Attention: Mr. Tim Renouf
Wren Industries P/L (Concertina Foil Batts)
26 March 2010
Dear Tim
I am making this enquiry in regard to the effects of glass fibre and fibre glass insulation batts and their inappropriate use for residences especially in communities on the
eastern seaboard of
My name is John Jenkins and I am a Manager in the Finance Industry, with no connection to insulation at all. Last year during the Government’s free insulation program,
the Complex where I live which is gated and comprises about 200 units, the Body Corporate took the step of having the buildings which are brick anyway insulated.
I did my own checks with the
installers and they were using yellow glass fibre batts made of course from
product imported from
One of the workers laughed and stated it was the cheapest shit on the market.
Since that installation both myself and residents (and other friends have also reported this to me as well), have felt a quite dramatic effect, not a reduction in heat but
at least a 20% increase in heat which is especially felt at night when outside ambient temperatures begin to drop after 6pm. 20% may not seem like much, but when
you have to live with it all the time you either in my case the heat effects place a drain on your health, loss of energy etc, or you put fans on continuously to counter the heat.
However
generally my health has suffered during the last 6 months.
We do not have air conditioning, only fans which now being covered by this matting (batts) runs very hot and burns your finger if you reach up and touch them when they
are running over an hour. Of course that has
been the experience during the summer months and I won’t be hanging around for
next summer as I could not stand it again.
Even if air conditioning was installed here, this doesn’t solve the problem of the purpose of insulation, as I would be burning electricity with the air conditioning on for
several hours to reduce the
temperature to keep the place cool.
Even I can see that glass-fibre matting does not meet even the definition of insulation really, from my experience, this product only absorbs radiant heat and then
transmits it when the ambient temperature begins
to drop in the afternoon.
Insulation means some kind of highly reflective material that creates a barrier between the actual roof from environmental radiation. Anything else is not permanent or
productive, does not add to the nation’s
productivity and is a waste of either taxpayers money or a householders
savings.
My address is Unit 50 / 111,
body corporate managers. They weren’t interested in a solution only what they could get out of it and the installers just put the cheapest garbage in they could.
Because the units only have ceiling fans I would suspect
there could be a fire caused from heat at some point in the future as this
cheap material degrades.
Kind Regards
John Jenkins
Unit 50/ 111 Markeri St, Mermaid Waters QLD 4218
M: 0415 755 771 john@securefinance.com.au