Buying a warm home

BarraOG

Hi,

We're currently renting a house which is often cold and very difficult to keep warm. We've been saving for quite some time and are now in a position to buy - preferably a detached house.

Obviously enough it is very important for us that our new house is warm and that it is reasonably inexpensive to warm up. What should we look out for when house hunting? For example, what BER ratings should we steer clear of? Are there certain types of houses where it is easier to increase the BER ratings than others? What other factors should we take into consideration?

Thanks,

Barry

MicktheMan

BarraOG wrote: »

1.What should we look out for when house hunting? For example, what BER ratings should we steer clear of?
2.Are there certain types of houses where it is easier to increase the BER ratings than others?
3.What other factors should we take into consideration?

1. Unfortunately, the ber result is of little use to you if you want to know if the house will be warm, comfortable, and affordable to be warm and comfortable. In a lot of cases, an older "d" rated house can be better than a newer "b" rated one. The reason for this is because the house isn't actually tested in any meaningful way to arrive at the ber result. Way too many assumptions are made and defaults used.

The way most people find out is to live in the house but this is no good to you if you want to know before you buy. There is a way to thoroughly test a house and have a pretty good idea of it's heat loss properties and that is a have a combined thermal image and air leakage test done on the house, commonly known as a heat loss survey.

2. Increasing the ber levels does not necessarily improve the comfort levels. In a lot of cases, the older "less" insulated houses can be easier to properly improve the comfort levels that the newer "better" insulated houses. The reasons for this is beyond the scope of this reply but has mainly to do with the way the house was initially constructed.

3. A warm and comfortable house also needs to be a healthy house in which to live. All too often, the necessity for appropriate ventilation is over looked / misunderstood. Look for signs of condensation/damp/mould or have this also as part of the heat loss survey brief.

Supercell

Even if the house has a low BER it may not be that expensive to improve it , or it might. One very very important factor to consider is the material used to construct the walls. For example a lot of houses built in the 70's and 80's used single leaf cavity block.

This construction type is the worst for a cold damp country like Ireland.

Houses with this type of construction may have damp and mould issues and are going to be expensive to insulate - the only effective healthy way is to wrap them externally which is expensive.Drylining will lead to mould, and don't let anyone tell you different (have a look at this article to see what I mean - http://www.josephlittlearchitects.com/articles/breaking-mould-1-study-condensation-single-leaf-concrete-wall-upgrades)

However if your potential house has dual leaf construction you can pump the walls with foam/beads which is far cheaper and less likely to lead to mould issues.
Make sure you find out before signing whether its cavity block or not , and if it is, can you afford to spend about a further 15-20k wrapping it.

Rasmus

Supercell wrote: »

Even if the house has a low BER it may not be that expensive to improve it , or it might. One very very important factor to consider is the material used to construct the walls. For example a lot of houses built in the 70's and 80's used single leaf cavity block.

This construction type is the worst for a cold damp country like Ireland.

Houses with this type of construction may have damp and mould issues and are going to be expensive to insulate - the only effective healthy way is to wrap them externally which is expensive.Drylining will lead to mould, and don't let anyone tell you different (have a look at this article to see what I mean - http://www.josephlittlearchitects.com/articles/breaking-mould-1-study-condensation-single-leaf-concrete-wall-upgrades)

However if your potential house has dual leaf construction you can pump the walls with foam/beads which is far cheaper and less likely to lead to mould issues.
Make sure you find out before signing whether its cavity block or not , and if it is, can you afford to spend about a further 15-20k wrapping it.

Supercell, how does one find out if the house is single or double cavity block?

Supercell

Rasmus wrote: »

Supercell, how does one find out if the house is single or double cavity block?

You could ask the estate agent who may or may not know, and who may or may not spoof the answer.. Most easy way would be to knock on a neighbor's house and ask them (if its in an estate with similar style houses). If the house ticks all the boxes then your surveyor will definitely be able to tell you if you ask them to check.
You could also have a look at the walls in the attic when viewing it if you are feeling adventurous (they are very unlikely to have dry lining on them up there so easy to see the brickwork).

Rasmus

Thanks! And true that -->

Supercell wrote: »

You could ask the estate agent who may or may not know, and who may or may not spoof the answer..