If there's a vacancy in the EE team then you should seriously consider Judith! She's an excellent orator and she's knowledgeable with first hand build experience. I could easily see Judith interviewing other homeowners (it's still great to listen to Imogen too!).
Yes - I thought she was exceptional too! I've met very few architects and even engineers who can discuss the issues so clearly; even talking in kWh rather than vague cost savings...
I thought the same. The Everything Electric team are generally young and evidently progressive but the people with capital and who own homes/run organizations are mostly older. Judith or someone like her would speak very well to them. She should also run for local council!
Came to say the same, incredibly knowledgeable yet clear and busting jargon like breathable with approachable language. Excellent visual aids and explanations. Genuinely in awe, I've been following radical retrofit topics since getting hooked on the idea in the pandemic and this is hands down the best explanation of what's involved.
Fantastic video! Judith is super knowledgable and a great teacher. Regarding the heat pump, they are famously over sized - but also operated too hot! They could make better use of those large radiators by reducing the flow temperature down, from my chats with HeatGeek 55C seems high (worth looking into weather compensation 😃) Thanks for the video guys!
I’ve been running mine at 35degrees maximum on a weather compensation curve this winter. It’s been perfectly warm, and I live in a badly built, poorly insulated 1960s bungalow.
living near St Albans, I would love to hear from Judith where she found the companies to carry out the work. I have spent many fruitless hours trying to investigate improving my turn of the century houses' heat retention. Great video btw
Great to see someone talking about woodfibre, Diathonite and all the lower-carbon building materials. This is a good way to go. And emphasising the need for vapour-open construction on pre-cavity buildings (to be honest it's a good idea on all buildings, but you don't _need_ it on modern DPC/cavity construction. Clearly Judith has done a great job of understanding this stuff.
That is real progress, only 7 years after Brussels did it (and proved to everyone that the world doesn't explode if you make decent buildings standard)
It's so heartening to see people who have become passionate about improving energy efficiency in homes able to acheive massive improvements in their homes! 75% is a LUDICROUS improvement to manage with really well thought out insulation and a heat pump. Incredible
That's the sort of improvement most houses older than about late 1980s will get with a decent retrofit. Check out the 'superhomes' project which has been tracking 'at least 65% energy reduction' retrofits for a couple of decades now. Our (1960s) house is improved by a factor of 8 since 'as built' and a factor of 4 since we bought it (with cavity walls, basic loft and DG done).
@RobinThomson277 we've done it to ours, the UFH and double insulation we've installed is supposed to reduce your energy usage by 40% on its own, we've also had new windows and the roof replaced now double insulated. Our old boiler and windows were 35 years old and the house was built in 1935 The upstairs radiators don't come on unless it's down to 3 or 4 degrees and even when we had that -10 spell they barely ticked over at a low temp. The UFH switches off at around 11 degrees with our french and bay windows upping the room temperature.
@ Well done for retrofitting. What do you mean by 'double insulated'. Do you just mean 'thicker insulation' (than what)? We are short of good terms for 'a bit of insulation', 'more insulation' and 'really good insulation'. It's all called the same thing, and people don't understand what their options are, and what effects that would have. Also by '11 degrees' do you mean 11 degrees above room temp? UFH that switched off at 11C would produce a chilly house :-)
@@xxwookey So for the floor there's a sling with mineral wool in it Om top of that with a slight air gap is YBS FloorQuilt On the walls in my extension there is cavity wall insulation then a batten on the breeze block creating an air gap then YBS SuperQuilt then another batten creating an air gab then plasterboard. In the roof the beams are plasterboard in between them as there an office come lounge area. In the cavity between the plasterboard is mineral wool then YBS BreatherQuilt on top then roofing battens then tiles. The Foil is around £100 for 12m square it reflects radiant heat and reduces heat transfer by combining it with mineral wool your getting 100mm foamboard performance at a fraction of the cost if not better and it's easier to retrofit. You can just staple it to your loft beams and tape it for a cheap warm loft, it stops the loft space overheating in summer as well
@@xxwookey I mean 11 degrees outside I keep most of the downstairs at 18 during the day 16 at night and upstairs is set to 15 but off overnight. Any bit of sun even in winter and the heating isn't needed, the windows have a Pilkington glass product which lets heat in at a shallow angle and blocks it as the sun gets higher in the sky (as in summer).
People usually talk about "payback time" on efficiency upgrades. I like how you didn't go there, but concentrated on improvement in quality of living conditions and that assessment of the home's value actually increased by 3x the cost of the upgrade!
We had a large single storey extension built a few years back and installed double insulation mineral wool then multifoil with ufh on top. Been slowly working through the ground floor upgrading the rooms to a similar level. You get people in to do the final fit, but 90% of the work you can do yourself in lifting the floors, reinforcement of the joists, and adding noggins + the insulation. In terms of comfort, it's a different level
Yes, those are my big concerns too. I'm willing to pay a bit more for a more comfortable home and I take adding to its value seriously. It's certainly nice to save some money, but a home is for living in and that comes first.
I'm pro making homes more energy efficient, but I cant help but notice they may of been economical with the figures. The £23,000 was for just the energy efficiency upgrades (and it sounds like they did a fair chunk of the work themselves) while the £90,000 didnt specify if it included the value added from the extension. I'm sure the renovations added value but I doubt the energy efficiency upgrades would of added 3 times their cost alone. @everythingelectic would appreciate if you can calrify those figures, as those sceptics out there against this sort of thing could use it as examples of exageration or dishonesty to tarnish your reputation or argument for a good cause.
Spending £23k (plus the full house redecoration) for a £90k house value increase sounds good except you live in the house. You don't get any of that money unless you sell and move somewhere else. The payback time should be considered, but is not the be all and end all. A more realistic option for most people might be to redecorate and insulate 1 or 2 rooms that you spend the most time in and let the others be cooler in winter, depending how many people live there.
@@andyk5572 That's not how these systems work I have underfloor and have insulated to a high standard what happens is you heat the inside of the building which is why the upstairs bedroom radiators seldom come on. You can open all the doors and windows for 2 minutes, close them and within 10 minutes the ambient temperature will have gone back to what you set it to. Also I've just had a solar battery install done the capital repayment period is now under 6 years Hope this helps
I own an 1860's Grade II listed tenement in the Scottish islands and am in the process of trying to get it insulated. All walls have to be done internally so this video has given me loads of information that is usually so hard to obtain. Thank you, Judith, for explaining everything so clearly.
