Frequently Asked Questions

 It depends where the mould is starting to grow. The problem with retrofit insulation is that parts of the house that have been left out or have poorly installed insulation have far greater pressure on that area for heat loss. With the heat loss also comes moisture vapor which will readily condensate on the colder surface. Examples of this would be around window reveals and along the top of external walls. Also, when you insulate a property you are air tightening the house and lowering the level of air leakage. Many times, we see that vents have been reduced in size as the installer has not extended the wall sleave. The other issue is that before you retrofitted the insulation you had large areas of external walls where a small amount of moisture vapor could condensate and dry off. Now because of the warmer walls you have very small parts of the external walls for condensation to form and far more moisture, hence the perfect conditions for mould growth. Most times the ventilation is out of balance but quite often there are problems with the insulation that can be easily fixed. See thermal imaging for examples. 

We see this problem very often when people have installed new windows to solve condensation problems. Very often they buy very good quality triple glazed windows which are very airtight. Only to find out in a couple of months they have mould growth around the window reveals and in other areas of the house where there was no problem before. We would recommend solving the condensation problem on your old windows no matter how bad the windows are before you buy new triple glazed windows. Also when replacing old windows make sure the reveals are insulated. The fact that you had condensation on your windows before means you have a ventilation or heating problem. Buying new windows only air tightens the property more and stops the condensation on the window panes. The problem has not gone away but has move to the next coldest surface which may not be visible to you. You cannot insulate your way out of a condensation problem without proper ventilation.

Solving mould growth is a combination of heating, insulation, and ventilation. If you leave one of these elements out, then it is a battle trying to combat mould growth. So absolutely we do recommend insulation but always take a whole house approach and not just one area. When you start insulating your home you must take into account ventilation because the more you insulate the more you air tighten your property. Be aware of some of the pit falls when insulating your property as we come across many simple mistakes which cost a fortune to correct. Always get a trained and qualified insulation installer. Please see the thermal imaging and heat loss section

Over the last 10 years there has been a massive number of stoves installed in place of open fires. Many people have experienced mould growth since they installed the stove but are unsure of the reason why. If the stove was installed in place of an open fire, the flue of the fireplace was equivalent to 8 wall vents. The flue of the fireplace would be acting as a large passive vent and could be giving a large percentage of the passive ventilation to the house. Also people may be heating their homes differently, by using the stove to heat the living area they may be only heating the bedrooms for one to two hours in the evening. While the air in the bedrooms might be warm, the walls will have not heated to the same degree. So if there is high humidity in the house there is real risk of mould growth in the bedrooms especially the north facing bedroom.

You would be surprised about the number of vents you need, it is not just one vent in the bedrooms and sittingroom. Also the type of grill you have on the outside wall can really effect the flow rate of the vent, if you have the vent open most of the time. You will only know if the fan is working if you test it using a anemometer and get the flow rate. But that is only a small part of our survey to see if ventilation is the issue. Please see our thermal imaging and damp survey to see the other areas you should cover to find out the reason for mould growth.

Thermal imaging is a particularly good tool to find out the reason why the room is hard to heat. Factors such as the orientation of the room or been overshadowed, missing insulation, air leakage, sludge buildup in the radiator or the poor heat output of the radiator all have influence on the rooms ability to retain heat. See our thermal imaging and heat loss survey.

With thermal imaging, moisture meters and borescopes we can determine were the moisture is coming from. Penetrating damp is usually quite different from moisture damage from condensation. But sometimes in excessive conditions moisture can travel through walls and ceilings and condensate within the structure. A whole house survey should always be taken as you may have a number of different issues and moisture created in the house can affect many areas. 

During our thermal imaging and damp survey we inspect the attic for ventilation and insulation problems. We will take a reading of the moisture content in the attic and if there looks to be any problems with condensation we take a moisture reading of the rafters. We let you know if there any problems and how to correct the problem.

Yes, we can thermal image your walls and ceilings which will quickly let us know if it is thermal bridging and missing insulation that is causing the mould growth or moisture ingress. Many people who have their walls pumped with insulation will find that there is a thermal bridge along the top of the wall from the cavity been closed off with a solid block. Along the ceiling there may be missing insulation but went you look up in the attic you will not see this area of missing insulation.

Yes we can as we see this problem each week of poorly planed or installed insulation and the problem this can cause in the form of heat loss and mould growth. Our surveyor is trained to install insulation and has trained with the PCA to find problems with retrofit insulation. It is only when you thermal image a house that you see the common thermal bridges that you would not have considered to be an issue. But these thermal bridges can lead to excessive heat loss and if there is poor ventilation in the house then mould growth.

Yes we specialize in installing systems that are tamper proof and reactive to the amount of moisture tenants create. If you are renting a property you really need a system that can cope with different levels of moisture created as there are a lot of different factors leading to excessive moisture production.  See our section on landlords.

Yes the solutions we offer are according to the current building guidelines and our installer is a registered domestic ventilation installer.

All installations for ventilation systems in new houses from 2019 have to be installed by a certified installer and tested by a third party. We are certified to install for all domestic ventilation systems..