Should I be put off from low EPC rating and solid walls?

cwc100

Hello all,

I have found a period home built using solid walls, and the only thing that has me worried is the low EPC rating at E with a difference of about 4 points for potential rating at D. Savings in heating would only be about £50.00 per year. I'm generally quite frugal with my energy use (think jumper layers and blankets), but should I let the idea of low EPC rating and having solid walls with little potential for insulation put me off? It's also detached so I'm imagining that it might get cold easily. Thoughts? Thanks.

ed110220

cwc100 wrote: »

Hello all,

I have found a !!!!ly period home, built using solid walls, and the only thing that has me worried is the low EPC rating at E with a difference of about 4 points for potential rating at D. Savings in heating would only be about £50.00 per year. I'm generally quite frugal with my energy use (think jumper layers and blankets), but should I let the idea of low EPC rating and having solid walls with little potential for insulation put me off? It's also detached so I'm imagining that it might get cold easily. Thoughts? Thanks.

Solid walls are prone to condensation problems, so I would think about that. You can of course have external wall insulation fitted, which makes a *big* difference, but it is costly.

The last place we lived, a flat converted out of a big Victorian house, had solid walls and it was cold and mould would form behind any furniture placed against an external wall. No thanks!

Ed

G_M

It's a personal thing.

I live in a 150 old house with solid stone walls. And sloping ceilings upstairs that are a b***** to insulate. Yes, it's colder than a moden house built to 2013 standards but would I swop?

NO!

Its a beautiful house and that matters a lot..... to me. To some people it would old-fashioned, hard to heat and full of things needing maintenance.

(oh - there's no condensation though)

DRP

We have solid stone walls in a victorian terrace. Our last house was victorian terrace with brick walls (no cavity).

The pec was obviously nowhere near a modern house, but it was warm and not expensive (we are energy-frugal too!). We saw very little in the way of mould caused by the construction.

You don't buy an old house for the epc thoug, you buy it for the size, features etc

verulamium

We recently moved to a Victorian terrace, and it is bitterly cold even with multiple jumpers on. It was a massive difference to our previous new build flat where we could walk around the flat in shorts during winter with the heating turned off! I imagine it would be worse in a detached. No regrets though.

My partner and some of her friends works in the building industry so we've used hers and their knowledge to work on a plan to insulate our home. Assuming you have a suspended floor, you could remove the floorboards and insulate from there or from the cellar. I was told that while it wouldn't help much with preventing heat loss, you will feel the benefit of a much less draughty floor.

We are also planning to install carpets in the bedroom. Again this won't prevent heat loss, but at least we won't have deal with cold floors during those night trips to the loo!

Other options includes installing secondary glazing to our single glazed sash windows and increasing the thickness of the insulation in the loft to match current building regulations. You could also install insulation internally via stud walls, but this will reduce the size of your rooms.

You could also render the external walls but depending on materials used, this may prevent the building from 'breathing' thus preventing excess moisture from evaporating. Also, depending on where your house is located, you might not be allowed to install external insulation.

Road_Hog

cwc100 wrote: »

Hello all,

I have found a period home built using solid walls, and the only thing that has me worried is the low EPC rating at E with a difference of about 4 points for potential rating at D.

EPC ratings are a bobby's job, money for old rope. I had one done last year. The guy didn't go in the loft and so decided that it didn't have loft insulation (which it does) and also decided it didn't have cavity wall insulation without asking me (it doesn't). The whole thing is completely and utterly contrived.


Having lived in the house, I know that it's warm, it's a terraced house in London - London doesn't usually get cold and if you live in a terraced house, you have the warmth from the house either side. When I lived there I used to leave the heating on 24/7 all year, and it cost me next to nothing, because it hardly came on.


Now, before some pedant comes along, I do have an O-level in physics and understand the difference between efficiency and cost, but at the end of the day, energy COST is what people are interested in. I got a D rating for the property, which means nothing, it is cheap to keep warm, a bit of paper with a rating means nothing.


I wish my current house was as warm. It's a rural location (double glazed and gas CH) and the heat just drains out of it, at 1965 it isn't an ancient property, but my London 1928 property is much warmer.

patricia..xx

Don't place all your emphasis on the energy rating. We just moved from an E house (edwardian semi, cavity walls not insulated, single glazed) to a C (80s double glazed). Currently costing double to heat and its still freezing. On that basis never want to live in a detached house, costs too much.

I agree with DRP, a bit more expensive to heat is the downside to living somewhere that in theory is bigger and prettier than a new build

G_M

Agree with Road_Hog - EPCs are a waste of time anyway. The 'surveyors' get one days training and follow a tick-list to produce a computer generated report. It is pretty meaningless.

Replacing a couple of energy saving lightbulbs can change the rating completely. What does that tell you about the use of the rating?

And as RH says, many 'surveyors' use 'assumptions' when ticking the boxes.

Ignore.

ed110220

G_M wrote: »

Agree with Road_Hog - EPCs are a waste of time anyway. The 'surveyors' get one days training and follow a tick-list to produce a computer generated report. It is pretty meaningless.

Replacing a couple of energy saving lightbulbs can change the rating completely. What does that tell you about the use of the rating?

And as RH says, many 'surveyors' use 'assumptions' when ticking the boxes.

Ignore.

True, but solid walls (rather than newer systems of construction) are always going to lose a lot more heat and be harder to treat, regardless of an EPC... anyone could have told this before an EPC was introduced.

Ed

abankerbutnotafatcat

We have a late victorian semi so an extra external solid wall to those with terraces. Added to the wall issue, Victorian properties often have higher ceilings. However, although it undoubtedly costs more to heat than a more modern property I have found that this is not prohibitively so. We keep our 3 bed house toasty warm (thermostat at 21/22) and use average amounts of fuel (according to MSE/switching websites). We only have the normal condensation on the bedroom windows when it's very cold outside which is gone after opening the window for an hour or so. Nothing more than that.

Victorian properties can be beautiful but modern houses can be easier to heat and maintain. You pay your money and take your choice.

captainhindsignt

An old house with solid walls is always going to be more expensive to heat than a modern house, I feel it is just important to be aware of that when making a decision of where to live. A modern new build house with tons of insulation and efficient heating systems will always be the logical choice to make because of the lower heating and occupation costs but sometimes the charm of a old house outweighs all of that