Great to see that older houses can be made energy efficient. Some very clever techniques there, especially the brilliant way of fitting insulation under suspended floors!
This is a great instalment Highly recommended. I am a building Physicist and sustainable builder myself but am unable to address so many topics so well put in one UA-cam. Excellent work
Would love to see Heat Geek profile this. I bet they would end up switching the radiators back on and running it on a smaller ASHP. Not using radiators means the ones that are on have to be hotter which is less efficient but with the size of ASHP they have, it probably can't modulate down low enough to fully utilise the efficiencies that are there. Good job on the retrofit though, should be costing them very little to heat, with a smaller ASHP they could be zero bill with solar export taken into account.
@@cingramuk my 60s terrace EPC D 300mm loft, cavity walls. Has a 6kw heat pump with a buffer and I use considerably less electric than they do almost two thirds less infact.
Thanks for this. We were going to explore more so this is encouraging. We don't have any radiators on, just the UFH and the towel rails is all it needs.
@@Burtis89 Fascinating and good to hear that you're saving so much. Wonder why your EPC is D? Sounds as if it should be much better than that? Ours shifted from D to B.
@@ecorenovationhome funnily enough after I wrote that comment I looked at the EPC, and it doesn't include my led light upgrades, heat pump so yeah I may get it higher maybe scrape a C 😁
The way Judith articulates the benefits is wonderful to hear. 75% reduction in energy usage is fantastic, and exactly what we need more examples of out there, evidencing what’s achievable. Congrats on yet more easy to digest, concise content 👍🏼 Love it 💚
What a fantastic video, retro fitting and insulation is just the type of thing I (and most home owners) was looking for. Its something you could add to your live shows too. Judith is an absolute champion 🏆
This is a really great episode, so many houses are in the same boat, do you think you could do a series with Judith going through each area of the house, loft insulation, wall insulation, there is so much more to cover and she explains it so well!
I have done a simalar job on a late 1930's end terrace house. We did it all through the lock down 2020 to 2023. Every single wall back to brick and insulated and replasterboarded.
Great video. Thanks for the upload. Just a caveat. Judith asserts that you can't use celotex between floor joists because of the flex. However you can use it if you use the "Gapotape" product around the edges of each board. After that you can then use a membrane over the top of the joists without the need to use the sling arrangement. But horses for courses and both methods work well as they both ventilate the joists.👍
Gapotape is great but surprisingly expensive. It may well be the same price, and certainly lower carbon, to just do it with flexi woodfibre (or Scottish hemp from Indinature) than PIR+gapotape. But of course the performance will be lower. I'd try to put a layer underneath the joists to remove the thermal bridges from all the timber - but of course that's (much) more faff.
I’ve been following Judith’s YT channel for about a month now - great to see her on the EE channel 👍. She’s got a great knack of explaining things in Laymans terms to people. It’s very inspiring what they’ve done with their beautiful home 👍
Brilliant lady as an owner of an 1830’s renovation I’d agree with about 90% of this and it’s brilliant to see the awareness on “breathability”. For suspended floors any other option is a limecrete floor which is what we did it’s “breathable” and sitting on exploded glass as an insulator but also it doesn’t “wick” moisture from the ground.
This episode is so useful. Out of hundreds single brand, single solution videos on YT, you give a variety of recommendations for the majority of most common issues in a real liveable home with real life problems. I'll save this video on my personal playlist, rewatch it with notepad and seriously consider everything the lovely lady said and done. I really appreciate the brand names, the explanations of how to install things and the emphasis on the laid back approach that not all has to be done at once. The retrofit is such a stressful process and prices just keep creeping up, so knowing it can be done gradually and sometimes by myself, is so encouraging! Thank you!
What an excellent video ..... great content and Judith is both knowledgeable and a brilliant presenter! It's clear she and John spent time to research options, understand the implications of what materials should be used where to avoid compromising the original design of their home, and have ended up with a fantastic warm home which has gone up significantly in value.
This is a fantastic green retrofit! I built an almost-tiny passive solar home, and often give tours to anyone who stops by. I built a model of my walls similar to your floor model to show how they were constructed. I have a concrete slab that is insulated from the ground and the foundation; I plumbed it for radiant heating but never hooked it up as I don't need it; the floor is always warm from solar heat gain, house is always comfortable even in single digit weather, and the woodstove will easily keep it plenty warm overnight with just an armload of wood.
Judith did a great job explaining how and why they did the improvements. Reducing bills and making the home far more efficient but the next step of adding more vale to the home as well is incredible. Great stuff.
Fascinating, I'm glad I dropped on this, I am going to move house in a few months and want make sure it will better insulated, this information definitely helps Thank you ✔✔😀😀
Great video. I have a similar property and have the same issues. Always been advised not to tamper due to the airflow problems. Now have the confidence to explore and improve.
Love seeing someone that understands this. Bought a renovated 1910s terrace and the last year has been removing cement render, repointing and re rendering with lime, clearing air bricks and removing damp proofing. Not what our survey stated at all but seeing this as something to get sorted while im in my 30s and be able to pass down when im gone, a lot tougher with family in the house though haha. They really dont make them like they used to . With an old house so much more is possible yourself.
What a pleasure to listen to such a well educated, conscientious, clear speaking person, well done! Very rare to see a woman being so driven and ‘clued-up’ on these things too, I couldn’t help but nod along.
Great video. Just 1 observation on the heat pump, it’s not setup properly and is not running anywhere near as efficiently as it could be. It’s currently set up using fixed flow at 47 degrees in this video but should be set in a weather compensation mode please let me know if you would like help setting this up
I've gone with rockwool batts between the floor joists. Holds itself in by friction as quite stiff but still fills edge to edge, no gaps. For pressure reasons, I run radiators at 51c and haven't changed them. Still warm enough.
Judith speaks directly to a particular part of the population and audience, and she does it very well. It would be a boon for all involved to have her at least present specific topics.
Amazing content!!! Hope to see a more detailed post on how to utilize the aerated insulating glass beads. With additional specs on its insulating value and other characteristics. I know Judith has a post on it. But i would like to hear from a tradesmen/installer and see the installation process. To get a better idea of of the actual installation process and cost if possible? Thanks for this post.
