Simple living in the country - back to basics

EssexHebridean

I find that one of the big issues with HMRC is that their attitude to deadlines that they set is utterly intransigent, while when it is them who is being waited for a response from, they are cavalier about timescales to say the least!

I completely identify with your patient attitude to tedious paperwork, but I confess that when HMRC are involved I do tend to avoid it at all costs! 

Tescodealqueen

I agree that if Mr Cheery’s pension is from that employment then maybe evidence of his private pension might hold some sway with HMRC as it would be evidence of employment perhaps? If all else fails then your mp might have more success with convincing them . Back then when I worked for DWP 18 months after the relevant tax year the then contributions agency (later absorbed into HMRC ) wrote to let you know if there were gaps in that years record. The absence of that notification is also worth mentioning

badmemory

To go back to speaking german.  I have always found them very helpful when you are trying, even as total strangers.  The french definitely not so much.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks all 😊

EH, this isn't my record so I could legitimately avoid it 😂 But in this case I do have a vested interest in Mr Cheery having a full state pension! 😂

Thanks TDQ - will also mention that (although as all this happened before I even met Mr Cheery, and in some cases when I was still in school, I can't categorically say there wasn't a notification, so that might not be an argument to rely on 😂)

In one case the HMRC record itself says that full contributions were made that year, but that the AMOUNT of contributions for that year is £0, so I'd hope they'd at the very least correct that one!! Let's see what we can dig up over the weekend. 

Hoping everyone will be helpful badmemory! 😊 

Another long day, and I felt like I had to tear myself away at the end to get on booked train, when I would have liked to hang round for a bit, which was a shame. Hey ho. Train is at least on time (currently!!) and I have a seat, so all being well I should be home by 7.15 😊

Cheery_Daff

So, TMV has sent me on a rabbit hole looking at heat pumps and energy efficiency. As suspected, we are not currently eligible for any boiler upgrade because of our woeful draughty house. So I went looking for the EPC - didn't realise you could just search online like an MOT 😂

Ours is rated a G (the worst 🙄) which I knew, of course. What surprised me looking at it properly was how much was assumed:

Wall, sandstone or limestone, as built, no insulation (assumed)
Wall - cavity, as built, no insulation (assumed)
Roof - pitched, no insulation (assumed)
Roof - pitched, limited insulation (assumed)

Hmm. The solid walls have no cavity insulation of course - no cavity. But which are they counting as cavity walls? There are at least 3 extensions on this house 🙄 and at least two look VERY similar to the original - are they cavity, or solid? The 1970s extension is likely cavity - but does that really have no insulation? It's far warmer up there than the rest of the house, so I always assumed that was the properly insulated bit 🤔

As for the roof - why is the level of insulation assumed? We have 3 lofts, and all 3 are accessible, and all 3 have insulation - could be better in some cases but it's there. 

It was a probate sale, so did they just stand outside? Couldn't be bothered going into the loft, at least! 

Anyway, rules are that you have to have no outstanding EPC recommendations for loft or cavity insulation. Bizarrely, loft insulation isn't mentioned in our list of recommendations at all 🤔 Cavity insulation is the first recommendation, an estimated cost of £500-£1500 (at 2017 prices) but that would still leave us as a G rating (but with no recommendations for loft or cavity insulation, so theoretically eligible for boiler upgrade). 

Another weird thing - it says we have double glazing throughout - we do now, but we didn't then, at least 3 windows were single, and there was a window hole behind the wood panelling in the kitchen that was literally just covered with a bit of rattly MDF (you could see from the outside at the back, not the inside). 

Clearly we're not going to work our way down the list of recommendations in order. Not much point putting cavity insulation in the warmest bit of the house (if indeed it is absent - how do you even find out??). Second recommendations is for external or internal solid wall insulation at estimated cost of up to £20,000 - unlikely (not sure national park would agree to the outside, and Mr Cheery wouldn't agree to losing space on the inside 😂). 

