Many UK homeowners continue to look for more ways to make their homes more energy efficient, or simply want to know how well their homes function in regards to insulation, which is why it can be worth checking if your home has cavity wall insulation installed. Cavity wall insulation can cut heat loss by as much as 33%, saving you on bills and keeping your home comfortable and warm. But how do you find out if your home already has this insulation? In this blog, we’ll take you through easy, hassle-free steps for checking on your cavity wall insulation status, tools you can use to do the checkup, and best practice to cut on your energy bills through quality insulations. We will also cover the ECO4 scheme can assist you in replacing your boiler and upgrading your insulation and why using us makes the whole process easy and reliable! Â
5 Different Ways on How to Check Cavity Wall Insulation
1. Inspect the Age and Construction Type of Your House
The simplest thing to do is inspect when your house was built. Most UK homes built after the 1920s will have cavity walls instead of solid walls. Houses built earlier are likely to feature solid walls which can’t have cavity wall insulation installed. In general, two courses of bricks or blocks with a gap (cavity) in between constitute cavity walls, with non-cavity walls being thicker, with the bricks mostly being laid in a header bond course (alternating long and short bricks).
If your house is fairly new, being built after the 1920s, it will likely have cavity walls, so cavity wall insulation can be an option.
2. Inspect the Brickwork Pattern
Closely examining your exterior walls might provide you with some clues regarding cavity wall insulation. Cavity walls will typically have bricks in a stretcher bond arrangement, such that the long edge of a brick occurs in a repeating horizontal run; while solid walls will typically have a header bond arrangement, with long and short edges of the bricks alternating.
If your brickwork has been constructed in a standard stretcher bond, your dwelling probably contains cavity walls which can be insulated.
3. Check for Drill Holes on External Walls
Drill holes are used when installing cavity wall insulation, which is done by making holes of some 22mm diameter at regular intervals, about every metre, in the external brickwork. Insulation material is blown into the cavity via these holes, which are afterwards sealed using cement or mortar. These cavity wall insulation holes should typically still be visible as small filled marks on your brickwork, so if you notice a line of small, closely spaced holes that have been cement or mortar filled, it’s a genuine sign that your cavity walls have been insulated. You should take into exception that if your building is new or the fitter was being careful, these holes will be well hidden or absent.
4. Check Your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Your EPC is a useful document which will state how energy-efficient your property is and will also frequently provide details of work done, including insulation. Check the EPC to see whether there’s a page on wall insulation; it will state if cavity wall insulation has been installed. Your EPC will be available online on the UK’s official EPC register, you just need to enter your home address, or obtain it with your house purchase documents. If your EPC states that your home has cavity wall insulation then you can be sure it’s installed.
5. Seek Advice From a Professional Surveyor
You can have a professional surveyor conduct a thorough check if you are still in doubt. A simple cavity wall insulation checker is a borescope test, which involves drilling a small hole and pushing in a small camera to visually inspect if the cavity is filled with insulation.
Alternatively, a thermal camera can spot temperature variation on outer walls. Insulated cavity walls will present a more even temperature, with cold spots being more apparent on uninsulated walls. Professional tests produce conclusive results and can be booked via registered installers or energy companies.
If you are eligible for the ECO4 scheme, you can have a free survey for your home, as well as free insulations and other heating system upgrades. Fill in our 1-minute form to check your eligibility now!Â
What Does Cavity Wall Insulation Look Like?
How do i know if i have cavity wall insulation? Cavity wall insulation typically consists of substances like mineral wool, polystyrene beads, or polyurethane foam injected into the cavity behind the walls. After installation, holes left on the exterior are filled with mortar or cement. Filled holes occasionally become slightly apparent on the brick face, especially in case the filler does not match the rest of the material. These can be painted over, however, to provide a flush finish.
At ECO Boiler Grants, our Gas Safe registered installers will always make sure that you get the best quality jobs and materials. Fill in our form and check your eligibility for cavity wall insulation, as well as internal and external wall insulation.
How Bad Insulation Impacts Your Energy Bills
A lack of proper insulation in a home is one of the main causes of high bills and a cold living space. Without insulation your heater will have to work extra time and harder to reach a warm temperature. This lack of efficiency not only drives up your energy bills but also puts more carbon into the atmosphere, which makes inefficient insulation a financially and environmentally costly issue.
