Solid wall insulation in my house has made it feel much warmer with lower energy use.
I live in an Edwardian end-terraced house in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, which has had major energy efficiency improvements. My house is part of Balsall Heath Housing Cooperative, a small resident-controlled coop with 77 homes. Mine is one of 22 older homes that’s part of the project. The larger measures are being funded by the Coop from its own financial reserves, and part funded by the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund., I am paying for and installing some of the smaller measures myself.
My house, which was built in 1905, has solid walls with no cavity. The outrigger at the back (kitchen on ground floor, bathroom on first floor) was relatively easy to insulate with external wall insulation. The rear wall of the back living room and back bedroom were insulated at the same time. New windows were fitted at the back of the house at the same time (the old ones were 25 years old, early double glazed). The new windows were moved outwards compared to the position of the previous windows. This creates a thermal break where the window frame meets the walls, which reduces heat loss compared to leaving the windows in the old position. One of my neighbours commented that the render finish on the back of my house ‘was beautiful’. I sort of miss the red brick and the masonry window cills and lintels at the back of the house but I can see why my neighbour likes it. I will grow climbing plants up the render.
My house is an end terrace with three outside walls, and a narrow entry (jitty/gulley) between my house and the next row of houses, and so external wall insulation was not possible or practical on the gable end, as it would have narrowed the entry and made it inaccessible to wheelchair users. So we had internal wall insulation on the gable end walls, upstairs and downstairs. We also had internal wall insulation on the front wall, as it is very difficult to do external wall insulation safely on an Edwardian style house. This meant that the external appearance of my house from the front was preserved, including wooden window frames and front door, coving, corbels, and masonry window cills and lintels. Internal wall insulation was very disruptive and so was the aftermath, but it was worth it in the end. We’ve spent several months redecorating both bedrooms and both living rooms – which is good really as it was long overdue.