This video is amazing and inspiring! I've been asking various contractors about retrofitting a 1926 Victorian terrace and was always told "can't be done". As a non-architect or engineering background person, how do you find the contractors for the job? Most people would look at this and say it's too much work and not worth their time.
Excellent! There are so many houses like this in the UK and all leaky bucket's We need more to be done up to cut our costs and the 21% of emissions from homes .
Thank you! I found this video so informative, I’m thinking about retro fitting my 1700s cottage with some of the techniques highlighted here. What would be really be helpful for similar videos in the future would be to have temperature for ambient temperatures before and after to let the viewers see the direct impact.
Great video, great guest, useful to see the products available, and how they are used. I would suggest that Judith contacts the Heat Geeks, as I would think they would be able to calibrate her heat pump to run at a lower flow temperature, saving her more energy still.
What a good episode, Judith was great. I want to say yes there maybe some extra info needed for the well meaning geeks out there, BUT the main take away for me was that it can be done and has opened my eyes. The mention of legacy rather than pay back period appeals to me also. The no1 take away is the dishwasher at a higher height and thinking can I do that now in my kitchen.
So we’ve got a four bedroom Victorian school house and done exactly the same in regards to internal wall insulation, heat pump, new radiators, ventilation and 16 solar panels the only difference is we kept our LPG boiler so it’s a hybrid system so when it drops below 5 degrees we use the LPG as it’s a lot more cost effective than the heat pump when it’s cold. We got our EPC down from an F to 1 point off an A rating. We love the facts the house is always warm without the cold dips like we used to have but as for the 75% saving I do think that’s rather ambitious.
Out of interest, since you‘re saying that the LPG is more cost effective than the heat pump at below 5, when are you actually using the heat pump? Because with this level of insulation it seems like you would barely use the HP at all above 5 degrees outside temperature?
Also I think the Demand Controlled Cascade Ventilation bluMartin freeAir 100 MVHR is an excellent product for any house retrofit trying to achieve Passivhaus standards. Stefan Huber the author of the Passivhaus institute Good Practice MVHR has shown me how well it works in projects.
That was a great interview, really well explained by Judith. We've done the under floor wood fibre insulation exactly as she described and we are looking at wood fibre externally wall insulation next, then a heat pump. I think the only two major points to add to this: 1 - Common plastic insulation (PIR, Polysterene etc) is a fossil fuel product! So by going for natural products like wood fibre you have much less embedded carbon. 2. Using plastic insulation is an all or nothing approach in terms of keeping moisture out. So for external wall insulation if that insulation is compromised in any way or at any time then there is a real risk of trapping moisture behind the plastic insulation, which can then just end up causing damp inside. Plastic free, vapour permeable insulation all the way 🤘
Glad they addressed issue of ventilation and condensation. Overly airtight homes have issues with condensation which can lead to things like breaking down the insulation and also potential for mold build up. It's not a reason to not insulate, it's the reason you need the experts to help you.
Really good video. Solid info on insulation, and also a very important point about how energy efficiency improvements add value to the house. In a sense, you're not 'spending' the money at all, you're smartly investing it into an asset. Just one point though - the flow temp from the heat pump is too high. If set lower (and on a weather-compensating curve) it will run much more efficiently. The additional radiators can be opened up to ensure the house is still heated at the lower flow temperature.
Great to see how it can be done, the trouble is that if a house is in good condition to start with then doing all of the work required is incredibly disruptive. Moreover, we sold our previous house just over a year ago which I completely renovated with internal insulation and an additional first floor (it was a bungalow) made from SIPS. I expected the energy performance of the building would be a reall selling point, but except for one, buyers were completely uninterested. The estate agent commented that those looking at houses in our area no more considered the running costs of a house than they did the fuel consumption of their 4x4. He also said that, for the majority of buyers, a home heated with a heat pump (my next planned improvement) was viewed with suspicion - shows what we're up against. Fortunately the new owner has not only covered the roof with solar but installed an MVHR (another planned improvement) and will be adding a heat pump in due course. We've moved to a house just around the corner with a building plot on which we will be building a low impact eco-house (as close to passive house standards as practicable). We've no intention of selling this so all of the extra expense of the build will be for our benefit and our sense of doing the right thing. Unfortunately, even if everyone shared the same sense of responsibility, they may not be in the privileged position to do anything about it.
I think many of these things are rightly viewed with some suspicion because the building trade in this country is a fucking joke far too often with cowboys willing to take peoples money to do a shit job and leave you with a worse situation than when you started and with a huge bill to fix it on your hands. Heatpumps only work if your house is insulated enough. There are plenty of stories of peoples bills going up a lot with headpumps because this wasn't dealt with before installation. Insulating internal walls, ceilings, lofts, external walls all requires a knowledge of the houses construction and again, there are plenty of stories of people who have had their lives made a misery by builders who take government (or private) money, do a shit job and then you have mould issues that require a complete removal of the insulation at vast expense. I don't think most people are adverse to these ideas, they are just scared of the huge cost and potential for disaster with our shit builders.
What a beautiful and inspiring story, it is so rare to see such knowledgeable and passionate homeowner. As mentioned, make sure to keep all the radiators and UFH fully open all time to maximise surface area for heat transfer, you can then drop the flow temperature from ASHP significantly, without impacting total KW heat output from the system (thanks to that extra heat emitters surface) - this is important since efficency of heat pumps increases dramatically with each degree of flow temperature reduction. Assuming you use weather compensation and all available radiators/UFH, with your high insulation level you should be able to set the heating curve to 0.40 or similar, meaning that with 10C temperature outside, your heating flow temperature will be only 29c - resulting with efficency of around 500%-600% in this specific scenario (and 34C flow at 0C outside, allowing for 350% efficency or so).
Really appreciated the breakdown of how they insulated the ground floor! Can anyone explain how they insulated the interior walls of the original structure? I can see that they went back to brick, and then seemingly built a stud wall in front and put insulation in there. What about any sort of airtight membrane etc on the bare brickwork? A parge coat of plaster? Any idea!?
great video! I always wondered how to better insulate the floor in my ancient suspended floor house. Now I know - but it would be a major job pulling up all the laminate to do that...😢
One thing worth corecting is the vapor permeability. If you insulate from inside, then youd better use impermeable materials, so theres nothing to condense within the wall. Its actually worse to insulate from inside with permeable materials, cause you move the dew point inside the brick (cause it gets less heat from inside), and supply it with internal vapour.
