Retrofit report

It feels like I had my sustainability survey done years ago. It was only in July! But now I have received the report. 

So what does it say? Well! Quite a lot of it is rather evident. They recommend more insulation. Ideally they want it on the outside of the house (which is very expensive), on the ceiling in the bedroom in the extension (which is quite disruptive), underneath the floor on the ground floor, so between the house and bedrock (both disruptive and expensive), and also between storeys. And in the attic. At least that latter suggestion is not disruptive, and not very expensive.

Another suggestion was to improve insulation between the heated and unheated spaces of the house. I have a conservatory next to the master bedroom, and a little extension where the washing machine lives tagged onto the kitchen. And the doors and windows leading to them are old-fashioned and single pane. That can be improved on as well.

So what am I going to do? I should really get my arse in gear and improve the insulation in the attic. And then I might take a little step approach. The first thing my money is going to is sort a battery and infrared panels. Then my bank account will probably have to recover for a bit. And I also want to have the bathroom redone. I have a bath, while I think that is not of this age. If you use them, you use so much water and energy! I want it taken out and replaced with a shower cabin with an electric shower. Then I would be ready to not mind if my gas boiler gives up. I suppose that should come next. And that is another thing my bank account will probably have to recover from.

I also want to renovate the kitchen. It is ugly! But that is just a cosmetic issue, so less important than all the faffing with batteries and infrared panels and electric showers. But on the other hand; the sooner I get that done, the longer I can enjoy a beautiful kitchen.

So did this survey tell me a lot of things I didn't know? Not really to be honest. But maybe it was good to have a specialist look at it, and provide estimates of cost with all the possible interventions. And then I can decide which of these I want to tackle, and in which order, and with how much time in between.

Either way; I suppose one thing that needs to happen is that there will be a post on this blog within the year that says I have added a lot of insulation material to the attic. That is such low hanging fruit I should really put that higher up on my to do list! But, of course, before that happens I need to do a bit of research into both insulation material would be best. I think it might actually be sheep’s wool! I am in Wales, after all…