I previously posted about CIGA deleting their business from google in order to remove bad reviews. Which occurred coincidentally around the time they were applying for Trustmark accreditation. CIGA now takes a leaf from George Orwell's  Ministry of truth pretending they never existed. They have recently renamed their CWISC google business to now be the main CIGA business. The CWISC( self certification scheme) resides at the same physical address and so easy enough to change. The result is a relatively squeaky clean rating. This is suspicious of rogue trader behaviour. This is what the google page looked like last year - 16 terrible review evaporated.

The most popular post on this blog  details the problems of blocking the cavity with insulation in the presence of impermeable paint/render. Here To recap the events since. Energy Saving Trust had provided me with technical guidance regarding the likely problems :   "It is certainly the case that adding a coat of paint or other material with lower vapour permeability to a wall with relatively high permeability will affect the way moisture can travel through the wall. It is also the case that adding insulation to a wall at any point will also affect the way moisture behaves and travels within the wall. If the wall has been externally painted with a low permeability material, then these guidelines may not be sufficient to minimise risk of unintended consequences, and so we advise that the pre insulation survey takes full account of the situation, and the likely behaviour of moisture in the wall post insulation." EST also stated that it's CIGA's responsibility to...

Cavity Wall insulation is associated with increased indoor humidity which is a risk factor for condensation and mould. Home owners suffering from black mould are told by installers and CIGA inspectors that humidity and condensation is the cause of their damp, yet home owners are also told that 'disturbing the insulation' which includes installing through wall vents apparently invalidates the 25 CIGA guarantee.  The industry need to stop blaming home owners and guarantees should be fit for purpose.  Occupiers instinctively know that living in a dwelling with visible mould has health implications. With the recent publication of the PAS2035 standards for retrofit  ventilation has been promoted to a 1st class citizen which must be addressed in any retrofit. Ventilation is incredibly important for the management of humidity, controlling mould growth and expelling various particulates from the room. The sort of particulates that are thought to be detrimental incl...

I'm slowly getting there in this long saga documenting the poor standard of CWI installed into our 1930s property. But over a year later and I'm still finding very basic examples of poor workmanship. This one is somewhat subtle but demonstrates why pumping in installation with minimal understanding of the building fabric is utterly reckless.  It has become apparent that the external DPC protrudes into the cavity and it does so in all the walls of the old part of house as illustrated in the diagram below. The DPC has a mortar bed on top of it which makes it very rigid and acts as a pinch point capable of snagging large pieces of bricks and mortar as they drop into the cavity, holding them against the internal wall above the DPC level. The impact of CWI on a protruding DPC The presence of such debris causes a thermal bridge (condensation spot risk) to the internal wall quite a few bricks up from the internal DPC and so any moisture that enters the cavity has ...

This blog post is entirely based on publicly available information. In an apparent 'road to Damascus conversion' Neil Marshall Chief Executive at National Insulation Association (NIA) set up a twitter account @cavityInsulat1 in late July 2019 and proceeded to express concern about mass failures in CWI. He claimed to be involving 'key stakeholders' and calling for a national survey of the the problem similar in scope to the NIHE report which I've previously summarised  here . Marshall initally presented himself as "CIEA" I understand that he made contact and with installers, CIVALLI, BRE and government departments with the stated goal of creating an alliance to set standards for extraction of insulation. [cavity extraction is unregulated]. I don't think anyone ever took his efforts seriously as the 'association' changed names at least 3 times that I'm aware of - broadening in scope each time with the last moniker being "In...

CIGA used to have a statement on their website which said that those identified as vulnerable would be able to go thorough ADR without charge.  It appears to have disappeared. Someone in dire need contacted me and I suggested that they would certainly be classed as vulnerable and should contact CIGA to explain. Only I could not find any references to this scheme on the current website. This is not nit picking. There are vulnerable people who are suffering terribly with the consequences of poorly installed, on inappropriate insulation. If they don't know about this scheme then they won't know to ask. The vulnerability policy was also a key point in the Each Home Counts 'case study' of CIGA. Looking at an earlier snapshot  - it't is very clear. Here is link to the arbitration information  https://ciga.co.uk/independent-arbitration-dispute-process/ I have taken a snapshot of the   current version of the website on Friday 30 Aug 2019. There is no mentio...

I'm not a buildings expert but since becoming a home owner, but I have enjoyed learning about the construction and history of my house and houses in general. In an older post I talked about  lintels and cavity trays . During my ongoing renovation I've been able to obtain deeper access to the structure. The UPCV windows had plastic trim/architrave internally which when removed allowed a scope to be passed into the cavity. I was expecting boot lintels but in both places I checked (the front door and toilet window) there are separate concrete lintels for the internal out external skin separated by an air gap. In fact the gap is continuous with the cavity and so should have been filled with insulation. The lintel above the front door has a taper which would direct water away form the inner wall however due to the current position of the front door that would be inside the house. I believe doors were previously placed further towards the inside of the wall. The followi...