I will try and remember to come back to this video when I get around to installing my suspended floor insulation, that is a good idea using soft insulation to allow for movement!
makes so much sense, also for me if you aren't using safety gear and a mask it also tells you something about the safety of using natural insulation over Kingspan and Celotex
Brilliant video. First class presentation. I have tried to do something similar with my house. The comment about over-sized radiators rings true, the government grant is conditional on having very large radiators to perform well in very cold, very unusual conditions, so at the moment you have little choice.
With ASHP, bigger radiators = always better, regardless of the weather, as they allow you drop flow temperature down and so boost heatpump efficiency significantly.
Thanks for this Imogen. Brilliant short feature on what almost any household could/should consider as an investment and a legacy for the next generations of family and homeowner. Did Judith say how long the work took? Sounded like she assisted the refit, any estimation of how much she (and husband) further saved by helping (and learning)? She and others like her should be showcased on the website with more details and recommendations for other people to be inspired by. Her local MP should be getting her and other locals who've made the effort and reaped the rewards to help drive refit initiatives in the area.
Damned I was a visionary when I ditched the heat-pump and its subsidies for better insulation and triple glazing, and lifted-up the dishwasher in my self-made house 13 years ago!
We have some of these 25kwh houses in the north of Sweden 🇸🇪 and think they are inefficient.. it's so true you need to focus on walls, air tightness and controlled ventilation. Rather than starting with new windows and solar. Btw, her dishwasher, fridge and freezer is also helping warming the house, if that is open enough. :)
I implemented some of these insulation methods on a 1920’s semi. solid brick house, as part of a whole house renovation. I wanted an ASHP to replace the gas boiler. Contacted several installers and minimum with post renovation spec was 12kW which would have meant planning permission. Which was not in my renovation timeline. Eventually got new to market ASHP company that decided the house only needed a 6kW ASHP. Which was a surprise, install went ahead and house is consistently warm. Peak use is around 2kw per hour. Thermostat says the house is 20 - 21 consistently. Have to set the temperature lower over night because it gets too hot.
Watched this, found it very interesting, and agree with all the compliments about Judith's presentation skills below. We're on a similar journey with a much younger (and I'd say less well built) 1980's dormer bungalow in Ireland. Have the insulation and the Solar PV installed, now looking at Single Room Heat Recovery, ahead of going for the Heat Pump. Can I ask what type/brand of unit did you go for and did you use the same one throughout the house?
55 degrees is way too hot for the radiators, put on weather compensation and turn on all the radiators and add control for the bedroom so you can turn down your bedroom overnight. The secret for heat pumps is low and slow, on 24/7, heat the house fabric, it will keep you warm.
Interesting video. It must have taken a lot of effort to learn what was safe (from a damp perspective) and what wasn't, especially doing some of it themselves. I would really like to make our house more efficient but the means aren't obvious and it's difficult to know how to get advice. It's 20 years older than Judith's and much bigger so our gas usage is very high. I will look in to the book.
See if you have a local AECB group too. They can be very helpful if you have an active one nearby (and there is loads of good info on the AECB website).
Great video, great result. I'm confused by how you say everything has to be air permeable, but then put airtight covering over your floor insulation, so the floor is not air permeable and relies on the walls?
If there's a vacancy in the EE team then you should seriously consider Judith! She's an excellent orator and she's knowledgeable with first hand build experience. I could easily see Judith interviewing other homeowners (it's still great to listen to Imogen too!).
Yes - I thought she was exceptional too! I've met very few architects and even engineers who can discuss the issues so clearly; even talking in kWh rather than vague cost savings...
@@UK75roger You're making my day - thank you!
Thank you! That's so good to hear
I thought the same. The Everything Electric team are generally young and evidently progressive but the people with capital and who own homes/run organizations are mostly older. Judith or someone like her would speak very well to them. She should also run for local council!
@@petercandlish4398 I was asked to run for council once - don't think I could bear the campaigning 😆
Your guest was a very good presenter!
Thank you very much - that's lovely feedback!
Came to say the same, incredibly knowledgeable yet clear and busting jargon like breathable with approachable language.
Excellent visual aids and explanations.
Genuinely in awe, I've been following radical retrofit topics since getting hooked on the idea in the pandemic and this is hands down the best explanation of what's involved.
So when is Judith joining the team as a presenter? She was excellent!
Thank you so much!
She is just totally fabulous!
@@EverythingElectricShow ua-cam.com/video/NjWl_RNDMSA/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
@@EverythingElectricShowwatch and take appropriate action! There are no excuses!!
@@EverythingElectricShow ua-cam.com/video/NjWl_RNDMSA/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
She should open up her big radiators and drop the flow temperature of her heat pump she would get a better SCOP and save even more money
My thought exactly, send in the @heatgeek
I came here to say that! Get rid of the nest thermostat. Probably get away with 5k unit
Fantastic video! Judith is super knowledgable and a great teacher. Regarding the heat pump, they are famously over sized - but also operated too hot! They could make better use of those large radiators by reducing the flow temperature down, from my chats with HeatGeek 55C seems high (worth looking into weather compensation 😃)
Thanks for the video guys!
Thanks Ryan! Hope all is good with you :-)
Thanks for that - good to hear about heat pumps. I shall go exploring more.
I’ve been running mine at 35degrees maximum on a weather compensation curve this winter. It’s been perfectly warm, and I live in a badly built, poorly insulated 1960s bungalow.
@@Giant.Iain171So, not as leaky as a Victorian terraced then!?
@@Giant.Iain171 Do you happen to know what efficiency you've been getting? I'm not sure if that kind of metric is available to you
living near St Albans, I would love to hear from Judith where she found the companies to carry out the work. I have spent many fruitless hours trying to investigate improving my turn of the century houses' heat retention. Great video btw
Great to see someone talking about woodfibre, Diathonite and all the lower-carbon building materials. This is a good way to go. And emphasising the need for vapour-open construction on pre-cavity buildings (to be honest it's a good idea on all buildings, but you don't _need_ it on modern DPC/cavity construction. Clearly Judith has done a great job of understanding this stuff.
