Circa 2000 timber frame home

albob

Hi,
I am considering making a bid on a circa 2000 timber frame house. One aspect that concerns me is the c2 BER rating. I'd obviously get the house survayed by an engineer before any deal would close but the difficulty/cost of increasing the BER rating will also impact what I am will to bid on the house in the 1st place. I have asked for the BER documentation as I hope that will highlight the areas of inefficency found by the assesser, but some question that you might be able to advise on:
1) Am I right that when it comes to timber frame the only real options for added insulation is internal or external?
2) The house currently has gas fiore under floor heating down-stairs. Does UFH work well in older timberframe houses or will I be crippled in terms of the cost of running it?
3) How easy is it to retro-fit air to water to existing UFH systems?
4) I'm guessing air-tightness is important in older timber frame houses given that they lack a termal mass...is this expensive to get done?

Thanks

Dudda

Is it timber frame with a block outer leaf that’s plastered or timber frame with some type of external cladding (including rendered board) or one of them imported log kit houses?

Metric Tensor

1. Almost certainly internal only.
2. The lesser thermal mass will make it "lose heat" faster than a masonry dwelling but it will also gain heat faster when heating from cold! Generally UFH systems work better when the house is kept at a constant temperature rather than being allowed cool down and then reheat. How easy it is to maintain the constant temperature is more related to the quality of the workmanship than the timber frame vs traditional masonry build.
3. Easy retrofit but expensive to run and pointless unless the house means a certain insulation and air-tightness standard.
4. Yes it is important. It's not the cost that will get you - it's the fact that it's almost impossible to get right unless you strip the house back to nothing. A/T really needs to be done at construction - after that you're just putting lipstick on a pig!


Edited to add: I'm assuming "traditional" timber frame. i.e. A timber framed inner leaf and a masonry external leaf with an open cavity between the two.

albob

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, from what I can tell it is traditional timber build (timber framed inner leaf and a masonry external leaf (red brick, not plastered)).

I guess a good engineer will be able to fill in all the gaps (in knowledge) during a survey. I just don't want to be stuck in a cold house that will be expensive to retrofit.

Thanks

Wartburg

albob wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

I guess a good engineer will be able to fill in all the gaps (in knowledge) during a survey. I just don't want to be stuck in a cold house that will be expensive to retrofit.

Thanks

You just need to find an engineer with x-ray eyes. Or someone with a proper air tightness testing equipment, a thermal imaging camera and some experience of where to expect potential air leakages and how to understand thermal images.

albob

Turns out downstairs is one single zone whrn it comes to under floor heating My expectation is that this could be a nightmare both in terms of running cost, and trying to regulate a comfortable temp across the ground floor. Anyone with experience gave advice?
Thanks

pale rider

I have a house with oil fired ufh, the complete slab heats, it is unoccupied quite a bit and the slab takes several hours to heat up but when it does it is a lovely even heat throughout the downstairs area and easy to regulate, don't run your boiler at a high temp, lower works well with ufh