Cavity Wall Insulation Times 2?

[susanxx]

Scenario, old lady, government paid for cavity wall insulation representative. Lady taken in by smooth talking nice man, already has cavity wall insulation, smooth talker tells her that it flies out through the ventilation bricks so she needs it doing again and its free. Well if its free I might as well have it done, great, sign dotted line daft old lady. Guy is such a smooth talker, he clocks she is watching 'Heartbeat' on tv and she says it her favourite programme, tells her he once was an extra and his dad supplied the panda cars!!!! Flies out through the bricks, please, where are the morals of these crooked companies, absolute pond life. But biggest question is finding out who to trust, how are they regulated and what agency can deal with this. Not CIGA, they just supply the guarantees, (on what pray tell), not Trust Mark, they give you phone numbers of trusted companies, you ring it, not in service, call them back with the error, they say its on their website, you dig deeper and find an article from the MEN dated Feb this year where company find £500,000 for death of old lady due to bad practise, obviously now out of business. Question, you can't have cavity wall twice can you?

[The Builder]

To answer your first question, Susan; no, you don't need it twice. It shouldn't even need topping up. (How could you tell?)

For your second question: who do you trust? Where there are "soft targets". there will always be chancers, a-holes, and "consultants".

A simple rule, worth following, is to reject anything unsolicited. If someone wants a product or service, then they should be pro-active. In other words, ask around. Recommendations, local knowledge etc.

Insulation installation is generally low-tech and straightforward. There are plenty of competent installers out there. Lists of approved contractors in this industry usually consist of anyone who can pay the registration fee. It is no guarantee.

This sort of thing will always happen, as long as vulnerable people continue to let them in the door.