A new house to make greener
We’ve finally moved into our new house. As an eccentricly styled 1930s building with good gardens it has much potential and its an exciting time.
However making it a greener house will be challenging. At the time of arrival there was no insulation other than 5cm or so of rock wool between the first 4 rafters of the loft floor. When it is cold outside (say below 10C) the top floor definitely has that cold and damp feel to it, despite there being no damp – but likely ventilation issues. We also have more than our fair share of drafts.
We have however discovered that we definitely do have cavity walls, despite the odd concrete blocks used to build the place. This is great news and we have people coming to quote for insulating the cavities.
The biggest insulation challenge we have is related to the eaves of the roof. The 1st floor rooms have the eaves coming down through them, to about 1m or so off the floor. This presents us with a very difficult to insulate void, and the depth of the rafters is only 4 inches. I’m seeking spray / infill solutions to at least make some difference.
Of course we have the windows to replace too – they’re the original 1930s Crittal metal-framed windows. The frames themselves are ice cold and the condensation is terrible, even with the poor quality secondary double glazing that is here.
Having had a friend do an energy efficiency survey we know what needs to be done, we’re just trying to find a sensible way to do it all.
A couple of things do really annoy me about the UK. The first is that the government gives grants specifically to landlords to voluntarily improve insulation. i.e. we tax payers are subsidising those who exacerbate the UK housing stock shortage by holding onto multiple properties.
Landlords should be compelled by law to insulate their properties to the highest standard possible or be forced to put the house on the market for sale (or equivalent penalty such as 50% tax on rent received). The subsidy given to them might be acceptable if they were required by law to do the work, but they are not and it is giddying to think of all the hundreds of thousands of rental properties in the UK with poor insulation.
Secondly, plumbers and heat engineeers must be required by law to fit adequate pipe lagging. I am yet to see a house that is not new-build, that has any lagging on sub-floor or loft piping. The heat losses from this must be huge, and I’m sure it accounts for problems where radiators never get up to temperature on the ground floor where the under floor void is very drafty, as in our previous house.
The lagging is so cheap and easy to fit and yet is a nightmare to fit once the floors have all been put back down. There’s no excuse – the plumbers could even earn more to do it if it were required by law!
