Polystyrene bead wall insulation top up

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Polystyrene bead wall insulation top up

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Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 16 8:34 pm Post subject: Polystyrene bead wall insulation top up

So, we've got cavity walls with polystyrene beads in them. They've settled - and a few have run out of a wall where there was a gap at a pipe hole.

Now there is mildew above a bedroom window - we think the beads have settled.

We want to buy a bag of beads and tip them in the cavity at the top (you can actually get at it with some effort).

Is there any difference between old cavity wall polystyrene beads and the stuff for bean bags (which is fire retardant)? I can't find any old style wall insulation beads for sale on line.

I've tried talking with an insulation professional body - and they were not helpful.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 16 9:27 pm Post subject:
I`m not saying the type of cavity insulation you have is at fault,but a little while back on the radio there was concern that certain types of cavity insulation was causing damp problems,many of these types were passed under the so called Green Deal. Have you contacted the company that did your work?

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 16 8:35 am Post subject:

No idea who did the work, before we bought the house, over 10 years ago.

Polystyrene bead is supposed to be one of the ones that is fine in regard to damp, it is just that it settles out with time and has a tendency to run out of any holes, so after a while the top of the cavity isn't insulated any more. These are the loose beads, not the sort that stick together. The damp only happened in the last couple of months, been fine for years, but it coincided with a sudden appearance of a scatter of polystyrene beads that were blown through a hole behind a kitchen cabinet by a gale. It is possible there are more behind the cabinet, and it is only the wind that lofted them into the cabinet. Not exactly easy to get behind the kitchen cabinet without doing damage.

We know that some beads have come out at ground floor level, so we want to put some in at the top. Just want to get the right sort of beads, or find out that there is no particular right sort, and that the safe fire retardant sort for toys are OK. (As that is the only sort that seems to be for sale on line.)

What we do not want to do, is start all over again, sucking out the old beads and putting in whatever is currently seen as the best. That would be both a waste and an expense we can't afford.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46240
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 16 11:59 am Post subject:

i dont know about the beads but although them escaping/settling does seem the likely cause have you checked for water getting in.i would think one fire retardant bead was much like another.

colds spots/condensation often get blamed when the actual cause is a bit of missing pointing,frame sealant or a hole in the roof .tis worth eyeballing for those possible causes as well as topping up the beads .

re escapers if you can drill a hole in the back of the unit a squirt of fixer foam should stop their escape route around the pipe.

onemanband

Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: NCA90

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 16 6:16 pm Post subject:
2nd paragraph I'd say yes, all the same. I would also concur with your diagnosis. Another option for accessing cavity could be from above/outside by removing bottom couple of rows of tiles.

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 16 8:25 pm Post subject:
Thanks folks. You've been a lot more productive than my enquiries to professional bodies representing polystyrene beads and insulation specialists.

john of wessex

Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 2130

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 16 10:18 pm Post subject:
The job should have been registered with CIGA https://ciga.co.uk/guarantee-holders/

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