Moving

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francovendee
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Re: Moving

Post by francovendee »

What's the situation in the UK on getting grants to insulate homes? Are they still available and worth having?
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al_yrpal
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Re: Moving

Post by al_yrpal »

I believe you can only get a grant if you are on benefits, so, no use to us.
Because this is a listed building there is no hope anyway. Solid brick walls, huge casement single glazed Georgian windows. Double glazing not allowed. There is a few inches of loft insulation. Anything you touch must be restored with traditional materials like for like. Yesterday they demolished the rotting leaking roof access dormer and clad it in lead....at £400 a roll its expensive.
Its a huge dilemma, nobody wants old buildings to be lost but how to make them better insulated?

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Jdsk
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Re: Moving

Post by Jdsk »

francovendee wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 8:04am What's the situation in the UK on getting grants to insulate homes? Are they still available and worth having?
https://www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency

Jonathan
francovendee
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Re: Moving

Post by francovendee »

Limiting it to people on benefits seems short sighted.
Slightly different here, you can get your roof space insulated for€ 1, we can't as we don't have a ceiling space.
Putting in a heat pump system you can get €2000 towards it but it comes off your tax bill so not available if you're below the tax threshold.
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al_yrpal
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Re: Moving

Post by al_yrpal »

Ways to save energy...

Insulating your loft and cavity walls...already done as far as possible

Draught-proofing windows and doors...already done as far as possible

Upgrading your boiler...upgraded condensing boiler fitted.

Installing double glazing...not allowed

Using alternative sources of energy, such as solar power..solar panels not allowed

Quite difficult in a listed building..

Only thing sensibly possible would be a ground source heat pump and increasing all radiator sizes substantially. Dig up lawn to depth of 1 metre plus to install pipework. Very expensive. Everyone I know with air source heat pumps complains about the noise and poor heating performance due to undersized radiators. But, apparently this is what the politicos want to impose on everybody.

Other sensible thing...get rid of the Aga :lol:

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Oldjohnw
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Re: Moving

Post by Oldjohnw »

We tried to get a grant for a new heating controller last year (not means tested) under some government scheme. It turned out that the nearest appointed supplier (not the same as the nearest supplier) was in Sheffield 200 miles away. Understandably they didn’t want to visit.

I blieve the whole scheme, like almost everything else, was a disaster. Eat out to help out, track and trace, stamp duty holiday, PPE and many more.
John
Oldjohnw
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Re: Moving

Post by Oldjohnw »

I see no willingness of the politicians wanting us to have heat pumps. They have flatly refused them with new builds.
John
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al_yrpal
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Re: Moving

Post by al_yrpal »

Oldjohnw wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 3:05pm I see no willingness of the politicians wanting us to have heat pumps. They have flatly refused them with new builds.
And yet Gas boilers to be phased out!

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Jdsk
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Re: Moving

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 3:04pmInstalling double glazing...not allowed
Solutions are often available, although they not be as simple as those for unlisted buildings:
"Traditional Windows Their Care, Repair and Upgrading"
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-b ... -revfeb17/

Jonathan
Oldjohnw
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Re: Moving

Post by Oldjohnw »

al_yrpal wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 3:11pm
Oldjohnw wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 3:05pm I see no willingness of the politicians wanting us to have heat pumps. They have flatly refused them with new builds.
And yet Gas boilers to be phased out!

Al
Exactly. They have the foresight of the dinosaurs.
John
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al_yrpal
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Re: Moving

Post by al_yrpal »

All our windows are accurate copies of the original windows and exactly match those unrestored ones in an adjacent building. They are thankfully in great condition, well draughtproofed. We have secondary glazing in our kitchen. I am not sure if it has ever been approved. Thanks for the link, most interesting.

Sl
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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al_yrpal
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Re: Moving

Post by al_yrpal »

Oops...
Al
Last edited by al_yrpal on 7 Jul 2021, 11:13pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: Moving

Post by francovendee »

The first house I bought had metal framed windows (1970) and the previous owner had fitted secondary double glazing.
The windows still misted up and the windows were the devil to clean. I had them taken out and aluminium double glazed windows fitted.
They made a real difference and reduced the gas bill but condensation on the metal frames was still a problem in really cold weather.
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[XAP]Bob
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Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Moving

Post by [XAP]Bob »

al_yrpal wrote: 7 Jul 2021, 3:04pm Ways to save energy...

Insulating your loft and cavity walls...already done as far as possible

Draught-proofing windows and doors...already done as far as possible

Upgrading your boiler...upgraded condensing boiler fitted.

Installing double glazing...not allowed

Using alternative sources of energy, such as solar power..solar panels not allowed

Quite difficult in a listed building..

Only thing sensibly possible would be a ground source heat pump and increasing all radiator sizes substantially. Dig up lawn to depth of 1 metre plus to install pipework. Very expensive. Everyone I know with air source heat pumps complains about the noise and poor heating performance due to undersized radiators. But, apparently this is what the politicos want to impose on everybody.

Other sensible thing...get rid of the Aga :lol:

Al

ASHP are different, and so people are possibly not adapting to the different heat profile.

I’ll be able to confirm how much I still think that’s true soon, a decent sized unit being fitted to my parents house…
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Oldjohnw
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Joined: 16 Oct 2018, 4:23am
Location: South Warwickshire

Re: Moving

Post by Oldjohnw »

Until 10 years ago I lived in a Grade 2 listed building, one of very many in my town. My neighbour who also had a listed house identical to mine replaced his windows without permission. He was ordered to remove them. Given it was a three story 5 bedroom property the loss was significant.

We put timber secondary glazing in our sitting room. Unfortunately we lost the use of the shutters but given we were facing the North Sea it seemed a good idea.
John
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