Insulating an old timber framed building.

[elsisneat]

Hi,
The front part of my house is a 100 year old (approx) timber framed bungalow. This is a 4" x 2" frame with a thick bitumen type felt on the oustide covered by corrugated iron, which was then at some point rendered/pargetted over. The inside is bead and but timber, which again was later covered over with plasterboard.

There is no insulation in the cavity created by the timber frame and we would obviously like to add some to preserve some heat.

I have considered stripping off the interior cladding and inserting 100mm Celotex boarding but this is obviously quite a drastic option and not sure if this is a suitable material for timber framing.

Are there any other suitable alternatives anyone could suggest, bearing in mind that I have no idea where all of the framing uprights and noggins are? are the blown in types of insulation even suitable for a timber frame?

Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There's no magic bullet solution to this, it has been asked before on the Forum, either insulate on the inside of the plasterboard, remove the plasterboard and insulate the frame, remove the external cladding and insulate the frame from the outside or add external insulation.

 

[elsisneat]

Hi, Thanks for that. What type of insulation materials can be used or should be avoided? What about ventilation etc? I obviously don't want to get condensation build up causing the wooden frame to sweat and begin rotting.

 

[elsisneat]

Crikey, does nobody know what type of insulation material is or definately isn't suitable?

 

[mointainwalker]

There are thousands of posts about this. have you looked at any/many ?

If there things you don't understand, fine, but if you are saying "tell me what to do a - z because I don't want to make any effort..." then that's not fine.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Which method of the several suggested do you favour. How thick is the timber frame/what is the overall make-up etc? Throw us a bone!

 

[elsisneat]

Hi, Sorry for delay been without a computer.
didn't get much success in searching for the answer so thought I'd ask anew.
The build up is as per the original post. rendered outside, over corrugated iron, with a thick felt under it affixed to a 4" x 2" timber frame. Bead and butt (Tongue and groove) on the inside which was overlaid with plasterboard.
I am pretty much going down the route now of pulling off the interior wall and fitting 90mm Celotex board (100mm didn't leave any room to play with so went for 90mm to be safe) inside the frame cavities.
I was trying to find out if this material is suitable in this situation.
Thanks

 

[noseall]

We are currently using 150mm of celotex type insulation to achieve latest u values and conform to current reg's.

This consists of 100mm between timber frame with another 50mm across the frame prior to plasterboarding.

If you remove more than 25% of the buildings' thermally accountable material then you are required to submit a notice.

Building control do not take into account how much space you lose either.