EXPERT ADVICE
The British Isles is renowned for its stone properties and you can see them everywhere from small flint cottages to large stately homes and everything in between — such as old farmhouses and manor houses. Every owner of one of these properties – whether that be a private homeowner or a larger body such as The National Trust – will be familiar with both the beauty and attraction of using stone, as well as the pitfalls of owning a stone building.
The first step in understanding your stone building is to identify whether it’s a historic building, i.e. built pre-1919 with solid wall construction and without a damp-proof course, or with a cavity wall, as this is key to it being a modern building. This article focuses on historic stone buildings rather than modern buildings.
INSULATION AND THERMAL PERFORMANCE
A key consideration when modernising or upgrading an old stone building is what level of thermal performance you are trying to achieve
