't want to have to patch and repaint the whole interior of my house. At least the white paint on the bricks is easy to colour match and spot paint.
My house is around 105 square metres and the quoted price is a tad over $5.5k. Yes it's probably more expensive than ripping the internal wall linings off and insulating/relining/painting myself, but the mess, time and hassle of that just doesn't stack up in my busy household. Not to mention that to do it properly I'd have to rip the kitchen and bathroom out which is never going to happen!
Has anyone here had a similar retrofit wall installation done on a brick house? If so, how noticeable were the installation holes after they had been mortared up? I am also keen to know how much of a difference the insulation made to the warmth and heat retaining characteristics of the home. While there are plenty of testimonials on their website, I always prefer unbiased opinions from other sources.
I have a 1960's brick veneer house which has already been double glazed throughout and has decent ceiling insulation, but the house fails to hold heat due to the walls having zero insulation.
The house was extensively renovated throughout courtesy of EQC not long before I purchased it. I have installed a log burner as the heatpump totally failed to provide enough warmth last winter. I now have plenty of heat while the fire is running which is great, but after the fire burns out, the heat is gone within an hour or two. This makes for very cold mornings still.
I got InsulMax to come and give me a quote to insulate the walls last week. Their insulation consists of the following:
Insulmax® is a soft, white blown mineral fibre. It is a thermal and acoustic insulation made by melting and spinning inert materials, treated with inert water repellent. It is non-hygroscopic (non-wicking), will not rot, degrade or sustain vermin and will not encourage the growth of mould, bacteria or fungi.
InsulMax is installed via drill holes in the external cladding, under pressure so that all voids are filled. The holes are then sealed up and mortar is applied prior to the holes being repainted. Because InsulMax material is water resistant, it can fill the entire space between the internal wall lining and the brick cladding - not just the space within the timber framing. This means that a significantly higher R value can be achieved when compared to standard batt insulation which requires an air gap to be maintained between itself and the cladding.
While I am generally sold on the product and an estimated wall insulation R value of 4+ at the conclusion of the work, I am concerned as to what standard the holes are drilled and patched up afterwards. My brick cladding was repointed and painted white after EQC works were completed, and the result is some pretty nice looking exterior walls. I'd hate for this to be ruined in the event that they can't match the pointing, meaning that the drill hole patches could be very noticeable on the cladding.
While installing via holes in the interior wall lining is an option, I really don't want to have to patch and repaint the whole interior of my house. At least the white paint on the bricks is easy to colour match and spot paint.
My house is around 105 square metres and the quoted price is a tad over $5.5k. Yes it's probably more expensive than ripping the internal wall linings off and insulating/relining/painting myself, but the mess, time and hassle of that just doesn't stack up in my busy household. Not to mention that to do it properly I'd have to rip the kitchen and bathroom out which is never going to happen!
Has anyone here had a similar retrofit wall installation done on a brick house? If so, how noticeable were the installation holes after they had been mortared up? I am also keen to know how much of a difference the insulation made to the warmth and heat retaining characteristics of the home. While there are plenty of testimonials on their website, I always prefer unbiased opinions from other sources.
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