Retrofitting our home

JPMcMonagle

Hi,
Thinking of retrofitting our four bedroom detached house with small extension and would appreciate any advice on the following:

1. Air to water heating system.
2. External insulating plus cavity wall insulating. Is it necessary to go below ground level to
achieve air tightness in the house.
3. Have double glazed windows at the minute but considering upgrading to triple glazed.
4. Also will have to upgrade attic insulation.

I have been in contact with two contractors and both asking for €550.00 to come and assess the house. I presume this is normal procedure. Any suggestions and advice on contractions that have been used and approved by you would certainly be very helpful.
Thanks

Calahonda52

Are they part of the one stop shop outfits doing this work, including the grant piece or a re they just local lads.
For 550 you need a proper assessment so maybe look at entities such as

https://house2home.ie
superhomes.ie
https://www.anpost.com/Green-Hub

I think there are others but don't recall them now
If going EWI and new windows the do them both together and hang the windows on the outside leaf of the wall to eliminate thermal bridging

monseiur

JPMcMonagle wrote: »

Hi,
Thinking of retrofitting our four bedroom detached house with small extension and would appreciate any advice on the following:

1. Air to water heating system.
2. External insulating plus cavity wall insulating. Is it necessary to go below ground level to
achieve air tightness in the house.
3. Have double glazed windows at the minute but considering upgrading to triple glazed.
4. Also will have to upgrade attic insulation.

I have been in contact with two contractors and both asking for €550.00 to come and assess the house. I presume this is normal procedure. Any suggestions and advice on contractions that have been used and approved by you would certainly be very helpful.
Thanks

A lot depends on the age of your house. Retrofitting air to water at it's best is 65% as efficient compared to new build.
It's a major operation & expense to achieve this standard. You may have to move out for the duration of internal works if floors have to be dug up to fit underfloor insulation etc.
Get good independent advice before commiting to anything, by independent I mean someone who's not involved directly, indirectly and has no vested intrest in the retrofitting business.
Grants of up to 40% are available but unfortunatley as builders are aware you're getting this grant they up their quote accordingly.
If you decide to go down this route get your own BER test done by a competent person before work begins and again after work is completed. Ensure that the final BER test is up to the required standard before you pay your builder.

JPMcMonagle

monseiur wrote: »

A lot depends on the age of your house. Retrofitting air to water at it's best is 65% as efficient compared to new build.
It's a major operation & expense to achieve this standard. You may have to move out for the duration of internal works if floors have to be dug up to fit underfloor insulation etc.
Get good independent advice before commiting to anything, by independent I mean someone who's not involved directly, indirectly and has no vested intrest in the retrofitting business.
Grants of up to 40% are available but unfortunatley as builders are aware you're getting this grant they up their quote accordingly.
If you decide to go down this route get your own BER test done by a competent person before work begins and again after work is completed. Ensure that the final BER test is up to the required standard before you pay your builder.

Thanks for your reply. Our home was built in the mid to late 1980. Do you recommend that we put under floor heating? At present we have radiators all over the house. Realise that this might be a major job but would possibly consider if the end result would be better. Who would you recommend to do an independent assessment? Would a local builder be able to do this for us? We will get the BER test done as you recommended.Probably find someone in the Golden Pages to do this for us. Thanks for your reply and would appreciate any other advice you might have as we only know a little on the subject from bits we have read.
Thanks

Biker1

JPMcMonagle wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Our home was built in the mid to late 1980. Do you recommend that we put under floor heating? At present we have radiators all over the house. Realise that this might be a major job but would possibly consider if the end result would be better. Who would you recommend to do an independent assessment? Would a local builder be able to do this for us? We will get the BER test done as you recommended.Probably find someone in the Golden Pages to do this for us. Thanks for your reply and would appreciate any other advice you might have as we only know a little on the subject from bits we have read.
Thanks

Go to the SEAI website and select a Technical Assessor from the list.

JPMcMonagle

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Are they part of the one stop shop outfits doing this work, including the grant piece or a re they just local lads.
For 550 you need a proper assessment so maybe look at entities such as


superhomes.ie


I think there are others but don't recall them now
If going EWI and new windows the do them both together and hang the windows on the outside leaf of the wall to eliminate thermal bridging

Thanks for reply. Both enquiries were with one stop contractors. With the external insulation, is this fitted before the windows. Would the air to water system works with radiators as this is what we have in our home at the moment last 1980 build. Do you know how difficult is would be to install underfloor heating in a house of this age. Have you retrofitted your own home and is so was it a very big project. Trying to find out as much information as we can from those who might of had it done and the benefits it gives.Any further advice and help you can give would be much appreciated.
Thanks

JPMcMonagle

Biker1 wrote: »

Go to the SEAI website and select a Technical Assessor from the list.

Thanks will do. I hadn't noticed that on the SEAI website. If you have any other information about retrofitting please feel free to add.
Thanks

killasser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116756533#Comment_116756533

Did you go ahead with the retrofit? Care to share your progress so far on here?