Where to buy insulation

[Alan Zoff]

A comment by Thiere on another thread has prompted me to post this.

Our 1920s detached house in central France is seriously lacking in insulation - and very cold in winter. Honeycomb brick rendered walls. Unfelted tiled roof with "A" frame in attic space.

Insulation materials seem a lot more expensive in France than in UK but are bulky to transport. Perhaps I have been looking in the wrong places.

Any suggestions will be appreciated on what to look for and where.

[Théière]

Alan I didn't find them much more expensive but then I didn't buy the cheapest fiberglass I bought rockwool.  The outer layer was a thick multifoil which I did get in London from a bankrupt stock sale so crammed the van to the point you couldn't have fitted a packet of Rizzlas in.

Multifoil sealed the building from air movement and keeps the worst of the sun off in summer but they have promo's in France and I could have bought similar for a similar price if I was around at the right moment.

200mm of rockwool took the fill to the point of just getting the plasterboard on to leave some exposed beams of the A frames. (was going with 150mm but couldn't find it in the shops)

Downstairs isn't insulated, still the 600mm limestone walls but not losing the heat upstairs any more has made the whole building feel much better. I checked the heat loss with my thermal camera and the only heat loss was the chimney!  The bedroom loses about 2 degrees overnight with no heating on so drops from 18c to 16-15c when the outside was -4c

[mint]

AZ, this site might be of interest:

http://newwave-energies.com/nos-solutions/isolation/

There is another tab along the top of that site about financing your insulation and there appears to be grants as well as credits impots for those eligible

No firsthand info, however, as we already have all the necessary insolation

[Théière]

I would be interested to know if the French take a better approach to the situation than the UK. All grants in the UK are for the cheapest insulation like glass fibre which collapses after a while, likes getting wet and isnt fire proof. Short term thinking for a long term problem.

[Alan Zoff]

Thanks both for the comments. Some great tips there.

Short term thinking seems to be the norm in UK. Just look at the plaster patches applied to roads always under repair. My Dad used to say "Do it once, properly" - good advice that, to my cost, I have not always followed.

[Théière]

Ah yes Alan, potholes, I call them the fairy dusters. Useless council overheads with dayglow, hard hats and clipboards ticking their little boxes. Job done! Less than 24 hours and a few vehicles later and the fairy dust has been dispersed and the pot hole remains for another year.