Insulation removal
Failed cavity fill extracted and the brickwork made good.
Cavity wall insulation works well in the right house. In the wrong one, on an exposed wall or a property that was never suitable, it bridges the cavity and lets damp track straight through to the inside wall. Once that starts, the insulation has to come out before anything else will fix it.
We establish what was installed, where the damp is showing and whether the cavity is genuinely bridged. Not every damp wall is a cavity problem and it is worth being sure before opening the wall up.
Bricks removed at set positions and the cavity cleared, working across the affected elevations. Fibre, bead and foam all come out differently.
The cavity is cleared of debris and mortar snots as well as insulation, because those bridge a cavity just as effectively.
Bricks reinstated and re-pointed to match. Where a wall needs to be re-insulated afterwards with a suitable system, we will talk you through what is appropriate for that property.
Typical signs are damp patches on inside walls that follow the weather rather than the seasons, worst on the wall that takes the driving rain. It is usually the exposed elevation. A borescope inspection will show whether the cavity is bridged.
Many were not. Exposed properties, walls in poor condition and narrow or irregular cavities were all filled during the grant schemes when they should not have been. That is why the removal trade exists at all.
Yes. Bricks are taken out at intervals to reach the cavity and put back afterwards. Done properly the wall looks as it did, allowing for the fact that new pointing never matches weathered mortar exactly.
Sometimes, with a system suited to that wall, and sometimes the right answer is to leave the cavity clear and insulate internally or externally instead. We will give you a straight view rather than sell you the same thing twice.
Straight answers to the questions that usually come before a cavity wall insulation removal job.
Cavity walls stay dry because the gap stops rain crossing from the outer leaf to the inner one. When the fill gets wet, whether from driving rain on an exposed wall, a leaking gutter or debris in the cavity, it carries that water across and the inside wall goes damp in patches. The fix is to find why the fill is wet, and where the wall or the exposure was never suitable, to take the fill out.
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Materials and systems we work with
