BER rating?

JD2016

Hi There

We are looking for a little advice regarding which regulations we fall under when it comes to the BER rating.

We received planning permission back in 2008 for a storey and a half dwelling. We received an extension until 2018 but are hoping to build this year.

Our builder has asked that we check which regulations we fall under i.e BER rating from when our planning permission was granted or new BER regulations (A3 i believe) as per the new updated regulations of 2014.

We have been told, to achieve a BER rating of A3 is more costly whereas a rating of B1 or B2 (which our builder has promised us) would bring the building cost down significantly. Is this true? We understand there is a saving to be made on energy costs the higher the rating but at this stage we are worried about our building budget to be honest.

Any information regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.

sydthebeat

you are subject to the most recent (2011) building regulations

Metric Tensor

Which specify an MPCPC and MPEPC value that the house must meet rather than specifying a rating it must achieve. In practice this usually matches quite closely with the ratings but it is worth being clear that you have to meet the Part L regulations rather than hit a specific rating.

The person doing your DEAP calculations and designs will tell you all you need to know.

It will be more expensive to meet the 2011 regulations than it was to meet the 2008 ones. There is nothing you can do about this.

Gumbo

You are only commencing now so you need to comply with the current building regulations. That's 2011 in Part L's case.

Calahonda52

OP: welcome to Boards. We hope to learn lots from you in your journey
the others have covered the regs

I had to laugh at this
[ (which our builder has promised us) would bring the building cost down significantly] Typical

Have you mentioned an airtightness target for him yet? perhaps 0.3 m3/(h.m2) at 50 pascals:D

Given the stage you are at I would aim to beat A3

Divide the budget into 2 bits:
One bit for the building envelope/fabric
second bit for stuff that can be done or upgraded later
eg a 5k ikea kitchen now and 20k more on building envelope/fabric is much better than a 25k kitchen now.
20k on the fabric , iff done properly, will save u energy cost each year.
You will still burn the fruit salad in a 25k kitchen.

In the extreme case, I would resize the house, i.e. reduce it even and build better energy efficiency than bigger and crappier.

Bedtime Reading
https://www.nsai.ie/S-R-54-2014-Code-of-Practice.aspx
http://www.environ.ie/en/TGD/
including the ACD's

Gumbo

Calahonda52 wrote: »

OP: welcome to Boards. We hope to learn lots from you in your journey
the others have covered the regs

I had to laugh at this
[ (which our builder has promised us) would bring the building cost down significantly] Typical

Have you mentioned an airtightness target for him yet? perhaps 0.3 m3/(h.m2) at 50 pascals:D

Given the stage you are at I would aim to beat A3

Divide the budget into 2 bits:
One bit for the building envelope/fabric
second bit for stuff that can be done or upgraded later
eg a 5k ikea kitchen now and 20k more on building envelope/fabric is much better than a 25k kitchen now.
20k on the fabric , iff done properly, will save u energy cost each year.
You will still burn the fruit salad in a 25k kitchen.

In the extreme case, I would resize the house, i.e. reduce it even and build better energy efficiency than bigger and crappier.

Bedtime Reading
https://www.nsai.ie/S-R-54-2014-Code-of-Practice.aspx
http://www.environ.ie/en/TGD/
including the ACD's

+1

And don't forget an air tightness test is mandatory now, and building control in Dublin city request all test result sheets for new dwellings.

JD2016

Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated.

JD2016

Calahonda52 thank you for the light reading I will get stuck into this tomorrow.

Just to be a little clearer ( I may have worded it incorrectly ) but the comments by the builder where a mere throw away comment when we were inspecting the work in his house ( Which is a B2 rated house ) . To be honest we are new to all this and had never even considered the changes in the regulations until he mentioned it, he had also mentioned the increased costs which are true from the information im getting .

Your comments regarding splitting the budget makes so much sense to me and this is what I want to achieve its just getting the right information from the right people before we choose what to spend our money on.

Fingers crossed.

Calahonda52

JD2016 wrote: »

.... he had also mentioned the increased costs which are true from the information im getting .....

.....

There will be increased cost for material yes, however many builders overstate the cost increase on the basis they have to do much work and want to avoid a high level of airtightness as it means more attention to detail and coordination by all trades. The thing it does not suit is the trades who flit from job to job as its suits
" Yeah, I will be there Tuesday" , but in fact it becomes Thursday with consequential impact on the proper sequencing of work

Remember the A/T number is easily measurable very early in in the project, and should be checked before its too late to fix.

Your builder friend will want it as high as possible

The reality is that you may never get whatever the U value should be on cavity walls etc but unless its really really bad its tough to have any redress.
Good airtightness is a good proxy for insulation to work well: and as the A/T layer and all the tapes, grommets and other paraphernalia that goes with the A/T layer are all visible immediately post installation its easy to manage

galwaytt

Calahonda52 wrote: »

There will be increased cost for material yes, however many builders overstate the cost increase on the basis they have to do much work and want to avoid a high level of airtightness as it means more attention to detail and coordination by all trades. The thing it does not suit is the trades who flit from job to job as its suits
" Yeah, I will be there Tuesday" , but in fact it becomes Thursday with consequential impact on the proper sequencing of work

Remember the A/T number is easily measurable very early in in the project, and should be checked before its too late to fix.

Your builder friend will want it as high as possible

The reality is that you may never get whatever the U value should be on cavity walls etc but unless its really really bad its tough to have any redress.
Good airtightness is a good proxy for insulation to work well: and as the A/T layer and all the tapes, grommets and other paraphernalia that goes with the A/T layer are all visible immediately post installation its easy to manage

.."many builders overstate the cost increase..."

Sorry ?? If I get a letter from a supplier advising of a price increase in materials or somesuch I quite regularly show that to clients. If anything I understate or depending on the job, make a commercial decision on whether to pass it on at all.

Calahonda52

galwaytt wrote: »

.."many builders overstate the cost increase..."

Sorry ?? If I get a letter from a supplier advising of a price increase in materials or somesuch I quite regularly show that to clients. If anything I understate or depending on the job, make a commercial decision on whether to pass it on at all.

To clarify

They make it more expensive as in many, not all, cases they don't to do it so they jack up the labour as well: claim its much expensive to install the "dearer" insulation