New build property ? insulation & heating advice

[wmsteele]

Need some advice on a new property that I moved into this summer. With winter now setting in and temperatures falling I have become increasingly concerned with the buildings insulation / heating.

A fairly powerful 35kw combi has been installed. Radiators all perform as expected with no cold spots on any of the panels. Thermostat controls are in the main hall on the ground floor. Setting the thermostat at a fairly reasonable 20c results in the boiler operating constantly, never reaching the 20c setting.

Its been really cold for a few nights now and I am getting really concerned about this. As far as I can tell the combi is working correctly. Its the ability to retain heat within the house that appears to be the problem.

How can you tell if your house has been insulated properly??

Don't say have a look in the loft, lol, I don't have one! The house is split over three floors, the top floor being double height with a sloping roof. I know that the cavity between floors (2nd/1st & 1st/ground) is not filled. The ground floor is concrete, again no insulation, with the floor boards fitted to wooden batons.

Is it possible that the floor cavity's should be insulated?

The internal and external walls show no signs of being insulated. Since moving in I have fitted my fair share of shelves, curtain rods, blinds. Not once have I drilled and found any evidence of insulation within the walls. Not being in any way clued up about building regulations I am not sure if this is normal.

How can I tell if the house is properly insulated? Is it possible to get it inspected in some way??

Another issue that cropped up this morning was caused by the car being garaged last night for the first time (saves me from scraping!) Started the car up this morning in the garage but needed no move some boxes that had fallen over during the night before driving out. We are talking about 10 minutes max with the garage door fully opened, within this time the bedroom above, where my wife was still in bed, was filling with exhaust fumes. Garage doors aren't exactly air tight and as it isn't heated it would explain the ice box conditions in the master bedroom.

The big question is who do I turn to? I want to get a professional advice before contacting the builder / NHBC. Just not sure who I should be contacting.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Tony]

How can you tell if your house has been insulated properly??

It is not easy, but you can get an energy assessment from British Gas and the likes. Just phone them up and tell them you house is cold and you are interested in cavity wall insulation. They will do a site survey and hopefully tell you that it isn't necessary.

Is it possible that the floor cavity's should be insulated?

No - unless it is above the garage.

How can I tell if the house is properly insulated? Is it possible to get it inspected in some way??

See above


The big question is who do I turn to? I want to get a professional advice before contacting the builder / NHBC. Just not sure who I should be contacting.

Try the NHBC in the first instance. They claim that in 70% of cases they back the homeowner.

[Hopeful]

You can have a thermal imaging survey done. Costs about ?500. It shows quite clearly where insulation is missing. Quite a powerful report to put before the developer and NHBC. If the report shows that poor insulation is the cause you should be able to recover the cost of the survey from the developer. After all it is not your fault that you have had to incur the cost.

[Tony]

The company can be found here

[tonyw]

Why not simply ask what building regs the house was constructed under, please note that if say your house was built this year or last year, it does not necessarily mean that it had to be legally constructed under the newest building regs, if planning was passed some years ago, it would very likely be built under those regs, your developer will be obliged to tell you what regs your house was constructed under, and if it is one of the bigger developers, they will very likely tell you the thermal regs that they had to implement, if not you can go to your local councill planning office and get the information there, as for checking what is or is not there, if you call an NHBC resolution, they will make many checks for no cost, and if your house is within the first 2 years, they will be very much on your side, if it is older, they will still be very honest with you, to many people knock the NHBC, they are alot better than many people make out, (and NO i do not work for them or have any affilliation with them whatsoever!!!):woohoo:

[zednine]

is it a wain home??

i have the same problem

[yandeboy]

i have a similar problem. moved into a brand new bloor home 8 weeks ago. plenty of other problems to say the least.
Similar to yours, our living room is a cold artic!
Bloor homes have insisted all was done right though they have not confirmed what building regs they followed and have infact ignored my emails and letters unless i chase them.
The postive thing is that i have escalated to NHBC who have scheduled an inspection for 2 weeks time.
I shall keep all informed as to how we get on