Do You Actually Know What’s In Your Rental’s Walls?
If you own a rental in Nelson, Tasman or Marlborough, you’ve been through the Healthy Homes process by now. Ceiling insulation topped up or replaced. Underfloor sorted. Compliance statement signed and filed.
Here’s the thing that catches most landlords out: none of that involved anyone looking at the walls.
The Healthy Homes insulation standard covers ceiling and underfloor insulation only. Walls aren’t part of it, so they aren’t inspected, aren’t measured, and don’t appear anywhere in your compliance documentation. Your property can be fully compliant and fully documented, and you still have no record of wall insulation.
They might be well insulated. They might be empty. Most landlords genuinely don’t know, and there’s no paperwork that would tell them unless the home has been through building consent and built after 1978.
That’s worth finding out, because an estimated 30 to 40 percent of a home’s heat is lost through uninsulated walls.
What the age of the house tells you
Construction date is the best rough guide.
New Zealand homes built from 1978 onward were generally built with wall insulation, because that’s when it became a requirement. If your rental is a 1990s or 2000s build, the walls almost certainly have something in them.
If your rental was built before April 1978, there’s a strong chance the walls were never insulated at all. That describes a large share of the rental stock across Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough. Some of those homes have had wall insulation retrofitted along the way, particularly if they’ve been renovated or re-clad, but plenty haven’t.
Why it’s worth checking, rather than assuming
If your walls turn out to be well insulated, that’s a good outcome and it costs you nothing to have confirmed.
Mould and condensation. Cold wall surfaces are where moisture condenses. That’s how you get mould on the inside of external walls, in wardrobes and behind furniture. It’s a maintenance cost, a source of tenant complaints, and under the Residential Tenancies Act it’s yours to deal with. Insulated walls hold their inside surface temperature up, which is the actual mechanism for reducing it.
Heating that can’t keep up. Your compliant heat pump is sized for the room. If the walls are letting heat out as fast as it goes in, tenants either stop heating the place (which makes the damp worse) or they leave.
Turnover. Warm, dry rentals hold tenants. A vacancy costs weeks of rent plus advertising and letting fees.
How we find out
A free assessment answers the question. Our assessor looks at the wall construction, the cladding type, and the cavities themselves, and tells if they are insulated or not.
If you own several properties, book one assessment and we’ll work through the portfolio together.
If the walls do need insulating
Most landlords assume the fix is a renovation, and with a tenanted property that’s close to a non-starter. You can’t strip the linings off an occupied house.
That assumption is out of date. Wall cavities in existing homes can be insulated without removing the linings at all.
Absolute Energy is an authorised CosyWall Insulation installer. CosyWall is a blown insulation system built specifically for insulating the walls of older homes without removing internal linings. Small holes are drilled through the internal linings.
For a tenanted rental, going in through the external cladding is often the better option, because the work happens entirely outside the house.
CosyWall has been installed in New Zealand homes since 2002 and delivers high installed R-values, along with acoustic performance, worth knowing if the property is on a main road or has close neighbours.
Your tenant doesn’t move out
This is what makes it workable for an occupied property.
Most homes are fully insulated with the CosyWall method within one day. No packing up rooms. No relocating anyone. No rent abatement conversation. No re-lining, repainting or replacing a single skirting board. Just gib stopping and paint.
You still need to give proper notice of entry under the Residential Tenancies Act, and it’s worth talking your tenant through what’s happening beforehand. But in practical terms it’s one day of access depending on the home size and location.
Which homes are suitable
Most older homes with a standard wall cavity are good candidates. Timber framing and most weatherboard construction generally work well.
Suitability comes down to the wall construction, and whether the cavities are clear and accessible. Some walls have blocked or unusually built cavities and need a different approach. That’s another thing the assessment confirms. We’d rather tell you at that point than halfway through a job.
What happens from here
- Book a free assessment online or on 0800 423 454. One of our team is in touch within 24 hours to arrange a site visit.
- Our assessor reviews the property, establishes what’s in the walls, recommends an approach if one’s needed, and quotes a solution that fits the property and your budget.
- We book the install (usually within three weeks of you accepting the quote) and coordinate access around your tenant.
- The install happens. Our installers check and photograph the completed work as a quality control measure.
- A qualified assessor completes a post-installation audit, checking and signing off the job, usually the same day.
That last step matters more for a landlord than almost anyone. Blown insulation is invisible once the holes are repaired, you’re not on site, and you can’t see into a wall cavity. The audit and the photographs are your record that the work was done properly, and, going forward, your record of what’s actually in the walls.
Funding
New Zealand’s largest banks, including ASB, ANZ and Westpac, now offer low interest or interest-free finance for home insulation upgrades. Our funding page sets out what’s available and what each option covers.
We work with landlords across Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough
Our wall insulation service covers Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough, run from our head office at 146 Pascoe Street, Annesbrook Nelson.
Absolute Energy has worked with landlords and property managers to bring thousands of rentals up to standard. We’ve been insulating homes and businesses for over 25 years, across more than 25,000 projects.
Frequently asked questions
No. The Healthy Homes insulation standard covers ceiling and underfloor insulation. Walls aren’t included, which is why they’re so often the one part of a compliant rental nobody has assessed.
Construction date is the best rough guide. Homes built from 1978 onward were generally built with wall insulation, and homes built before then often weren’t. But renovations, re-cladding and previous owners’ work all change the picture. A free assessment gives you a definite answer.
Then you’ll know, and you haven’t spent anything finding out.
Our wall insulation service covers Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough. If you’re outside that area, give us a call and we’ll let you know how we can help you.
Yes. Most homes are completed in one day and the tenant doesn’t need to move out. Normal notice of entry requirements under the Residential Tenancies Act still apply.
Insulated walls stay warmer on the inside surface, and warm surfaces don’t condense moisture the way cold ones do. Wall insulation retains heat and reduces dampness, which addresses one of the common causes of mould on external walls.
Yes. We work with landlords and property managers with portfolios of all sizes. Book one assessment and we’ll work through the properties with you.
Yes. CosyWall provides acoustic as well as thermal insulation, worth considering for properties on busy streets or with close neighbours.
Find out what’s in your walls
Compliance told you about the ceiling and the floor. It didn’t tell you about the walls, and it’s a free assessment to find out.
Book a Free Assessment or call 0800 423 454.