When walls, ceilings, floors, or cavities are not properly insulated, heat from your central heating is lost through these weak spots. For instance, cavity walls that are not properly insulated permit warm air to escape through the gap between the outer and inner walls. Your boiler or heating will have to perform for longer hours and more intensively to make up for lost heat, which automatically increases your usage and bills.
The cost to poor insulation is staggering. Proper cavity wall insulation alone can save householders up to 65% of their heating bills annually according to the Energy Saving Trust. Without it, heat loss from walls can contribute up to 35% to total heat loss in an average home. This inefficiency is in terms of greater gas or electricity consumption, something which, at today’s UK energy prices, can cost a few hundred pounds per annum. The uninsulated cavity walls of a rural house, for example, can put more than £400 per annum on your energy bills, while semi-detached houses can have an additional £240 added to their heating bills as a direct consequence of heat loss through poorly insulated walls.
Bad insulation also has implications that exceed your wallet; it impacts the comfort of your home and the environment as well. Your home will be draughty and cold if not insulated well, with temperatures becoming uneven with cold spots, which can be quite unpleasant in winter. This will lead to households turning up the heat, again boosting energy usage.
Another reason to consider insulation is because properties with low energy efficiency ratings from poor insulation standards might be less valuable and more difficult to sell. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) quantify the energy efficiency of a home, and properties with poor insulation standards usually have lower EPC ratings, hence higher running costs to prospective purchasers. Installing insulation, say, cavity wall insulation, will increase your EPC rating, make your home more appealing to potential buyers, and is certain to add to the worth of your home.
Whilst the cost of fitting cavity wall insulation will typically be between £1,500 and £3,500, depending on the construction and size of building, saved money on energy can begin quite shortly thereafter. Most house owners achieve their return of investment of 3 to 5 years in the form of saved energy bills.
As well as economic savings, there are government-sponsored schemes that exist to render it economically valuable for householders to have insulation installed. The ECO4 scheme and the Great British Insulation Scheme are subsidies and grants that cover the cost of cavity wall insulation in eligible homes. The purpose of these policies is to cut national energy usage and carbon emissions by encouraging more energy-efficient home improvements. If you qualify, you can have free installation of insulation, reducing your energy bill by a huge amount without any need for initial investment. Fill in our 1-minute form or contact us to check your eligibility or for any enquiries.
Inadequate insulation also causes greater wear and tear in your heating system. Because your boiler or heating appliances must run longer to account for lost heat, they must cycle more and run more under stress, which could shorten their life span and add to maintenance costs. In the form of increased insulation, not only do you cut costs, you prolong the life of your heating equipment, and you have fewer repair and replacement needs.
Advantages of the ECO4 Scheme
The UK government’s ECO4 policy is aimed at empowering homeowners to make homes more energy efficient using funding for enhanced heating systems, such as boilers and cavity wall insulation.
Major Advantages of ECO4:
- Totally free or subsidised insulation: Homeowners qualified can acquire new or upgraded cavity wall insulation for low or no cost.
- Boiler upgrades: ECO4 promotes installing new, energy-efficient boilers instead of old, inefficient models.
- Reduced energy bills: Insulation and energy-efficient boilers significantly lower heating bills.
- Enhanced EPC rating: Upgrades improve your building’s energy performance certificate, increasing the value of your building.
- Green dividend: Lower carbon emissions make the planet greener.
Through installing cavity wall insulation and boiler upgrades under ECO4, you optimize energy efficiency and household comfort.
Why ECO Boiler Grants for Your ECO4 Upgrades?
Here at ECO Boiler Grants, we are passionate about reliability and competence in providing ECO4-funded upgrades throughout the UK. We always adhere to the rules and regulations to ensure that you are in safe hands. We always provide personalised solutions by assessing your home’s specific needs to suggest the best kind of insulation and boiler upgrades.
Our team will always ensure a seamless process! From eligibility check to installation and certification, all is done by us in a ideal manner. We always work for customer satisfaction with our customers always valuing our honesty and high standards.
In going with ECO Boiler Grants, you’re opting for peace of mind and genuine saving on your bill.
Ready to find out if you qualify for a free cavity wall insulation and boiler replacement?Â
Complete our simple form today to see if you qualify and save money on your bills with ECO Boiler Grants. If you do not qualify through the ECO4 scheme, our team can check your eligibility through the LA Flex scheme and GBIS for insulation. Contact us to learn more!
