Insulation, sleeping on a warm ceiling – do not disturb……..

Insulation, a topic I’m covering allot lately, I suppose that’s due to the boom in insulation installations and the majority of my surveys being related to condensation and mould during the cooler winter months.

I’ve previously expressed my opinion on insulating, I’m right behind it and back the government Green Deal scheme or reducing Britain’s housing stock emissions which is estimated to contribute up to 43% of all emissions.

My issues lie with quality control of the insulation installations I have seen lately and the carelessness taken by contractors which enter insulated roofs after installation. 

All forms of cavity wall and loft insulation materials have BBA (British Board of Agreement) certificates which evaluate the thermal performance of the insulation material and provide typical density / compaction rates for installation.  Where however, is the measure of testing the quality of the installation on site upon completion of installation?  there is none, other than your compliance  installation certificate.  The only quality assurance you receive is a visual inspection within the roof by the senior technician, who by now is probably on his fourth job of the day, itching with fibreglass and aching from crawling around your ceiling on a Friday evening and just wants to get home and showered.  The same goes for the plumber who’s been in the loft to fix the water tank, he’s more bothered about kicking the insulation apart to find the joists ensuring he doesn’t fall through your ceiling.

Not until recently have we been able to assess the quality of an installation or defects which may occur since installation, until technology has advanced providing us with thermal imaging, a means of seeing radiation.

The benefit of thermography is that it provides us with a visual image of radiation, heat transfer through a surface which will highlight anomalies such as poorly installed or missing insulation.

Here’s an example on a property I surveyed this week.  The call came from a distressed home owner who was suffering from mould appearing in random areas on his ceilings. We  have already addressed the issue with humidity and condensation in association with insulation in previous posts so i’m going to avoid covering the same topic again read here – (http://www.dryfix.net/blog/improving-levels-of-loft-insulation/).

The property has recently had insulation laid within the roof meeting government standards however, the owner suspected a problem when localised areas of his ceiling were becoming problematic to mould.

Prior to my arrival I had the home owner turn on the heating so i could perform a survey using our specialist thermal imaging camera.

Our survey revealed numerous thermal anomalies throughout the  insulated ceilings causing cool spots, creating susceptible areas to mould . These cool spots were created by poorly laid insulation and disturbed insulation trampled and overturned by trades working within the roof (see images below).

All these images were captured using thermal image technology highlighting disturbed and absent areas of insulation.

Here are some images of the mould seen upon the ceilings as a result of the above. 

And a reverse thermal scan taken within the roof highlighting where the insulation was lifted / disturbed, poorly installed and trampled. 

Without thermal imaging technology these deficiencies would go un-noticed until they became problematic that is, and trying to resolve these problems would be guess work only repairable where obvious visual defects could be seen. Luckily our inspection allowed us to quickly locate the problems and attend to the repairs quickly and efficiently and completing our service with a final inspection upon completion to ensure all our repair work was efficient.

If you have recently had cavity wall or loft insulation installed and want to check the quality of the installation upon completion or have recently had work undertaken to your walls and ceiling and are worried about the effects this may have caused to the efficiency of your installation, think smart and detect problems before they arise, call Dryfix and request a thermal imaging survey  from an independent specialist company. 

If you suspect you have a problem and need professional advice or repair, don’t gamble call the experts; Dryfix Preservation Ltd “Yorkshires Leading Damp & Timber Specialists” on 01904 791388 or visit our website http://www.dryfix.net/

Russell Rafton C.S.R.T / A.Inst.SSE
Dryfix Preservation Ltd – Surveyor