I would like to see some before and after energy figures.

Was pondering the other day if sorting out houses really is the quickest and most effected way to get the UKs emissions down.
Would we not be better off tacking transport first as we are used to renewing vehicles but seem to only swap houses (due to the low build numbers).
in 2011, Transport was responsible for 119 Mt CO2, residential was 67 Mt.
(http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/stats/climate-change/4817-2011-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-provisional-figur.pdf)

Sorry for highjacking.

Well yes they should, but we are used to buying 'new improved' vehicles, though some choices are a bit iffy (like a Landrover or similar), we are also used to the motorist being crucified financially to use the roads. If the government applied the same methodology to housing then anyone that uses over x CO2/m^2 would have to have a higher licence fee and pay more overall.
The government though is scared to 'hit the hard working family' as well as the poor.
Just strikes me as strange that we may be tackling the wrong area first.
Always comes down to what is charged, we just need to charge more. But we both no that.

Off an a bit of a tangent I'm struck by the apparent difference in taste betweenthe industry view of a nice eco-refurb - straight lines and geometric section of natural wood cladding and the fancy UPVC front door, bay window and twiddly gold tipped metal railings. If it were more to peoples taste would it be easier to sell "eco"?

Be interesting to see if they can seperate the savings contribution from improved airtightness v.that of the insulation per se.

Haven't they just wrapped the building in a vapour barrier? On the cold side as well? Or am I missing something?

Well hope so and I hope they have 12 months data prior to installation, otherwise it is not possible to asses the improvement properly.

Not necessarily, it depends what insulation (if any (none I assume)) is present in the existing wall. If a solid wall, then the multifoil is the insulation, so the existing walls become warm. Just think of it as adding foil faced insulation boards onto the outside of a masonry building and then foil taping the joints. Same thing really.

I note that the original houses had nice over hanging eaves, so the gutters were clear of the wall. Shame that most Victorian house (1,000,000+ of them ?) don't have this handy feature. I am also interested in the maintenance of the MHVR system, for how long will the EXACT components be available as spares. How will non technical house holders know if their system has failed, has blocked filters/ failed louvres/ fuse blown in fan circuit?
Frank

Posted By: TimberNot necessarily, it depends what insulation (if any (none I assume)) is present in the existing wall. If a solid wall, then the multifoil is the insulation, so the existing walls become warm. Just think of it as adding foil faced insulation boards onto the outside of a masonry building and then foil taping the joints. Same thing really.

Still doesn't feel quite right and with foil faced boards the taping should theoretically at least be applied to the board joints on the inside warm face of the insulation which is pretty nigh impossible not just the outer shouldn't it?
Then thinking about foil faced boards in EWI what if the inside foil face is damaged and water vapour permeates, through the damaged sections of foil or if not taped then the joints themselves, into the insulation from where it can't escape and so condenses and wets the insulation which then fails to work effectively? Can this happen?

In Poland there is a material that is used for ewi that is breathable and apparently this is being used as standard. I don't know what it is yet, (my Polish is virtually non existent) but it is probably just a rock wool or glass wool batt. This allows the property to breathe whilst maintaining the air permeability rate. If I find out anything more I will post on here but I am sure someone on here knows already.

Mike, so it says, but surely the dewpoint will occur somewhere in the midst of all those layers of PET and hence the risk of interstitial condensation in the same way as it does for bulk and rigid insulation and so the need for a VCL in the construction? Unless the vapour whizzes through unhindered somehow

Yes Web Dynamics are pretty good with their certification however this ETA has the intended use of the product quoted as "a thermal insulation for roofs" where as is the norm for MFs it is "generally applied in conjunction with another insulation product"
So its being tested and approved as a multilayer reflective thermal insulation and hence tested against all the standards and parameters we would expect to see but nothing specific to this application.

I don't think so as long as its used in the application specified in the certificate and installed as per the manufacturer's instructions. Then again its difficult to quantify if a thermal insulation is not performing at level expected unless its being used in a temperature sensitive industrial type application

Ah there's some great ones out there. Nothing to do with Web Dynamics whatsoever but I've seen several pieces of literature where a BBA logo and certificate number is shown on a page but when opening the BBA, having first found it on a web search as there's no hyperlink in the actual document, finding that it refers to a totally different product and in a recent one a product that would be totally inappropriate for the application. Caveat emptor and all that

Hi Tom, do you know off hand which ones are welded?