Will be interesting to work out our actual energy use compared to the EPC predictions. There's an estimate of annual cost at 2017 prices - I'm not sure we hit that now 🤔 There's also an estimate in kwh, so I can at least check that directly. 

Anyway, interesting stuff, and definitely worth continuing with our ongoing warming project (we've already done stuff like all double glazing, thermal blinds, carpet in the study - but there are curtains between rooms, better loft insulation, rebalanced radiators etc that could also be done)

edwink

If it is any help Cheery with cavity wall insulation you can get an idea by the thickness of the walls. Our house originally before 2 extensions all had 9" thick walls. With the first extension regulations in the kitchen of the whole of the back, the walls had to be 12" thick so we have the old walls in the kitchen at 9" thick and a jut-in of 3 inches where the extension starts at the side from that wall.  With our 2nd extension, I believe that also had to be 12" so we have a jut-in at the front too in the hall.  Now the regulations say the cavity walls on extensions are to be 15" thick, I believe. The 3" jut-ins are not too noticeable but if you have 9" walls and then cavity walls of 15" that would obviously jut-in by 6". Our house is 100 years old now but I think yours is much older and may have had whole room extensions so the jut-in may not be there, if that makes sense.

Edwink x

LadyWithAPlan

I am liking LaPlan as a moniker as its far more elegant than LWAP and I have been known to croon some Piaf whilst drunk..

I studied German at school (and passed an 0 level in it.. however no speaking it for decades  meant me talking to German cabbies etc was futile.. so well done on the 600+ day streak!

KajiKita

Be careful with the little bits that you do use. I had such a ‘clean’ accent that the server in a shop seemed to think I could *actually* speak German properly and downloaded at me for a full five minutes, with me absolutely clueless. My colleague was in stitches! 🙄😂

KK

themadvix

Interesting pondering Cheery (and always feel free to waffle on my diary too 😁). I didn't know the EPCs were available online until Mr MV was looking at ours the other day! (We're a C (71) on the EPC but that was prior to solar, which would make us an 80 - 1 point off a B. And we'd query some of the assumptions made on ours too, and want to squeak into a B (definitely first-world problems compared to your G rating - brrr!).)

If there's cavity wall insulation there may be signs - small(ish) round holes drilled into the wall from the outside (which may have been filled). And you *should* have a cavity wall insulation certificate from the seller - I know getting hold of this was a hold-up in our purchase process.

Your loft may be insulated, but you might want more - I think it makes a big difference. Ours is well insulated, but not to current standards. Could you borrow a thermal imaging camera from somewhere? Work or is there a Transition Town organisation near you? Our nearest one had a TI camera that homeowners could borrow to check where the leaks were.

I hate to say it, but from what you've said, not hitting the estimated kWh on energy is probably more to do with the fact that you live in a cold house (the same is true for us, according to the EPC) than because the insulation is good - indoor temperatures are recommended to be between 18 and 21 degrees, not the 15/16 you sometimes mention it is! This might be something to consider though with Mr C's health?

Karmacat

Edwink, that's interesting about the jut-in, makes total sense.  

LadyWithAPlan said:

I am liking LaPlan as a moniker as its far more elegant than LWAP and I have been known to croon some Piaf whilst drunk..
Isn't it lovely!  I shall adopt that too!

I studied German at school (and passed an 0 level in it.. however no speaking it for decades  meant me talking to German cabbies etc was futile.. so well done on the 600+ day streak!

I studied French, and my 2nd study language was Latin (some of the really clever ones took German as their third language, but not me).  No idea what I sound like myself when I try to say something German, but I have really vivid memories of a German girl (aged 19 or so?) who was a lodger of mine when I lived in the city by the sea - it sounded as lyrical as Italian, it was gorgeous, when she was on the phone home - there was just a phone in the hallway in those days, no mobiles 🤣 you couldn't help but hear!

I love getting up to speed with the basics of a language before I go somewhere, but as KK says, if you're really careful with your accent, you get mistaken for a local and you get a blast of completely incomprehensible something-or-other 🤣