I have just read the BBA/ NHBC foundation's   Full Fill Cavity Wall Insulation in Areas of Very Severe Exposure to Wind-driven Rain  2016 When BBA issue a certificate for cavity wall insulation it must have passed their standard test which essentially involves building a section of brand new cavity wall in a lab with standard wall ties and either constructing it with built in insulation batts or applying a blown in product after it has been constructed. The test rig has no features that are representative of a real house. Most people would say It's reasonable to assume that most houses will have doors, window and utilities passing through the cavity. But the document indicates that BBA test have not included these for the past 40 years. Most certificates have been issued with the condition that the cavity must be >=50mm and for that the product was deemed effective are limiting water penetration to the inner skin. There are some restrictions on fair faced masonry and e

Following on from the previous blog where I looked into the 4 in 1000 rate of 'claims' against a CIGA guarantee. There are however are far more  interesting statistics to report on that would be genuinely useful but  not in the public domain. CIGA do provide some limited information about extractions in the remediation report. From CIGA's 2018 Annual Report: "2017/18 Financial Year the approved costs for remedial work totalled £929,537.00 involving work at 964 homes which were completed at an average cost of £964.25 Cavity clearance was the main intervention, accounting for 63% of the works. " That means that 607 cavities clearances were funded by CIGA in 2017-2018. If CIGA closed 5,558 cases in the same time period then that’s 17% of closed ‘concerns' resulting in remediation and  11% of concerns resulting  cavity clearance in that reporting period.  It begs the question of what happens to the 83% of claims that CIGA bats away as they

There was a recent item on BBC4's You and Yours on the rise of cavity claim companies. CIGA's CEO Nigel Donohue was interviewed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000110y I agree with the thrust of the item. The rise in bogus claims by claims management companies is deeply unhelpful and muddies the waters for those with genuine complaints.   If the industry is swamped by bogus claims then it becomes even more difficult to prioritise the vulnerable who have had their homes destroyed by poorly installed or inappropriate retrofit. However, in many ways the industry gets what it deserves as its redress system is so poor that it's not surprising that claims companies have latched on to it like a big fat leech. The irony is that Nigel says that now that PPI is drying up; The claims companies look towards CWI as an income stream as and CIGA is a victim. PPI redress was one of the best known examples of oversight finally being applied to a corrupt industry with a culture of