Old house with cold double brick walls

Joobs · Jan 29, 2020 4:37 pm

Hello All

I know this topic has been discussed at length but I would like to describe my particular situation and get some thoughts from the experts on here.

I have a 100 year old single story double brick house on the upper north shore of Sydney and in winter the house gets very cold. We have put new insulation in the ceiling and under the timber floor (we have a crawlspace) an it did not have a noticeable positive effect. I would like to also replace the old single glazed timber windows too.

I then purchased a thermal imaging camera (this was back in august) and that provided an interesting insight. By far the coldest surfaces - colder than the windows - was the inside of the external double brick walls, just above the skirting boards - from memory it was 10 degrees (and this was while the heating was on and set to 18 degrees in the small bedrooms).

This has got me looking at blow-in insulation - rookwool etc - such as companies like Just Rite do in Sydney.

Am I on the right track? Is there anything else I can do such as something in the crawl space?

Any advice based on facts and\or experience appreciated!

Joobs · Feb 13, 2020 5:03 pm

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks

CF Design · Feb 13, 2020 5:24 pm

I would look at getting a blower test like they use for Passiv Haus certification.

That will give a good indication of where to start plugging up leaks

Joobs · Feb 14, 2020 4:37 pm

Interesting, I had not heard of that.

Do they tend to provide the detail on where the drafts are do they? With recommendations on how to deal with it?

CF Design · Feb 14, 2020 4:42 pm

I have never been involved in the build stage so I"m not sure.

I just know that it's required for Passive House Certification

Stewie D · Feb 15, 2020 7:21 am

Do you also have the internal vents high up close to the cornice in external walls ?

Stewie

Joobs · Feb 17, 2020 9:26 am

Stewie D

Do you also have the internal vents high up close to the cornice in external walls ?

Stewie

Not any more... I blocked them up on the inside years ago as all the heat was escaping there in winter.

Stewie D · Feb 17, 2020 10:18 am

Good idea. Apart from the walls there is not much else you can do seeing as you have the ceiling and floor insulation taken care of. What R rating are they both and did you install them or get someone else to do it? The reason I ask is that I've seen a few jobs in the past where companies have been employed to do it and the end result left a lot to be desired - gaps in insulation between joists, not taken all the way out to the top plate etc. A 5% gap results in 50% less effective insulation.

Stewie

Joobs · Feb 17, 2020 3:17 pm

Interesting.... I got both floor and ceiling insulation professionally done but I can see with the thermal camera that there are gaps here and there in the ceiling. The cornices also seem to be an area that lose heat (or lets it in in summer)

Stewie D · Feb 17, 2020 5:26 pm

So what was the R-rating?