I moved from my terraced house in Peel Road, Wolverton to another mid-terraced house in the same town in March 2105. I was motivated by a desire for a larger more sociable kitchen space and an additional bedroom.
I was pleased to find another house that had these attributes as well as a south facing garden backing onto a community orchard. The house was in a fairly good condition but was rather dated in décor and style. It had polystyrene ceiling tiles in all the bedrooms and throughout the hall, stairs and landing. It had lost many of its original features including the fireplaces downstairs, picture rails and any coving there might have been. While this was disappointing in some ways it also gave me greater freedom to make energy efficiency improvements to the house.
Internal Wall Insulation
Like the house in Peel Road, my house in Western Road is also in a Conversation Area. This reduced my options for solid wall insulation to internal insulation at the front and either internal or external at the back. Consultation with the local Conservation Officer suggested that the only finish that the Council would accept for external wall insulation to the back was brick slips. I was dubious about this option as the brick slips would not have been a good match for the original brick work on my or neighbouring houses.
A summary of the Measures Installed
- Changed the gas boiler from a Glow worm Ultimate 40FF to a condensing Ideal Logic+ Heat 24
- Had internal wall insulation fitted to 75% of the external walls
- Had floor insulation fitted to about 80% of the ground floor (half the kitchen and the shower room/utility have a solid floor and would be very difficult to do)
- Had a 4kW solar PV system installed – two thirds east facing, one third south facing
- Had an Apollo Gem installed to heat hot water in the cylinder rather than exporting it to the grid
- Increased the loft insulation from 100mm (and in some cases none) to 250mm
- Installed CFL/LED lighting throughout
- Had a Nest Learning Thermostat installed
- Flavel Arundel Multi-Fuel 4.9kW stove (to replace the old gas mounted one)
In 2022 I completed the fitting of secondary glazing to the single glazed sash windows (I live in a Conservation Area and cannot change these for modern double glazed ones – like I have at the back of the house) and had further insulation work done to the kitchen walls as part of a kitchen refit. The whole of the house is now internally insulated, apart from one wall in the bathroom, which would be very difficult to do because hot water cylinder is against this wall and the bathroom is very small. As it is I can only fit a small bath in.
SuperHomes
In 2016 I had my home remotely assessed by to find out whether I had achieved at least a 60% reduction in carbon emissions since I moved into the property. If I had achieved this through the measures installed I was eligible to join the SuperHomes network run by the National Energy Foundation. I was very pleased when the result of the assessment came back, as it showed a saving of 92%, showing the difference that improved insulation and the installation of solar PV panels can make. In 2016 and 2017 I opened my home to local residents so that they could see for themselves the improvements that had been made.
Roll forward to April 2023 and my home is in the process of being monitored with sensors to assess its energy performance. I am keen to find out how the result of this will compare to the first assessment.
More information about my home and SuperHomes can be found here.