energy performance improvements to mid terrace 3 bed house
The existing house
The house is an 880ft², 2 storey semi detached dwelling with 3 bedrooms and was built in the late 1960's. It had the original oil fired central heating, insulation in the attic, pumped insulation in the cavity walls and double glazed timber windows. The home owner wanted a warmer, more comfortable home that was easier to run. |
£2,500* of works saves £900 a year
Our low cost programme of works on improved lights, air tightness, insulation, hot water cylinder and boiler totalled £3,500. This reduced the annual energy bill from £2,484.44 a year to under £1,586.68 saving a £897.68 a year. All new fittings have a life expectancy of 25 years. * £1,000 NIHE Replacement Boiler Grant now available. |
dwelling performance summary
We invested around £3,500 to improve dwelling performance and save £900 a year giving a payback of around 4 years. Now an NIHE boiler grant for £1,000 would bring down the cost of the works to £2,500 with a payback of 3 years. The house had double glazed windows installed in the 1980's which were still sound so were not changed. Polystyrene insulation was pumped into the cavity walls in the 1970's. The dwelling had an uninsulated ventilated timber ground floor which was quite draughty. We therefore insulated the floor with a breathable open cell spray polyurethane insulation which reduced air leakage from around 14 to 9.4m³/hr/m². Draughts have a big impact on your comfort and warmth. The attic was not well insulated by today's standards however the householder wanted to keep the attic for storage. We were therefore careful to ensure all the bedroom ceilings and attic hatch were well sealed to prevent warm air escaping into the attic and causing condensation problems. The works made the house warmer and reduced condensation risks making the house healthier to live in. |
investment performance summary
£3,500 invested in the bank with an interest rate of 3% would double your money with compound interest in 24 years. £3,500 invested in this dwelling should increase the House Price by £6,200. The £3,500 investment also resulted in energy savings of £900 a year. This would mean that you would get your money back in just over 4 years and double your money in 8 years, beating the bank by 16 years. A warmer home is the best investment because it stops you losing a lot of money. |