Insulation for old house

greengirl1968

Hi all,

I live in a house built in the 1970's. The doors and windows would need to be replaced as well as attic insulation. I can't get insulation pumped into the blocks as they're not suitable for this.

Has anyone used the one-stop shop service and let a contractor do all the work, apply for the grants etc?

I'm not looking at doing underfloor heating - would be process cover just windows, doors and attic or does it have to have underfloor & wall ?

Thanks

sydthebeat

the "one stop shop" option will only be open to you if you meet the following criteria:

Reach a BER of at least B2 after the work and have a BER improvement of 100kWh/m2 per year.

doing the doors and windows and attic may give you that 100kWh/m2 uplift, but it may not be enough to get you to a B2 rating (depending on your starting point)

what you need is a BER assessment to determine what the current rating is, and then a follow on assessment to discover what you need to do (practically) to meet the minimum criteria

Shoog

The BER target of B2 is to achieve a point whereby a heat pump becomes economical. They want everyone to eventually be on heat pumps.

B2 is a hard target to reach in an old house and probably unrealistic. It has a lot to do with airtightness and old buildings are simply never going to achieve airtightness at reasonable cost. The best approach, and the one they may well suggest, is external insulation but the cost of this is significant and still will not achieve the level of detailing required in many situations.

Gusser09

Getting to a B2 is extremely difficult. We were at an F. Had the attic insulated. Windows and doors done. External insulation done. New vents etc.

We managed to get it to a D1. Now I'm not convinced that is accurate but there you go. We have since blocked the fireplace up which might help even further.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994050#Comment_120994050

Any sniff of solid fuel within the building will knock you back at least one whole class.

B2 might need you to go to whole house ventilation as vents are a real energy leak.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994131#Comment_120994131

That includes Kerosene. Not sure how they expect people to heat their homes. Can't afford a heat pump. In saying that had my oil boiler upgraded this year to a Grant Vortex. The previous boiler was circa 15 years old. Hopefully that will help if I get another rating done.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994153#Comment_120994153

I am currently moving to a 2008 semi which has a BER of C3 currently. I aim to try to get it to B2 if I can. It had an open fire and currently has oil fired central heating. I decided it wasn't worth the cost of external insulation so will be adding 100mm of Urathane backed plasterboard, blow beads into the cavity for 100mm. I will be adding 300mm of rockwool to the loft. New high performance double glazing on all the windows. Whole house ventilation and finally woodpellet stove for the fireplace. The woodpellet gets a free pass since its carbon neutral. Where possible I will be taping around the new windows for airtightness.

I think I have a chance of getting to B2.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994200#Comment_120994200

Best of luck. I will get the BER redone now with the Fireplace blocked and Oil Boiler done. Will let you know how it goes.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994200#Comment_120994200

a couple of points:

1. make sure the efficiency of the wood pellet stove is significantly greater than the oil boiler you are replacing. if they are similar the change in teh BEr will be negligible
2. on air tightness, unless you actually get your house tested for air tightness, then there will be no allowance in the BER system for taping / membranes etc. If youre installing MHRV, the you really should get a test carried out, and deal with any leaks which are found
3. make sure whoever provides you with the windows / doors can provide a "letter of supply" and English test certificates for the windows / doors

Kerry25x

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120994050#Comment_120994050

Do you find a big difference yourself in terms of comfort and heat retention with the work you've had done? We're at an E2 currently and what you've listed here is pretty much what we're planning.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121091978#Comment_121091978

Yeah its a serious upgrade in terms of comfort. The heating goes on max 2 hours per day. We currently use about 500ltrs of kero per year.

Heating goes on at around 8-9pm and keeps house warm for 12hrs.

batistuta9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121091994#Comment_121091994

There you go. BERs a load of bollocks