Insulating 1800s Stone House...

[dedzyyy]

Hi!
I speak to you as a noobie who has just bought his first home with his fiancee in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
It's a rubble walled place estimated to have been built in the 1860s.

I've just started the demolition process, ripping down all the lath and plaster and the lime render off the walls.

Obviously, in the not too distant future, we're going to be building the walls back up, and we're now looking at insulation.

I've been told various things when it comes to this. First being that I should use a vapour membrane directly on the walls, then studding, then celotex insulation, then plasterboard.

I've also been told that the stone will need to breath and that by doing the above, I will risk damp entering the building and that I should only use lime render, inside and out.
In my mind, this won't provide enough insulation.

We want to be as green as we reasonably can be, using as little energy as possibly to heat it; underfloor heating, possibly heat recovery ventilation.

Our house has evidence of damp since our first viewing 7 months ago. It seems a fairly new roof has dried the place out a treat, so I'm not sure if damp would really be an issue...


Any advice would be brilliant!

Thanks
Lee

 

[endecotp]

Have a look at these Historic Scotland case studies:

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/what-we-do/conservation/refurbishment-case-studies/

You will probably find similar resources from your side of the border.

You may find that the best approach is to install a vapour-open insulation material, such as wood fibre, sheep's wool or hemp, between studwork and then plasterboard, with no impermeable layer. Or maybe not.

Is the building listed?

 

[dedzyyy]

No it's not listed.

I've had a very quick look into exterior insulation and it seems a lot more expensive to me?

 

[cjard]

Endecotp was recommending insulating internally.

How big is it? Have you enough space to put up stud walling inside and insulate it? Effectively turning it into a timber frame house, built in a backwards order (normal ft is timber first, masonry later)

Many compromises will be required and it will probably never be a passivhaus but it could get close

For some bathroom reading material, look up Cre8 Barn, Stirley Farm

 

[dedzyyy]

I was just mentioning the exterior :]

It's not a huge house, but a bit of 25mm celotex wouldn't do it much harm for space.

Thank you very much. I'll check out those 2 places!

 

[endecotp]

You're going to want a lot more than 25mm of anything.

 

[cjard]

Well, 25mm of aerogel is better than a kick in the fanny, for window reveals and other awkward small bits.

Bit of a kick in the wallet though!