Exterior Insulation and Rendering

Hi Everyone

So we have moved to our 60 years old double brick house which we have renovated recently. We are also considering to render outside as bricks are in pretty bad condition.

I am regretting not thinking about the insulation while renovating inside.
Has anyone tried or know of any cost effective method of insulation from the exterior of the house or even better if it can be a replacement of the rendering in the similar cost price.

I was looking online apparently Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) has some fire resistance issues.
Just wondering if anyone has used any method or has done any research regarding it.

Thanks in Advance.

 

If it is double brick, it has a high R value, you would be better off addressing areas like windows (double glazing) and air leaks as well as the ceiling space (roof insulation). Bricks take several days of hot weather to heat up, then will radiate that heat for days afterwards.

Alternatives to cement render would be battens and fibre cement (eg scyon) however it would add additional thickness to the walls but reduce the transmission of heat to the brickwork.

 

Thanks @Scott No Mates . I will have a look online for those fiber battens. So is that means if I get roof insulated and fix windows, that might be enough for insulation for our house?

 

Address the roofspace as the No 1 priority.

Windows and doors account for the next areas to be fixed.

 

You can get pump in insulation for brick veneer walls - it is a treated paper based fluff. It is especially good if the house is old enough not to have wrap as it fill both the cavity between the brick and the interior gyprock giving a very high R value - useful if in Canberra.

 

A DB house may have issues with the roof and floor and perhaps...windows but thats just seals etc. Spending on DB walls for insulation may be of trivial merit v cost. Filling any gap between the walls may worsen heat transmission through to the inner wall by loss of the gap. DB properties can also heat up and take longer to shed heat over time.

Air conditioning the interior may be a far most cost effective fix for cost v benefit. Insulation benefits can be measured by temperature split. How much temperature is improved. An A/C can be as much as from 43oC exterior to 23oC (a 20oC split) interior which gives absolute comfort vs a few degrees using insulation. No amount of insulation will get that benefit. An AC can cool a hot house in a short time. Or heat it efficiently if its reverse cycle.

 

Thanks Guys.
so at the moment I am asking around for people who can do ceiling insulation. Looks like wall insulation might be a big cost as some people have mentioned. We have air-conditioner fitted for the whole house, so maybe we will wait for a little while to see how things go. I might even put rendering on hold for a little while. Being closer to the Sydney airport aircraft noise has been an issue too. SO I think we will start with ceiling insulation and windows fixing and hopefully that will help with both noise and the weather.
Don't have too much money left after renovations and don't want to over capitalize the house either.

 

Any money spent on unseen items like comfort, insulation, energy efficiency etc is unappreciated by buyers whilst there is no mandated standards for building energy efficiency.

 

Hi everyone

Thank you for your responses earlier. So now we are just looking for the ceiling insulation. Got 2-3 quotes from different insulation companies.
Now the question is which insulation to go for???- one installer said if we go for spray pump insulation, it will be more effective then the Batt ones.
Does anyone has a preference of one over the other. The pump one is couple of hundreds more expensive but then the installer said it has the life time warranty on it.
I am just worrying about the access to electrical wires and stuff after the roof is covered with the spray on insulation.
Thanks in Advance!!