Single skin wall insulation

[propertydev83]

We have a exterior wall section of our house's main building that is single skin and so am slightly concerned for condensation and potential water penetration due to lack of insulation. The wall is currently bare brick on both sides.

I understand from a bit of searching that there may be a few different options for insulating (i.e. build a stud wall inside with kingspan between the studs, or fit an air gap membrane between the brickwork and plasterboard), so wanted to get some advice on our options.

I've uploaded an image showing the section of wall in yellow. I'm fairly certain the adjoining wall on the left is a cavity wall. Although the section in yellow is the only affected area at the front of the main building, we would likely carry out the work across the full width of the living room for continuity.

 

[^woody^]

Wouldn't you want to make the wall flush with that thicker wall, in which case it would need an insulated timber frame?

 

[AronSearle]

Water penetration is a separate issue (and is site specific), but have a good look at the general state of seals around windows/wall penetrations etc.

Personally would recommend insulated plasterboard as an easy option.

Insulated render outside is a bit more costly, but helps if you don't want to lose internal space.

 

[propertydev83]

Wouldn't you want to make the wall flush with that thicker wall, in which case it would need an insulated timber frame?

The inside is already flush between both walls and to keep the entire internal wall flush we are prepared to lose a small amount of internal space so whatever option is used will be applied across the full width.

Making the outside flush would be a problem as 1) above the ground floor, the middle of the house is cladding which is also set back from the thicker wall, and 2) there is a sliding entrance door set at 90 degrees to the front wall which comes all the way up to that thinner wall, leaving no space for making the wall thicker externally.

Water penetration is a separate issue (and is site specific), but have a good look at the general state of seals around windows/wall penetrations etc.

Personally would recommend insulated plasterboard as an easy option.

Insulated render outside is a bit more costly, but helps if you don't want to lose internal space.

Sorry for any confusion, the seals around joins and openings have all been re-done. When I say "water penetration" I was thinking more along the lines of what cavity trays are designed to deal with, i.e. water penetrating directly through the exterior brickwork is directed back out of the cavity via the tray. Obviously older houses have solid wall construction with no cavity but at least they were double-brick width, where as this is just one brick wide, so was concerned for whether water effectively coming through the brickwork would be a problem? The pointing on the brickwork has been refreshed and I was thinking of also doing a render over the inside (before plasterboards/finishing) which is bare brick at the moment.

I would rather not put insulated render outside as I prefer the appearance of the brickwork which matches the rest of the house. Insulated plasterboard inside does seem like the easiest option for thermal insulation. Any particular spec recommended?

Is there any opinions on using an air gap/dimple membrane?
http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/liningdampwalls.htm