I wrote to CIGA explaining that the 25 year guarantee certificate does not mention anything about the how having a cavity full of wool changes the mode of failure in terms of water ingress compared ot the original empty cavity. It's a well accepted fact that cavity walls were designed to keep the water away from the inner leaf and problems arise when anything other than air sits in the cavity providing a bridge that could result in water ingress. If you have cracks in the render then it may cause some water to enter to the inner surface of the external wall just as with wind driven rain. However the presence of insulation material can lead to bridging and penetration into the inner leaf, particularly if it there are gaps.  In the case of wool it can become saturated and never dry out leading to an obvious damp mass which readily transfers to the inner leaf. I argue that with cavity full of wool, the mode of failure when presented with severe weather, or cracks in the mortar is c...

While awaiting the CIGA inspector number 2. I thought I would try to grow some microherbs on the wool, since my tests have shown that it seems to hold water from evaporating rather well. Rock wool is used in hydroponics because the structure can hold large amounts of water and air for developing roots and provided a good 3d structure to support them. For simple cress, it works marvellously. With just one initial watering of the insulation the cress was able to grow and complete it's life cycle on a 30degree day. From what I understand rock wool for hydroponics has been treated to bring the pH to a foliage friendly range. Not sure about glass wool. Egg and cress roll anyone?

CIGA agreed that my insulation needed to be removed, but then took no responsibility for it! I pointed out that it was an illegal install into a narrow cavity and repeated it 3 times before they replied: Despite your references to a less than adequate cavity width this has no relevance to the lack of maintenance which has resulted in compromised insulation and internal décor damage. What does less than adequate mean? Inadequate. Here are some other words from the thesaurus entry for inadequate : -  deficient, faulty, incompetent, incomplete, lacking. I asked them if I could remove the material myself and then claim the cost back through arbitration. "The CIGA guarantee covers the insulation in your property, once the cavity wall insulation has been removed there will no longer be a guarantee on your property. If there is no guarantee on the property the arbitration process isn’t available." This is insane. They know there is a problem and the internal de...

Our living room has what's called an open flue solid fire -  or an open fire for burning coal and wood to you and me. For a fire to function safely it needs to be able to draw new air into a room , use the oxygen as part of combustion and allow  the heat and smoke is drawn up the chimney and out of the building. Old buildings  were pretty draughty and the the fire could draw enough air though the house but as we have strived to make houses airtight,  building regulations have dictated that open fires require a dedicated vent which travels through the cavity wall to the outside world in order for the flue to work effectively. As part of the CWI installation checks, any room with an open fire was required to have an airvent From CIGA Technical install guide " ' Flues, chimneys and combustion air ventilators 2006"   which is the guidance in use when our CWI would have been installed. It states quite clearly that a 225mm x 125mm sleeved...

CIGA issues a 25 year guarantee on an installation however from the surveying guide -  "suitability of external walls for filling with cavity wall insulation 2003" PROVISION AND RETENTION OF RECORDS The client should be provided with a copy of the assessment report. The documented assessment report should be provided to the Technician. After installation the documented assessment report should be retained at the installer’s office together with other records relating to the installation. Records should be retained for 10 years. This doesn't make any sense at all. One of the main complains that consumers have is that of an inadequate survey. In our case as the installer has gone bust we don't have a chance of getting a copy of the assessment report. By capping the requirement at 10 years , installers can quite happily shred their documents with 15 years remaining on the guarantee. This guide was issued in 2003 so I don't know what the current guidance for r...

Confirmation bias is a cognitive error that people make when they are only willing to accept new information when it confirms what they already believe. People who fall into the trap of confirmation bias tend to purposefully seek out evidence that supports already solidified beliefs and purposefully reject any evidence that goes against those beliefs. -  Peter Wason When CIGA's inspector came to assess my damp complaint, it became pretty obvious that their agenda was to gather evidence for poor maintenance and gloss over anything that may suggest another cause. As mentioned, the inspector did not check the loft space where I found all the spillage, did not measure the cavity widths, did not comment on the drilling pattern. Failed to investigate the condensation in the bedroom. Did not use thermal imaging to look for voids or slumps in the insulation, did not inspect the wall ties even though it was stated as a primary concern. Their conclusion - poor maintenance is the cause ...

5 days after soaking the sample of insulation and putting it in an open container in a window it looked pretty sad and dried out. But it's actually still highly saturated with water as demonstrated by placing a kitchen towel on top.  If this is still wet after 5 days in the open on a summer day then what chance does a closed cavity with kilograms of the is stuff have of drying out.  If you imagine the piece of tissue paper below being your new plaster board, then you can see that it will eventually wick the water and ruin your internal decor again and again. It simply has to be removed.