Insulating single skin wall Information, help, tips and advice on cavity walls, ceilings and lofts etc....

[JR]

My house has a single storey, flat roof building to the side - believe was originally for keeping the coal as house built in 1940's - has been joined to house by bricking/roofing over side way. This building is now the utility room and downstairs cloakroom. No heating and very cold in the Winter plus damp problem in utility caused, presumably, by condensation as is home to washing machine, dishwasher and tumble drier. Am looking into best way of, firstly, tidying up the painted brick walls and secondly, of injecting some heat into this part of the house. Should we panel walls and put insulation of some sort between? Can anyone advise please?

[BOBMCCAUSLAND]

Hi,

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but no apology for bumping it :D

JR, I am in exactly the same position, did you come up with a solution for this problem?

Anyone, can you think of a way of insulating the building. I too have a single storey, flat roofed building built onto the side of the house, with a passageway between (double-glazed doors at each end of passageway). The building is split into two different sized rooms, one a large utility room and the other a coal shed which I am converting to a toilet. I want to insulate the two rooms and the passageway, probably needing to do the floors and the walls. The floors are uneven and need screeding, so insulating may as well be done at same time and the walls are single skinned.
Does anyone have any recommendations for insulating the walls and floor? Will greatly appreciate any feedback that can be offered.

Regards,
Bob McCausland

[JR]

Dear Bob
We painted the worst areas of wall and ceiling with an oil based product for sealing mould and stopping it coming back -got it from Brewer's but I've seen it in B&Q and Homebase. We then dot and dabbed (hope I've got that right!) the walls and lined with foil backed plasterboard, finishing off with a plaster skim. We have also installed 2 Dimplex heaters with timers, which my electrician assured me only use the same amount of electricity as a fridge. Our utility area is now completed barr putting down flooring. There is no sign of any mould and it is far warmer, when the weather was cold it still only really needed the heaters on for a couple of hours a day so I think the foil plasterboard has really done the trick. Fortunately the floor is OK but I have heard you can put some kind of membrane down to stop dampness?
Hope this helps.
J