After stripping the stone wall of its cement coating to let it dry, the time had come to work out what to put back in its place. I considered insulated plasterboard and timber frame with breathable insulation, but in the end decided to give a lightweight insulated lime plaster a go.
As the description suggests, it is indeed very light and goes by the trade name of Cornerstone Insulated Render. I bought a single bag just to try it out, mixing it was pretty easy and then applied it by hand to wall. We were quite happy to have a traditional knobbly look to the outer wall in the spare bedroom. It took several days to dry fully but the result looked pretty good, additional layers could be applied to increase the thermal insulation value of the wall, while at the same time allowing moisture to escape unlike the cement render. At least, that is the story, time will tell how effective it is.
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While the good weather was here, I finally got around to increasing the insulation above my flat roof in the kitchen. As mentioned previously the installed PIR insulation had been cut through to allow the spotlights to be fitted, so I layed some firm mineral wool over the top. Hopefully this will make a difference come winter.
The house had early double glazed wooden windows and aluminium doors that were showing their age and warped allowing drafts. I started to replace these for modern UPVC double glazed windows and doors in a similar colour. The difference in warmth as the rooms were completed was very noticable. It turned out that the property had a very opitimistic EPC rating of C. Once we had moved in and had a look around, the loft had 100mm of insulation in places and walls and floors appeared not to have any. Heating and hot water was supplied by a new gas combi boiler and 2.66 kWp of solar panels were installed on the Southish facing roof. These were registered for a FIT payment at the highest tariff. The Fronius inverter was situated in the original buildings loft. The loft also had a lot of things that had been left behind by the previous owner. First job, clear the loft and add another 200mm of loft insulation. I used loft legs for the first time and found them very useful as they allowed me to board over the insulation without compressing it at all.
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AuthorEx Radiographer, Information Analyst, Teacher and Self-builder. Now retired Archives
December 2023
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