The EPC. Taking stock and the start of a plan

So. Now we've moved in to our new house and (mostly... somewhat) unpacked, the next question is where to get started with our futurefitting.

And true to form, I'm going to use the EPC that we received from the sellers to guide my choices (somewhat). So here's what we've got:

So the house got a mid-range D rating. Note this EPC was carried out in October 2012, and we actually bought the house in February 2015, so it may not be exactly up to date. But it's good enough to get started with.

The important thing is that it says there is scope to vastly improve the house up to a high B rating, just under an A. This is good, as we had looked at other houses that were E rated with potential to only get to C...

Another good thing is that the house is already rated D, which is the minimum rating needed to collect FiTs (feed in tarrifs) on any electricity you generate from solar panels. And as our roof is south east facing, thankfully the house is suitable for solar panels.

So lets take a look at what the suggestions were to bring the house up to a high B:

Also, not included in the table, but listed under "Alternative measures" was "Air or ground source heat pump".

Now in my very second blog post I laid out my plan of action on my then unknown house as being:

1. Solar panels

2. Wind turbine

3. Ground source heat pump

4. Electric oven (with induction hobs)

5. Low-e double glazing

6. Loft insulation

7. Cavity wall insulation

8. Draught proofing

9. LED lighting

Now this original theoretical plan is actually pretty accurate. But some of it doesn't fit this house so the following alterations need to be made:

Change 1: The house has double glazing, so this is no longer needed. Obviously as the windows get older they will need replacing, in which case maybe we could actually get triple glazing. According to the Centre for Sustainable Energy:

"The typical lifetime of double glazing is around 20 years. Over time, the gas within the panes will gradually evaporate at an estimated rate of 0.5-1% per year."

Now, the sellers told us the double glazing was installed in 2012. But they didn't provide any paperwork proving this, as they said they had lost it. Now, assuming we can trust them (I'm not sure we can, but let's give the benefit of the doubt here) this means we don't really need to change the windows until 2032. (I'll be 50 years old) 

Change 2: We can't get cavity wall insulation as the house has solid walls! (my worst nightmare). We estimate it was built in the 1920s, and cavity walls didn't really hit the mainstream until 1930 onwards. So we'll have to get solid wall insulation, which is far more expensive. But there are two bright sides. Firstly, the house is mid terrace, so we only need to insulate the front and the back (I'm already leaning towards external insulation), and secondly, the green tick in the EPC means this is likely to be fully financed under the Green Deal.

Change 3: The house already has loft insulation 200mm thick. This isn't as good as the recommended 270mm, but it's a start and means this might not be an urgent change for us. But we do need more storage space and the loft hasn't got loft flooring laid down yet, so if we do this in the near future (merely so we can store our crap up there), then it would be worth upgrading the insulation at the same time.

Change 4: The house doesn't really need draughtproofing. It's got a draught excluder on the letterbox and round the front door. (And the back door is double glazed). So this can be dropped in favour of floor insulation and heating controls.

Change 5: Maybe a new boiler is needed. Maybe not. The EPC says that it is needed (a condensing boiler), so it probably is. But we recently had both pre-paid gas and electricity meters removed and replaced with normal meters. The man that changed our gas meter took a look at our boiler and said it was "like an Audi, but an old Audi."
I think this was a compliment and he seemed to be saying it was in good nick (It's not actually an Audi, they don't make boilers. It's a Vaillant).

Go Compare says:

"Boilers last up to 15 years. If yours is reaching that age, then think about saving for a new one."

and

"Annual services are essential."

Now, I've looked all over the boiler (without opening it up) and I can't see any information on what model the boiler is, or how old it is. So it could be ancient. But judging by the dust on it, I'm pretty sure it hasn't been serviced in a couple of years. So I think maybe we get it serviced at the very least. What is worrying it that from 2005 it became mandatory for new boilers to be condensing boilers. So if ours is not a condensing boiler (as the EPC seems to suggest) this means our boiler must be at least 10 years old, maybe older! So maybe we do need to look in to replacing it sooner than later.

So taking all of these in to account the new plan of action looks like this:

1. Solar panels

2. Wind turbine

3. Ground source heat pump

4. Electric oven (with induction hobs)

5. Heating controls (room thermostat & TRVs)

6. Loft insulation (upgrade to 270mm)

7. Solid wall insulation

8. Floor insulation

9. LED lighting

10. New boiler (at some point)

It's good to have something to aim for.

Now, the easiest and cheapest of these is the LED lighting. So I've already made quite a lot of headway on this. (the subject of my next post)

But that doesn't mean we can't work on a few of them at once. Tomorrow afternoon we have someone from Better Energy coming over to probably give us the hard sell on solar panels. And when we last visited Ikea I looked in to their solar panel partnership with Hanergy.

More soon!