Passive House is now standard building practice in Scotland from this month. This includes developer build, affordable homes and social housing.
now hoping it is with Future Home Standards in April - but not looking like its going to go that far
Excellent news ... coming not a moment too soon.
Great news.... they are making inroads in Canada as well Our 7 climate zones keeps them on their toes ;)
That is real progress, only 7 years after Brussels did it (and proved to everyone that the world doesn't explode if you make decent buildings standard)
lol build costs in Scotland just got unprofitable so now your kids will have nowhere to live
This woman is extremely knowledgeable
It's so heartening to see people who have become passionate about improving energy efficiency in homes able to acheive massive improvements in their homes! 75% is a LUDICROUS improvement to manage with really well thought out insulation and a heat pump. Incredible
That's the sort of improvement most houses older than about late 1980s will get with a decent retrofit. Check out the 'superhomes' project which has been tracking 'at least 65% energy reduction' retrofits for a couple of decades now. Our (1960s) house is improved by a factor of 8 since 'as built' and a factor of 4 since we bought it (with cavity walls, basic loft and DG done).
@RobinThomson277 we've done it to ours, the UFH and double insulation we've installed is supposed to reduce your energy usage by 40% on its own, we've also had new windows and the roof replaced now double insulated.
Our old boiler and windows were 35 years old and the house was built in 1935
The upstairs radiators don't come on unless it's down to 3 or 4 degrees and even when we had that -10 spell they barely ticked over at a low temp. The UFH switches off at around 11 degrees with our french and bay windows upping the room temperature.
@ Well done for retrofitting. What do you mean by 'double insulated'. Do you just mean 'thicker insulation' (than what)? We are short of good terms for 'a bit of insulation', 'more insulation' and 'really good insulation'. It's all called the same thing, and people don't understand what their options are, and what effects that would have. Also by '11 degrees' do you mean 11 degrees above room temp? UFH that switched off at 11C would produce a chilly house :-)
@@xxwookey So for the floor there's a sling with mineral wool in it
Om top of that with a slight air gap is YBS FloorQuilt
On the walls in my extension there is cavity wall insulation then a batten on the breeze block creating an air gap then YBS SuperQuilt then another batten creating an air gab then plasterboard.
In the roof the beams are plasterboard in between them as there an office come lounge area.
In the cavity between the plasterboard is mineral wool then YBS BreatherQuilt on top then roofing battens then tiles.
The Foil is around £100 for 12m square it reflects radiant heat and reduces heat transfer by combining it with mineral wool your getting 100mm foamboard performance at a fraction of the cost if not better and it's easier to retrofit.
You can just staple it to your loft beams and tape it for a cheap warm loft, it stops the loft space overheating in summer as well
@@xxwookey I mean 11 degrees outside I keep most of the downstairs at 18 during the day 16 at night and upstairs is set to 15 but off overnight.
Any bit of sun even in winter and the heating isn't needed, the windows have a Pilkington glass product which lets heat in at a shallow angle and blocks it as the sun gets higher in the sky (as in summer).
People usually talk about "payback time" on efficiency upgrades. I like how you didn't go there, but concentrated on improvement in quality of living conditions and that assessment of the home's value actually increased by 3x the cost of the upgrade!
We had a large single storey extension built a few years back and installed double insulation mineral wool then multifoil with ufh on top.
Been slowly working through the ground floor upgrading the rooms to a similar level.
You get people in to do the final fit, but 90% of the work you can do yourself in lifting the floors, reinforcement of the joists, and adding noggins + the insulation.
In terms of comfort, it's a different level
Yes, those are my big concerns too. I'm willing to pay a bit more for a more comfortable home and I take adding to its value seriously. It's certainly nice to save some money, but a home is for living in and that comes first.
I'm pro making homes more energy efficient, but I cant help but notice they may of been economical with the figures. The £23,000 was for just the energy efficiency upgrades (and it sounds like they did a fair chunk of the work themselves) while the £90,000 didnt specify if it included the value added from the extension.
I'm sure the renovations added value but I doubt the energy efficiency upgrades would of added 3 times their cost alone.
@everythingelectic would appreciate if you can calrify those figures, as those sceptics out there against this sort of thing could use it as examples of exageration or dishonesty to tarnish your reputation or argument for a good cause.
Spending £23k (plus the full house redecoration) for a £90k house value increase sounds good except you live in the house. You don't get any of that money unless you sell and move somewhere else. The payback time should be considered, but is not the be all and end all.
A more realistic option for most people might be to redecorate and insulate 1 or 2 rooms that you spend the most time in and let the others be cooler in winter, depending how many people live there.
@@andyk5572 That's not how these systems work
I have underfloor and have insulated to a high standard what happens is you heat the inside of the building which is why the upstairs bedroom radiators seldom come on.
You can open all the doors and windows for 2 minutes, close them and within 10 minutes the ambient temperature will have gone back to what you set it to.
Also
I've just had a solar battery install done the capital repayment period is now under 6 years
Hope this helps
I own an 1860's Grade II listed tenement in the Scottish islands and am in the process of trying to get it insulated. All walls have to be done internally so this video has given me loads of information that is usually so hard to obtain. Thank you, Judith, for explaining everything so clearly.
Great to see that older houses can be made energy efficient. Some very clever techniques there, especially the brilliant way of fitting insulation under suspended floors!
This is a great instalment Highly recommended. I am a building Physicist and sustainable builder myself but am unable to address so many topics so well put in one UA-cam. Excellent work
Would love to see Heat Geek profile this. I bet they would end up switching the radiators back on and running it on a smaller ASHP. Not using radiators means the ones that are on have to be hotter which is less efficient but with the size of ASHP they have, it probably can't modulate down low enough to fully utilise the efficiencies that are there.
Good job on the retrofit though, should be costing them very little to heat, with a smaller ASHP they could be zero bill with solar export taken into account.
@@cingramuk my 60s terrace EPC D 300mm loft, cavity walls. Has a 6kw heat pump with a buffer and I use considerably less electric than they do almost two thirds less infact.
Thanks for this. We were going to explore more so this is encouraging. We don't have any radiators on, just the UFH and the towel rails is all it needs.
