Home energy improvement assessment

cnm

Hi

We want to improve the energy efficiency of our house. In particular, it's not well insulated, so it loses heat quickly.

The Energy Saving Trust recommended that the best way to get advice on what could be done is to get an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) assessment, as that should also include advice as to what we can do to improve it.

Is this the best approach? Or are there other ways in which we can start this process and get good independent advice as to what we can do?

If we go with an EPC assessment, what would be a reasonable price to expect for this (it's a four bedroom house, and a lower villa - effectively a ground floor flat)? The estimates which I have got so far range from £65 to £135.

Thanks - Calum

diystarter7

The higher price is no guarantee you will get a better or worse service and the other was around for the lower price.

MWT

EPC is just a box-ticking exercise based on what is visible or reasonably assumed based on age of construction, it does not provide anything useful that you could not determine for yourself.

If you've not had one done before it doesn't hurt to do it, but don't pay more than the £65 level...

BUFF

If you are eligible for grants towards works you will probably be required to have an EPCto submit as part of the application process.

FreeBear

MWT said: If you've not had one done before it doesn't hurt to do it, but don't pay more than the £65 level...

If the house was purchased within the last 15 years, there should be an EPC available online.

But the advice given is generic and of little value if you are looking at making significant improvements. Assuming you have lived in the house for any length of time, you should know which rooms are cold and have some idea of where cold draughts are. Plugging draughts (for the most part) is fairly simple, and most people should be able to do it. Loft insulation is another cheap job that you can often do yourself. Insulating walls & floors requires additional skills, time, and money - Depending on your skill set, it may be easier to consult with a few local insulation specialists & builders.

Reed_Richards

EPC certification involves somebody visiting your house, putting various numbers into a computer program which then produces a report.  The assessors have no insight into how the computer program works so cannot offer any one-to-one advice.  The computer program has some major flaws and blind spots so the recommendations it produces are a mix of good sense and nonsense.  And it will never recommend some very sensible things you could do.    

Mstty

Hi Callum,

Maybe start with some basics, you say you know the house is not well insulated. So start with the area you know such as roof. 

Are you going to do some of this work yourself or get trades in?

Some initial.idea to research

1) Roof insulation

2) what kind of walls does the property have? 

3) What kind of windows and doors does the property have?
4) how old is your heating system?

matelodave

I've had five EPC's done in the last twelve years, three on my houses and one each on my Mum and MIL's house and in my opinion they aren't worth the paper they are printed on although for around £50 it does give you some pointers on what needs to be done.

The guy comes round, takes a few measurments, puts them in a computer, looks at what you've got and ticks some boxes and it spits out several sheets of brightly coloured paper with recommendations based on what you can see for your self plus quite a few that are unrealistically expensive or impractical.

BTW if you've got a heat pump you get a worse rating than if you've got a gas or oil boiler.(that might change in the future but's what happens now)

Stuff like double glazing, cavity or external wall insulation will also improve your ratings but start to become expensive, likewise, solar panels, wind turbines, underfloor insulation and other exotic ideas get suggested. I'm not saying that they don't improve your energy efficiency but they start to follow the laws of diminishing returns - where you start spending a lot more but save less and less.

Do the basics your self - make sure that you've got decent roof insulation (at least 300mm), draught proof all round. Simple stuff like insulation on your hot water tank, LED lighting rather than incandescent. Controls on your central heating etc are all relaively cheap and easy to do before embarking on the expensive stuff

MovingForwards

As you're in a ground floor flat, do the quick and cheap things first. You know where your draughts are, tell us and we can make suggestions.

I can tell you what I did in my 110 year old middle floor flat, after ripping up the lounge carpet to reveal laminate and living through my first winter in it. All started as a way of stopping the 'herb' smell from the neighbour.

- not the carpet, that I didn't like and spotted enough laminate to guess it did cover the whole room.

I got a metal draught excluder with the black brush on it and a roll of white sticky taped draught excluder foam. Fitted the former to the bottom of my front door and the latter round the top / side of it. 

As I've an interior porch / vestibule I dug out an old, lined curtain, fitted a track and hung it, old school but it works; as a kid a curtain was hung over the front door.

I got sealant and that trigger thing, went round my lounge and filled the top / bottom of my skirting, pushed it right in to build layers. Used a few of them to ensure it filled everything.

Next I tacked the decorative frames round my lounge windows, again sealant. Became quite obsessed and had fun, so went round all the windows in my flat and did them too.

For about £20 from Screwfix and a curtain I had in a cupboard, I stopped the smell and inadvertently dealt with draughts.

Next on my list is doing the edges round my windows, but due to health I've not made a start on that.

Hanging floor to ceiling curtains traps the cold and stops most of it filtering in to the room. I'd love to hang curtain rails but these walls are not the easiest to drill into, I've snapped drills trying to hang shelves and even a pro asked what they were made of!

Jonboy_1984

If you don't have an EPC see if neighbours with similar property's do if this is just for your use.

As others have said a lot of it is assumed by the assessor anyway - for example I know our flat has some ground floor insulation but as the assessor couldnt see it and we had no paperwork for it, it was ignored.

Alnat1

Great recommendations @MovingForwards.

Can I add, if your radiators are under a window, don't have long curtains that cover it. Our bedroom is this way and I have a shorter curtain. I close the curtain early in winter and turn the bottom edge under so it sits on the windowsill. This helps stop the heat going up the back of the curtain and straight out of the window.