The Building Regs 2010 Section Part L1B deals with solid wall homes and the legal obligation to include insulation when carrying out work on external walls.

This has led to a lot of confusion amongst home-owners and sad to say, certain ill-informed builders and wall coating companies so the summary below should be helpful.

Rendering Exterior Walls

If your home has cavity walls that are insulated or has a wide enough cavity to be injected then you can re-render without using an external insulation system. Similarly, if your home is brick or stone then again you can have the walls rendered – be that tyrolean,pebble dash, stucco or flat cement render – without insulating and without informing Building Control.

HOWEVER, if your walls are of  solid construction or have a cavity too narrow to inject then you cannot apply any wall rendering or cladding  without first applying to Building Control on a Building Notice.

Unless you are in a conservation area or are a listed property then the odds are very strong that the Building Inspector will insist you  have to add a thermal insulation layer  to your walls before any rendering is applied.

For more information on whether you fall under Building Regs L1B and what this entails call one of our advisors now on 0500 300407 or alternatively click external wall insulation  

Masonry Wall Paints & Wall Coatings

On solid wall homes for purely decorative finishes that involve only a thin coating of masonry paint, and perhaps some very minor repairs to any damaged rendering, there is no need to comply with the Building Regs or inform Building Control.

This is because masonry paints are not classed as adding an additional layer to the wall as they are so thin and add no measurable insulation value to the wall.

BE VERY CAREFUL though if any wall coating company suggest removing an existing poor render or adding a base render for the first time eg on a brick property. In either of these events you must inform Building Control and will probably have to use insulated rendering

For repairs to damaged render the rules are if at least 50% of any single wall needs repairs before the masonry coat is applied you must use an insulated render and abide by Building Regs.

Part L1B  – Who is responsible for complying ?

Since an amendment to the rules in October 2010 the builder/installer now has primary responsibility for meeting the Regulations and the home-owner will only be pursued as a secondary measure if the builder etc cannot be traced. Previously the home-owner had sole responsibility but now the Builder and also the architect has to take responsibility.

WETHERTEX  -  better for the experience

Infrared Thermal Image Camera

A lot is often made by wall coating companies and specialist render salesman about the insulation effects of their products without having any scientific test results or paperwork to back up their claims .

Wethertex believe strongly that any claims about a product should be backed up with proof otherwise they can be dismissed as “salesman’s patter ” . It is for this reason that we have invested in two FLIR infrared thermal imaging cameras which show the heat loss from walls and roofs etc and therefore can demonstrate the improvements our coatings deliver.

Infrared Cameras Uncover Poor Insulation

As the picture above shows the roof is blue in colour so is nice and cold ie well insulated with very little heat escaping through it.

In stark contrast we see that the walls are coloured red which proves that a lot of costly heat – and carbon emissions – is pouring out the house. For more details on insulating a solid wall home click external wall insulation

With funds for most people being tight for the forseeable future an infrared thermal imaging scan can help the home-owner decide where best to spend his money to maximise the savings in energy use and thereby save the most on the winter heating bills.

Thermal Imaging Highlights Penetrating Damp

Another really effective use of infra red camera technology that a thermal scan of the house can illustrate is how water penetration into the outer leaf of the wall drops the temperature and leads to internal condensation damp.

In this instance the infraed survey is conducted on the internal walls when the heating has been on for over an hour. The point here is to see how warm or otherwise the inside surface of the wall is in comparison to an internal wall. In a lot of cases the temperature difference is quite staggering and immediately explains why damp and black spot mould is attacking certain walls and not others.

Wall coatings can help reduce heat loss

The below image shows a house whose walls are nice and dry and as a result its thermal efficiency is greatly increased leading to heat being retained inside the home and a nice cold outer leaf :

Seeing is Believing !

The next time someone tells you their coating or paint will keep the walls drier or warmer then ask to see the proof of what they claim rather than taking it at face value.

At Wethertex we offer a thermal scan to all home-owners interested in finding out just how well their walls,roofs and glazing are performing in keeping that expensive heat on the inside of the house and not in the air outside.

WETHERTEX -  better for the experience