@@Burtis89 Fascinating and good to hear that you're saving so much. Wonder why your EPC is D? Sounds as if it should be much better than that? Ours shifted from D to B.
@@ecorenovationhome funnily enough after I wrote that comment I looked at the EPC, and it doesn't include my led light upgrades, heat pump so yeah I may get it higher maybe scrape a C 😁
@@Burtis89 That makes more sense.
What a lucid and knowledgeable homeowner! Fab! Best home improvement episode in a long time. Thank you.
Perfect. Thanks for showcasing this. Will show it to friends who are about to buy a house just like it.
You could give them a copy of my book - loads in there that could help them. Link in the description
The way Judith articulates the benefits is wonderful to hear. 75% reduction in energy usage is fantastic, and exactly what we need more examples of out there, evidencing what’s achievable. Congrats on yet more easy to digest, concise content 👍🏼 Love it 💚
What a fantastic video, retro fitting and insulation is just the type of thing I (and most home owners) was looking for. Its something you could add to your live shows too. Judith is an absolute champion 🏆
Excellent video, as usual. The guest was articulate and informative.
This is a really great episode, so many houses are in the same boat, do you think you could do a series with Judith going through each area of the house, loft insulation, wall insulation, there is so much more to cover and she explains it so well!
I have done a simalar job on a late 1930's end terrace house. We did it all through the lock down 2020 to 2023. Every single wall back to brick and insulated and replasterboarded.
Excellent video and Judith was brilliant. Would love to see more videos like this 😊
I'd love to see the wall build up, there's so much conflicting info out there. Well done on all the hard work, a journey worth pursuing.
Great video. Thanks for the upload. Just a caveat. Judith asserts that you can't use celotex between floor joists because of the flex. However you can use it if you use the "Gapotape" product around the edges of each board. After that you can then use a membrane over the top of the joists without the need to use the sling arrangement. But horses for courses and both methods work well as they both ventilate the joists.👍
Gapotape is great but surprisingly expensive. It may well be the same price, and certainly lower carbon, to just do it with flexi woodfibre (or Scottish hemp from Indinature) than PIR+gapotape. But of course the performance will be lower. I'd try to put a layer underneath the joists to remove the thermal bridges from all the timber - but of course that's (much) more faff.
You need to seriously consider Judith at part of your team. She has so much wealth of knowledge to give out to the world.
I’ve been following Judith’s YT channel for about a month now - great to see her on the EE channel 👍.
She’s got a great knack of explaining things in Laymans terms to people. It’s very inspiring what they’ve done with their beautiful home 👍
Got to agree with comments below. Judith, is she an engineer? So well informed & would make a great presenter or eco advocate.
Brilliant lady as an owner of an 1830’s renovation I’d agree with about 90% of this and it’s brilliant to see the awareness on “breathability”. For suspended floors any other option is a limecrete floor which is what we did it’s “breathable” and sitting on exploded glass as an insulator but also it doesn’t “wick” moisture from the ground.
This episode is so useful. Out of hundreds single brand, single solution videos on YT, you give a variety of recommendations for the majority of most common issues in a real liveable home with real life problems. I'll save this video on my personal playlist, rewatch it with notepad and seriously consider everything the lovely lady said and done. I really appreciate the brand names, the explanations of how to install things and the emphasis on the laid back approach that not all has to be done at once. The retrofit is such a stressful process and prices just keep creeping up, so knowing it can be done gradually and sometimes by myself, is so encouraging!
Thank you!
What an excellent video ..... great content and Judith is both knowledgeable and a brilliant presenter! It's clear she and John spent time to research options, understand the implications of what materials should be used where to avoid compromising the original design of their home, and have ended up with a fantastic warm home which has gone up significantly in value.
Really enjoyed this episode. Brilliant and inspiring!
Great video. The heat pump would be more efficient if you used more radiators so you can drop the flow temperature to 40C or 35C
Thats very interesting - thank you
This is a fabulous explanation of how to be comfortable and save money over time.
Great video and Judith presents the work very well. I have done similar work to a 1960's bungalow and now have an EPC of A.
This is a fantastic green retrofit! I built an almost-tiny passive solar home, and often give tours to anyone who stops by. I built a model of my walls similar to your floor model to show how they were constructed. I have a concrete slab that is insulated from the ground and the foundation; I plumbed it for radiant heating but never hooked it up as I don't need it; the floor is always warm from solar heat gain, house is always comfortable even in single digit weather, and the woodstove will easily keep it plenty warm overnight with just an armload of wood.
Judith did a great job explaining how and why they did the improvements. Reducing bills and making the home far more efficient but the next step of adding more vale to the home as well is incredible. Great stuff.
Fascinating, I'm glad I dropped on this, I am going to move house in a few months and want make sure it will better insulated, this information definitely helps Thank you ✔✔😀😀
Great video. I have a similar property and have the same issues. Always been advised not to tamper due to the airflow problems. Now have the confidence to explore and improve.
Tamper away if you improve airflow with mechanical ventilation it’s a game changer!
Wonderful video! Thank you to all involved, especially Judith!
Thank Judith for sharing her experience. It's just is needed to help others on the retrofit path
Love seeing someone that understands this. Bought a renovated 1910s terrace and the last year has been removing cement render, repointing and re rendering with lime, clearing air bricks and removing damp proofing. Not what our survey stated at all but seeing this as something to get sorted while im in my 30s and be able to pass down when im gone, a lot tougher with family in the house though haha. They really dont make them like they used to . With an old house so much more is possible yourself.
What a pleasure to listen to such a well educated, conscientious, clear speaking person, well done!
Very rare to see a woman being so driven and ‘clued-up’ on these things too, I couldn’t help but nod along.
Excellent video with clear, no-nonsense advice. Very much appreciated. Thank you Judith and Imogen.
Great little clip. In part we have made our home greener. Very inspirational thank you.
An excellent episode, Thank You all for what you do! You ARE inspiring others..
Great video. Just 1 observation on the heat pump, it’s not setup properly and is not running anywhere near as efficiently as it could be. It’s currently set up using fixed flow at 47 degrees in this video but should be set in a weather compensation mode please let me know if you would like help setting this up
This lady is amazing. Quite inspiring.
