walls
The UK has some of the oldest housing in Europe, with approximately 20% of current dwellings built before 1919 – that equates to about 5.8 million homes in the UK that are over 100 years old. And, using data1 to 2017, 17% of the current housing stock has been built since 1990. That means that roughly 23.6 million homes across the country were built over 30 years ago.
There is a real need to ensure we have a retrofit program that provides a sustainable solution for the existing UK building stock.
Buildings contribute 39% of global energy related carbon emissions, with the majority (28%) coming from operational emissions. This means that over a quarter of total carbon emissions are from the need to heat and power our homes.
The Problem
Armed with the latest U-value testing equipment, and excited by the improved thermal performance data shown by the next generation SprayCork material in the lab, Corksol set out to assess the product’s thermal insulation performance as a Thin Internal Wall Insulation in a real-life situation.
The background to the testing was the UK Government’s March 2021 report on Thin Internal Wall Insulation (TIWI), which highlighted the potentially very large nationwide benefits for both energy efficiency and fuel poverty from high performance TIWI systems. The chosen test property was an 1890’s solid walled Yorkshire stone detached cottage in Halifax.
For many home owners and tenants, the increase in energy bills is causing real concern, with many facing the tough choice of heating their home or being able to afford to eat. And whilst we begin to look towards the spring and the upturn in weather the problem isn’t going away.
Safeguard Europe, experts in waterproofing, have developed a series of Webinars that are completely free to attend. These offer both technical and practical advice on moisture management in buildings. One of these webinars is focused around the causes & treatment of penetrating damp, which will only become more prevalent in the coming years. With the help of the Association for Environment Conscious Building and Simmonds Mill Architects, they carried out a case study in a bid to develop an easy solution to help protect vulnerable homes from heavy rainfalls.