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Improving BER Rating

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Comments

  • #52
    MicktheMan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,858 ✭✭✭MicktheMan


    Ray Palmer wrote: »
    The thing is that relates to new builds and not part of the standard BER evaluation. I am assuming this thread is about existing properties and not bew builds. Older buildings need to breath and making them airtight would be damaging.

    Georgian buildings can really be messed up by using modern materials. Modern plasters on these building causes major damp issues as the buildings were designed for lime plaster. It isn't even building that old. Houses from the 80s would get condensation in the cavity walls and soak insulation there if made airtight. Same applies to joists and roof spaces where ventilation is required to keep the timber healthy.

    I agree with your point on the older lime mortar / render structures needing special consideration but your comment on buildings from the 80's is inaccurate. Yes, they will suffer internally if appropriate ventilation is not supplied post air tightening works but to say that damp cavities are caused by air tightening the building is not correct.


  • #53
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,268 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    ANXIOUS wrote: »
    Could you link to more efficient vent covers please?

    I think these are the ones: https://www.aereco.ie/products/air-inlets-ie/eht/ but I've yet to find them available to purchase online


  • #54
    Alkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,868 ✭✭✭Alkers


    Sleepy wrote: »
    I think these are the ones: https://www.aereco.ie/products/air-inlets-ie/eht/ but I've yet to find them available to purchase online

    I have bought all mine through heat merchants but had to call them


  • #55
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,268 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    Alkers wrote: »
    I have bought all mine through heat merchants but had to call them

    Can you remember what they cost?


  • #56
    Alkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,868 ✭✭✭Alkers


    Sleepy wrote: »
    Can you remember what they cost?

    About 110e each I think and then I got one more individually and they had to charge me 25e extra on top of the price which had gone up so cost me nearly 150e for that one.


  • #57
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,268 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    Yikes, that's pricey for what they are!


  • #58
    Ray Palmer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,453 ✭✭✭Ray Palmer


    Sleepy wrote: »
    Yikes, that's pricey for what they are!

    It certainly is as it is just a convenient way to skip proper construction of an air vent that just needs a cover.


  • #59
    Alkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,868 ✭✭✭Alkers


    Sleepy wrote: »
    Yikes, that's pricey for what they are!

    Yes, and on reflection - an vent that can be opened and closed is all that's needed for a bedroom IF you have the discipline to close it when unoccupied and open it again when you get back. We have gone with standard vents in the high occupancy rooms e,g, kitchen


  • #60
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,268 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    I really thought a vent cover with a good seal that opened and closed based on the humidity would be about €30 a pop. It seems a very simple thing!

    Personally, I'm looking to replace the crap "hit and miss" vent covers we have that do nothing to block draughts even if they're closed with some that will only open as and when required (i.e. when humidity levels are high in the room).


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  • #61
    Alkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,868 ✭✭✭Alkers


    Sleepy wrote: »
    I really thought a vent cover with a good seal that opened and closed based on the humidity would be about €30 a pop. It seems a very simple thing!

    Personally, I'm looking to replace the crap "hit and miss" vent covers we have that do nothing to block draughts even if they're closed with some that will only open as and when required (i.e. when humidity levels are high in the room).

    The aereco units don't seal fully either so if it's very draughty, they might not solve your problem. Although they do "diffuse" the airflow before the section that opens and closes - my terminology :o

    Also, they are not designed to be passive vents, they are intended to be used with continuously running extracts (at variable speeds) in high humidity rooms. These fans reduce the air pressure inside the house so air is sucked in through the vent. This is supposed to be achieved by the centrally ducted aereco extractors but we have just gone for humidity controlled stand alone extractors in those rooms.


  • #62
    cruizer101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,205 ✭✭✭cruizer101


    Yeah that seems pretty pricey one thing I had considered was single room heat recovery vents such as this one.
    They are fairly pricey but would consider just putting them in main moist air rooms, i.e. bathroom and kitchen.
    Currently most of the vents in house are blocked up anyway and we just open the windows regularly to refresh the air.


  • #63
    aloooof
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 10,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭aloooof


    As an aside to this, Varadkar has said the following from this article:

    'Phenomenal' €50bn cost for retrofitting of all homes - Varadkar
    He said the European Investment Bank (EIB) could play a role in proving long term loans, helping people "upgrade and insulate their homes and then pay that back over a long period of time with the savings they've made from their energy bills. Those models do exist".

    As someone who's hoping to upgrade and insulate next year, I wonder how likely (or how long) it would take for this to be introduced?

    Currently, I know about the SEAI grants, and BOI do a 'Green' home improvement loan at 6.5%, which seem to be the best options at the moment. (We only bought the house last year, so we very likely don't have enough equity built up yet to have an equity release on the mortgage).


  • #64
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,268 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    How useful such grants will be is questionable imho.

    Just look at the cost of insulation the attic in an average terrace / semi-d and you'll be quoted around €1200, knock the grant off that and it's still in the region of €800 for a job that a competent DIYer can get done in a day (or over a weekend) for about €200 worth of materials.


  • #65
    gazzaman22
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 909 ✭✭✭gazzaman22


    Hi, what all does a BER person do when they arrive to an assessment?



  • #66
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    Ive been involved in renovating houses for a good few years now.

    The BER is a joke.

    We have bough old houses that had a BER of F and got them up to C or B for considerably less than €10K every time.

    Then when you are at B you have to decide if you want to spend twice as much again (plus expensive future maintenance) to save yourself what probably amounts to a couple of hundred euro a year after that.

    Dont believe the money figures that you see on the website for the cost of each BER house either. I am in a D rated house atm and it costs about of €1200 a year to heat. The seai website would have you thinking it costs you €3500 - €4000 per year to heat.

    Thats 6 fills of your 1000l oil tank per year for a 4 bed detached house. What a con that website is :)

    One fill of oil (about €650), possibly into a second if it was a really cold winter, and we would have plenty over at the end of that year.

    But since the oil was getting stolen and we couldnt get gas we went to electric heating and you can see exactly the cost of that on the web app. And thats about €1200 or thereabouts for heating and water for the whole year for a 4 bed detached house, granny flat and garage.

    It was all an exercise back during the crash to get builders off the dole at the expense of homeowners.



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  • #67
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/111823083#Comment_111823083

    Cost of getting polystyrene beads blown into wall cavities is double the price in Ireland to if you get any company north of the border to come down and do the exact same job.



  • #68
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/111808324#Comment_111808324


    Think about that for a minute.

    One room. €500 by the time its installed (Dont forget it probably wont last 10 years, so you will be getting a new one by then anyway).

    They say 4 years payback against a normal extractor fan. Would that be a normal extractor fan on 24hours a day :)

    Considering €500 will heat your whole house for about 6 months or more I dont see you saving that with a heat recovery vent in one room.

    Of course if you were to put one in each room then thats €500 a pop.



  • #69
    Alkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,868 ✭✭✭Alkers


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117727816#Comment_117727816

    Those figures the BER calculations are based off are purely indicative and are based on something crazy like heating all internal rooms uniformly to 20C 12 months of the year!



  • #70
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729185#Comment_117729185

    Exactly. And we have thermostats and controllers in each room now that only heat the rooms when needed.

    It would be very rare that a bedroom gets heated during the day and only 16C in the evening.

    Then the other rooms only get heated to about 20C for the times they are used.

    The hall is never heated.



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