I've gone with rockwool batts between the floor joists. Holds itself in by friction as quite stiff but still fills edge to edge, no gaps.
For pressure reasons, I run radiators at 51c and haven't changed them. Still warm enough.
Judith speaks directly to a particular part of the population and audience, and she does it very well. It would be a boon for all involved to have her at least present specific topics.
What an excellent guest - I need her round to sort my house
Amazing content!!! Hope to see a more detailed post on how to utilize the aerated insulating glass beads. With additional specs on its insulating value and other characteristics.
I know Judith has a post on it. But i would like to hear from a tradesmen/installer and see the installation process. To get a better idea of of the actual installation process and cost if possible? Thanks for this post.
What a wonderful guest. Great episode. Thank you.
Brilliant job, congratulations on the huge efficiency improvement!
Thank you! We were amazed at the improvement - better than we had hoped for. And we are so much more comfortable.
This video is amazing and inspiring! I've been asking various contractors about retrofitting a 1926 Victorian terrace and was always told "can't be done". As a non-architect or engineering background person, how do you find the contractors for the job?
Most people would look at this and say it's too much work and not worth their time.
Dark ages. Always lagging behind, can speculate to why.
That's one of my favourite episode so far, well done!
This is the great kind of content i come for. Made me want to buy an old house to do it up in the same way.
Excellent! There are so many houses like this in the UK and all leaky bucket's We need more to be done up to cut our costs and the 21% of emissions from homes .
Thank you! I found this video so informative, I’m thinking about retro fitting my 1700s cottage with some of the techniques highlighted here.
What would be really be helpful for similar videos in the future would be to have temperature for ambient temperatures before and after to let the viewers see the direct impact.
Great video, great guest, useful to see the products available, and how they are used.
I would suggest that Judith contacts the Heat Geeks, as I would think they would be able to calibrate her heat pump to run at a lower flow temperature, saving her more energy still.
THIS is good content! well done
What a good episode, Judith was great. I want to say yes there maybe some extra info needed for the well meaning geeks out there, BUT the main take away for me was that it can be done and has opened my eyes. The mention of legacy rather than pay back period appeals to me also. The no1 take away is the dishwasher at a higher height and thinking can I do that now in my kitchen.
Thank you - love that you got the importance of legacy! And yes, do try the dishwasher - it's a game changer in terms of ease
😮 oh the dishwasher was a cherry on top. I will definitely implement that eventually
very cool. i like the demonstration piece as well :)
So we’ve got a four bedroom Victorian school house and done exactly the same in regards to internal wall insulation, heat pump, new radiators, ventilation and 16 solar panels the only difference is we kept our LPG boiler so it’s a hybrid system so when it drops below 5 degrees we use the LPG as it’s a lot more cost effective than the heat pump when it’s cold. We got our EPC down from an F to 1 point off an A rating. We love the facts the house is always warm without the cold dips like we used to have but as for the 75% saving I do think that’s rather ambitious.
Out of interest, since you‘re saying that the LPG is more cost effective than the heat pump at below 5, when are you actually using the heat pump? Because with this level of insulation it seems like you would barely use the HP at all above 5 degrees outside temperature?
Nice episode. One point re whole house MVHR: this is quite possible in many retrofits, particularly if a radial ducting system is used.
This lady and her journey through this process is valuable to others.
She should do some videos on every aspect individually.
In the Netherlands these days, wooden floors are completely removed and replaced for Compofloor, for example. Works great.
I had not heard of single room heat recovery ventilation units, what a great idea
Zehnder ComfoAir 350 Cascade MVHR is brilliant system
@@Her_Retrofit_Spacethanks. I wanted more information about that.
Also I think the Demand Controlled Cascade Ventilation bluMartin freeAir 100 MVHR
is an excellent product for any house retrofit trying to achieve Passivhaus standards.
Stefan Huber the author of the Passivhaus institute Good Practice MVHR has shown me how well it works in projects.
The 80pc efficiency I'm very skeptical about but I'm sure it's better than letting cold air in through a window
@@Her_Retrofit_Spacethat's not single room?
Awesome and lovely interview !
That was a great interview, really well explained by Judith. We've done the under floor wood fibre insulation exactly as she described and we are looking at wood fibre externally wall insulation next, then a heat pump. I think the only two major points to add to this:
1 - Common plastic insulation (PIR, Polysterene etc) is a fossil fuel product! So by going for natural products like wood fibre you have much less embedded carbon.
2. Using plastic insulation is an all or nothing approach in terms of keeping moisture out. So for external wall insulation if that insulation is compromised in any way or at any time then there is a real risk of trapping moisture behind the plastic insulation, which can then just end up causing damp inside.
Plastic free, vapour permeable insulation all the way 🤘
Glad they addressed issue of ventilation and condensation. Overly airtight homes have issues with condensation which can lead to things like breaking down the insulation and also potential for mold build up. It's not a reason to not insulate, it's the reason you need the experts to help you.
The best explanation of energy efficiency I have seen
Judith happily sharing a Wealth of Knowledge; Wonderful Woman!
Really good video. Solid info on insulation, and also a very important point about how energy efficiency improvements add value to the house. In a sense, you're not 'spending' the money at all, you're smartly investing it into an asset.
Just one point though - the flow temp from the heat pump is too high. If set lower (and on a weather-compensating curve) it will run much more efficiently. The additional radiators can be opened up to ensure the house is still heated at the lower flow temperature.
Great video, with some interesting ideas. Which single room heat recovery ventilation units did you use and was it a local installer.
Great to see how it can be done, the trouble is that if a house is in good condition to start with then doing all of the work required is incredibly disruptive. Moreover, we sold our previous house just over a year ago which I completely renovated with internal insulation and an additional first floor (it was a bungalow) made from SIPS. I expected the energy performance of the building would be a reall selling point, but except for one, buyers were completely uninterested. The estate agent commented that those looking at houses in our area no more considered the running costs of a house than they did the fuel consumption of their 4x4. He also said that, for the majority of buyers, a home heated with a heat pump (my next planned improvement) was viewed with suspicion - shows what we're up against. Fortunately the new owner has not only covered the roof with solar but installed an MVHR (another planned improvement) and will be adding a heat pump in due course.
