The main question is whether your walls have a cavity. In most cases, if your home was built after 1930 using traditional brick construction, then it will have a cavity. You can check for yourself by making sure the walls are at least 10 inches thick and no 'brick ends' are visible (see below):
Another factor to take into account is whether the walls have already been filled. You can tell this by looking for signs of any holes in the joints of the mortar, about the size of a 10p piece. If you can see these, then the walls are likely to have been filled already.
Finally, some properties that have cavity walls are unsuitable if:
- they show signs of damp or the damp course has failed
- the house is timber or steel framed
- ventilation is inadequate
- the cavity is too narrow (less than 50mm or 2 inches)
- the cavity contains rubble or some other filling
All of these can easily be checked by a professional insulation surveyor. Follow this link for survey and quotation from one of the country's leading insulation firms.
