Home renovation after an oil spill

funnyname

Hi

My parent's home is currently undergoing work to remeditate a domestic oil spill.

Internally the house will be gutted and all floors will be taken up, concrete floors in the main bathroom, kitchen and linked garage and suspended wooden floors in the rest of the house.

The house is a 1970s bungalow so I am thinking it is a great opportunity to get someone like Superhomes.ie in to deal with all the SEAI grant applications and recommending a builder to carry out all the work.

I suppose what I want to check on here is if I have everything covered here wrt to work that should be carried out to the house.

1. Ditching the oil and rads and going with an A/W heat pump and underfloor heating with 100/150mm of insulation under the concrete

1b would it be costly to put in underfloor heating in the garage wrt a future conversion, could have it zoned separately and not put in use until it was converted

1c zoning, what would be the best automated heating control system to get, thinking of the likes of Honeywell, Netamo, etc

2. Attic insulation, currently there is zip and the wiring runs above the joists so also wondering will that interfere with adding insulation between the joists and also re cheaply flooring some/all of it to help with storage

3. Existing windows are pvc double glazing but are in around 15/20 years ago, they all seem perfect, bar some of the hinges not working fully anymore, so more so worried around the air-tightness of them, is there work that can be done there. Also would it be worth replacing the glazing with Energlaz panes?

4. Should we go with external insulation, not worried about having the windows being set deeper into the house afterwards as they are plenty big and capture a lot of light

5. Thermal bridges, what do we need to look out for here?

6. Wood burner to replace an open fire

7. Anything anyone else can think of would be great.

Thanks FN

funnyname

8. Also what would be the best finish for the floors, tiles in the bathroom and kitchen I'm thinking however I'm not sure about about the rest of the house as solid wood flooring will probably act as an insulator, is good laminate an option or karndean vinyl flooring maybe.

9. Should we fully wire the house with cat6?

10. What about pumping the block cavity?

11. Ventilation, looking at DCV, is that required in all rooms or just rooms with a lot of moisture?

BryanF

1b - costly to run if you don’t spend on wall & floor insulation, ensuring you solve the thermal beige junctions.
1c - google nest
2- consider air-tightness & vent system
3 - the approach of changing the glass but not the frames is crazy.
4 - professional arch input

Lumen

You don't mention budget. What you're proposing is very substantial works.

funnyname wrote: »

I am thinking it is a great opportunity to get someone like Superhomes.ie in to deal with all the SEAI grant applications and recommending a builder to carry out all the work.

Ask them how many houses got the deep retrofit grant this year, and how many applied.

BryanF

Lumen wrote: »

Ask them how many houses got the deep retrofit grant this year, and how many applied.

And time line for when money was realeased v when works need to be completed by.

Edit: And what contractors are on the list for your area and how available are they to complete the works

funnyname

Ok I'm being very niave here, so it sounds like the process is very slow and money is required up front with grants coming after the works have been done.

Budget is about 60k from the insurance plus us covering the extra if it goes over but I was hoping it wouldn't if we got the SEAI grants.

Lumen

I did attempt to go down the same route. It didn't go very far. After I submitted the application I had a good chat with someone who outlined the process, asked me a few questions, said they'd get back to me and then....nothing.

In my case I got the impression that the whole job was going to cost 200k. As far as I can tell, the SEAI isn't chucking around high five figure sums per household for deep retrofits on any sort of scale. But there are other smaller grants available.

Besides which, even if you do get the grant, the conditions attached will be such that everything is focused on hitting the BER rating without regard for things that people normally care about, like aesthetics. So for instance, the cheapest PVC windows that meet the spec rather than alu clad or whatever. Which is fair enough, because it's partly other people's money being spent.

It seems like you should focus on improving the performance of the parts of the structure that need remediation from the oil damage, and then see how much you have left. If it's a dormer bungalow your issue is possibly that the parts of the building that are performing the worst are at the top, unaffected by the oil damage.

Anyway, you need professional help to figure out where best to spend the money.

Calahonda52

One issue here is that the insurance will cover replacement of existing:

Is the money paid out or are they paying it against certified work?

once you move the goals posts and say you want UFH, then who will price the differential costs.
I would defo go with MHVR as the small of oil will linger....

funnyname

We have a loss assessor who has done his sums and has costed everything and put in the claim. I have asked him to get funds released in a big bang so that we can rather than reinstate as was renovate it to a higher spec all in one go.

We'll pay the price differential on all the work but was hoping with the SEAI grants available that it would cover a lot of it.

I'll go through all the grants available this weekend and see if it is actually worth it to go with Superhomes.

Calahonda52 wrote: »

One issue here is that the insurance will cover replacement of existing:

Is the money paid out or are they paying it against certified work?

once you move the goals posts and say you want UFH, then who will price the differential costs.
I would defo go with MHVR as the small of oil will linger....

funnyname

How much minimum floor depth is required for underfloor heating? I was reading that we'd need 100mm of insulation and 35 to 75mm of screed depending on the type used. Is there any type of screed that is faster curing than others?

Also the garage is linked to the house so would PP be required if it was changed such that the overhead door was replaced by a patio door or even a window?

BryanF

Garage is attached, to the side? With front alterations, you’d be best to get planning advice. 125mm insulation min. https://www.xtratherm.com/products/xt-hyf/

Edit: current regs of 0.15w/m2k Min u-value for underfloor heating

funnyname

BryanF wrote: »

Garage is attached, to the side? With front alterations, you’d be best to get planning advice. 125mm insulation min. https://www.xtratherm.com/products/xt-hyf/

Edit: current regs of 0.15w/m2k Min u-value for underfloor heating

Thanks Bryan, garage is at the gable end of the house so under the main roof of the house.

Hoping to get it all sorted via the deep retro fit via superhomes, if not then I'll get experts involved.

funnyname

I'm going down the line of getting the survey by Superhomes carried out but also looking at options of getting a builder in and doing the work to a very high standard and not worry about getting an A rated house but have it to a B rating.

When all the costs (probably inflated due to grants being available, cynical opinion I know but mostly seems to be the case) net of the grants going via Superhomes compare against a local builder will there be much in it.


Also we just don't want to have oil in the house again given what's happened (I know low risk of it happening again) and I believe a heat pump would be more efficient with UFH.

However does a house need to be airtight for a heat pump and/or a mhrv for them to work efficiently?

BryanF

What info is the build pricing from?

funnyname

BryanF wrote: »

What info is the build pricing from?

I haven't put anything together yet but if we go with Superhomes then I would expect them to spec and price everything as their aim is to bring the house to an A rating.

If I go with a local reputable builder them I would let them do it and go with their opinion on how best to make the house habitable again.

Basically looking at the house internally being a shell once the oil remediation work is finished.

We have a pot of money from the insurance company, we want to use it wisely and ideally not have to add to it.