We've moved to a house just around the corner with a building plot on which we will be building a low impact eco-house (as close to passive house standards as practicable). We've no intention of selling this so all of the extra expense of the build will be for our benefit and our sense of doing the right thing. Unfortunately, even if everyone shared the same sense of responsibility, they may not be in the privileged position to do anything about it.
I think many of these things are rightly viewed with some suspicion because the building trade in this country is a fucking joke far too often with cowboys willing to take peoples money to do a shit job and leave you with a worse situation than when you started and with a huge bill to fix it on your hands.
Heatpumps only work if your house is insulated enough. There are plenty of stories of peoples bills going up a lot with headpumps because this wasn't dealt with before installation. Insulating internal walls, ceilings, lofts, external walls all requires a knowledge of the houses construction and again, there are plenty of stories of people who have had their lives made a misery by builders who take government (or private) money, do a shit job and then you have mould issues that require a complete removal of the insulation at vast expense.
I don't think most people are adverse to these ideas, they are just scared of the huge cost and potential for disaster with our shit builders.
Thank you Imogen, I found that really interesting as someone who already has solar & a battery.
What a beautiful and inspiring story, it is so rare to see such knowledgeable and passionate homeowner.
As mentioned, make sure to keep all the radiators and UFH fully open all time to maximise surface area for heat transfer, you can then drop the flow temperature from ASHP significantly, without impacting total KW heat output from the system (thanks to that extra heat emitters surface) - this is important since efficency of heat pumps increases dramatically with each degree of flow temperature reduction.
Assuming you use weather compensation and all available radiators/UFH, with your high insulation level you should be able to set the heating curve to 0.40 or similar, meaning that with 10C temperature outside, your heating flow temperature will be only 29c - resulting with efficency of around 500%-600% in this specific scenario (and 34C flow at 0C outside, allowing for 350% efficency or so).
Really appreciated the breakdown of how they insulated the ground floor! Can anyone explain how they insulated the interior walls of the original structure? I can see that they went back to brick, and then seemingly built a stud wall in front and put insulation in there. What about any sort of airtight membrane etc on the bare brickwork? A parge coat of plaster? Any idea!?
great video! I always wondered how to better insulate the floor in my ancient suspended floor house. Now I know - but it would be a major job pulling up all the laminate to do that...😢
Some good ideas .😊🎉🎉 Well done 😊
One thing worth corecting is the vapor permeability. If you insulate from inside, then youd better use impermeable materials, so theres nothing to condense within the wall. Its actually worse to insulate from inside with permeable materials, cause you move the dew point inside the brick (cause it gets less heat from inside), and supply it with internal vapour.
"As energy bills continue to rise and the need to decarbonise intensifies"
Imogen inadvertently spitting absolute fire there 😮🔥
I will try and remember to come back to this video when I get around to installing my suspended floor insulation, that is a good idea using soft insulation to allow for movement!
makes so much sense, also for me if you aren't using safety gear and a mask it also tells you something about the safety of using natural insulation over Kingspan and Celotex
Brilliant video. First class presentation.
I have tried to do something similar with my house.
The comment about over-sized radiators rings true, the government grant is conditional on having very large radiators to perform well in very cold, very unusual conditions, so at the moment you have little choice.
With ASHP, bigger radiators = always better, regardless of the weather, as they allow you drop flow temperature down and so boost heatpump efficiency significantly.
Thanks for this Imogen. Brilliant short feature on what almost any household could/should consider as an investment and a legacy for the next generations of family and homeowner.
Did Judith say how long the work took?
Sounded like she assisted the refit, any estimation of how much she (and husband) further saved by helping (and learning)?
She and others like her should be showcased on the website with more details and recommendations for other people to be inspired by. Her local MP should be getting her and other locals who've made the effort and reaped the rewards to help drive refit initiatives in the area.
Damned I was a visionary when I ditched the heat-pump and its subsidies for better insulation and triple glazing, and lifted-up the dishwasher in my self-made house 13 years ago!
We have some of these 25kwh houses in the north of Sweden 🇸🇪 and think they are inefficient.. it's so true you need to focus on walls, air tightness and controlled ventilation. Rather than starting with new windows and solar.
Btw, her dishwasher, fridge and freezer is also helping warming the house, if that is open enough. :)
That's right - we keep all the heat in the house from appliances, cooking etc
So many ideas for our next build!
Love real life stories like these. Please do more!
I implemented some of these insulation methods on a 1920’s semi. solid brick house, as part of a whole house renovation. I wanted an ASHP to replace the gas boiler. Contacted several installers and minimum with post renovation spec was 12kW which would have meant planning permission. Which was not in my renovation timeline. Eventually got new to market ASHP company that decided the house only needed a 6kW ASHP. Which was a surprise, install went ahead and house is consistently warm. Peak use is around 2kw per hour. Thermostat says the house is 20 - 21 consistently. Have to set the temperature lower over night because it gets too hot.
Brilliant. The owners are an inspiration.
Watched this, found it very interesting, and agree with all the compliments about Judith's presentation skills below. We're on a similar journey with a much younger (and I'd say less well built) 1980's dormer bungalow in Ireland. Have the insulation and the Solar PV installed, now looking at Single Room Heat Recovery, ahead of going for the Heat Pump. Can I ask what type/brand of unit did you go for and did you use the same one throughout the house?
55 degrees is way too hot for the radiators, put on weather compensation and turn on all the radiators and add control for the bedroom so you can turn down your bedroom overnight. The secret for heat pumps is low and slow, on 24/7, heat the house fabric, it will keep you warm.
What a great example of what is achievable- benefits sustainability financially & environmentally now & in the future
Thank you! Totally agree with you - it's why I want to get the word out as much as I can
I have been enjoyed, so thank you for sharing.
Love this video, great ideas.
Interesting video. It must have taken a lot of effort to learn what was safe (from a damp perspective) and what wasn't, especially doing some of it themselves. I would really like to make our house more efficient but the means aren't obvious and it's difficult to know how to get advice. It's 20 years older than Judith's and much bigger so our gas usage is very high. I will look in to the book.
See if you have a local AECB group too. They can be very helpful if you have an active one nearby (and there is loads of good info on the AECB website).
Great video, great result. I'm confused by how you say everything has to be air permeable, but then put airtight covering over your floor insulation, so the floor is not air permeable and relies on the walls?
She was fantastic! Get her on the show again!