[onion2k]

I wonder if that correlates with the average age of houses. The UK has a lot of buildings that are well over 100 years old that can only be insulated by stuffing cavity walls full of an insulating material. My house is 126 years old, and despite my best efforts it's still terrible.

[rcxdude]

I would suspect so, but a lot of the stock since then isn't that much better. There was a lot of building up to the 60s but they weren't exactly well regarded for quality. And new builds have a bad reputation now for similar reasons, as even though the minimum standards have risen they're still not particularly great (and especially not a very good tradeoff between quality and cost).

[walthamstow]

I'm very surprised to hear that such an old house has cavity walls. I would expect solid brick walls in Flemish bond. My house is 1970 and has them, they were much more common after the war.

[onion2k]

Old Victorian terraces in the North East where I live have them because they were built by very wealthy shipyard owners so they could afford to put up high quality housing, and they needed something to keep out the damp. Cavity walls made from two layers of brick with iron ties were the solution.

[walthamstow]

Blimey, NE weather and on the water as well, that's a tough heating/insulation job!