Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

People will increasingly take note of energy rating and what improvements can be done in order to improve it as energy prices rise.

Interesting that the definition of fuel poverty has been changed!
From "households are considered fuel poor if: They have to spend more than 10% of their income* on maintaining an adequate level of warmth."
To "This new definition states that a household is said to be in fuel poverty if: They have required fuel costs that are above average (the national median level), and. Were they to spend that amount they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line."

 

[Uther]

Your great great great great great great grandkids will thank you

Well once they bring in those 150 year mortgages...

 

[GIBURROWS]

I don’t agree it’s a ‘captain hindsight’ recommendation, insulating your loft and dealing with drafts is a long term ‘investment’ and has always made sense. Not only from a bills point of view but also a quality of life and comfort point of view.

And before you say ‘yeh but I’m not going to live here that long so making improvements are not worth it’, well luckily it does actually add ‘value’ in that your EPC rating will be higher and thus your house being more attractive to potential buyers.

Ultimately it’s that kind of attitude is why our housing stock is generally poor quality. If you need to make improvements to stay ‘competitive’, particularly to rentals, our housing stock would be far better quality.

How would you deal with those plastic air strips above every window and door?

 

[b0rn2sk8]

How would you deal with those plastic air strips above every window and door?

You mean a trickle vent? Well it depends if you need them or not and what other ventilation you have and if it’s sufficient to keep the house dry on the inside.

 

[fez]

You are dismissing the point with a sample size of 1. Just as there are tens of thousands of people buying increasingly cramped new build properties where part of their rationale for doing so is that the running costs are comparatively low.

I'm not saying that some people don't care but based on the number of people I know that have bought over the last 5+ years, none of them have ever mentioned the energy efficiency of the house and I have asked quite a few people and they didn't care. It was just a case of "its this". Most people I know who buy new builds are doing it for various reasons but usually its because they are cheaper and you can "reserve" them etc. Again, their EPC rating is just a bonus.

I know that its not really "evidence" but apparently in 2021 only 15% of people considered an EPC certificate above a C rating as important to them.

 

[GIBURROWS]

You mean a trickle vent? Well it depends if you need them or not and what other ventilation you have and if it’s sufficient to keep the house dry on the inside.

Over every window and door though, I may as well not have windows at all with all the noise that comes through.

 

[Puzzled]

Over every window and door though, I may as well not have windows at all with all the noise that comes through.

You can close them but a house has to be built to meet ventilation standards.

 

[GIBURROWS]

You can close them but a house has to be built to meet ventilation standards.

You really can't close them, it's just a bit of flimsy plastic that partially covers it and does nowt about the sound. I understand why they are there but it's overkill in my place.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

You really can't close them, it's just a bit of flimsy plastic that partially covers it and does nowt about the sound. I understand why they are there but it's overkill in my place.

Ive got the same, too many and some unnecessary. Plus as you say they are really poor quality. Either buy new ones which are better, but they all warp over time in my experience.
Or if you really want to stop them, unscrew them, cover with some white electrical tape and put the vents back over the top. Its a 2 min job

 

[Harnser]

Lets be honest, very few people buy a house based on the EPC rating.

I paid a lot of attention to them when buying my first house, before I realised what utter tosh the EPC asessment is.
LED Lightbulbs? Check
Airtight superstructure? No let's not check that

There are better rants on the EPC system out there, suffice to say I am convinced it's not fit for purpose.

Our house isn't great but we didn't care because it was Edwardian, high ceiling and in a good location for us. EPC didn't even factor into our decision despite knowing it wasn't great. Still wouldn't.

Same. It factored in hugely up to the point we saw a house and fell in love with it. After that it became a "nah we can deal with that later" piece of paper.

 

[Harnser]

I think my perspective is somewhat skewed by valuation vs what houses were actually shifting at - a lot of nice detached places were pushing 500K in 17/18 (as advertise) but looking at the numbers the volume selling (at that price) dropped out, now they are "down" to more like 350K and selling more. To put some perspective on it my old neighbour had an offer at 490K for their house in 2018 but wanted 500K so held out, realistically was more a 400K house then compared to what was on sale, ended up selling it for 240K in 2019 when they were desperate and current value is 271K.

Generally - these graphs for around where I work tend to confirm what you are saying:

Home.co.uk: House Prices Report for Yeovil - January 1995 to April 2024

House Prices Report for Yeovil - January 1995 to April 2024

www.home.co.uk

EDIT: Better picture of the county here https://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_report.htm?county=somerset&all=1

I looked to buy in Taunton in 2015-2017. Prices were a nightmare, overvalued esp compared to the local wages. I moved on in the end, and interesting to hear what's happened to the market in Somerset since.

 

[fez]

Same. It factored in hugely up to the point we saw a house and fell in love with it. After that it became a "nah we can deal with that later" piece of paper.

Yeah, thats kind of my point. Its super low on most peoples list once they start finding out what sort of house they like, what features they need. I would love our house to be A rated but without ruining it that will never happen.

I reckon that thermal efficiency of the house came behind:

Location
Size
Style
High ceilings
Non galley kitchen
Garden size
Parking
State of repair
Room for an office

 

[413x]

I'm not saying that some people don't care but based on the number of people I know that have bought over the last 5+ years, none of them have ever mentioned the energy efficiency of the house and I have asked quite a few people and they didn't care. It was just a case of "its this". Most people I know who buy new builds are doing it for various reasons but usually its because they are cheaper and you can "reserve" them etc. Again, their EPC rating is just a bonus.

I know that its not really "evidence" but apparently in 2021 only 15% of people considered an EPC certificate above a C rating as important to them.

Same for me. I don't think anyone has I know either.
Except in obviously situations.


But yes might change in future. Most likely will. Maybe solar will even add value to a house!

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Over every window and door though, I may as well not have windows at all with all the noise that comes through.

We don’t have them on the doors but every window has one built in. I agree the most annoying part is the noise they let through, even when closed.

I wouldn’t suggest getting rid of them though unless you know that you can without the humidity getting out of control.

Half the battle with ventilation is making sure you have good extractors in bathrooms and kitchens and diligently use them. Recirculating ’extractors’ in kitchens do nothing at all. Cracking a window when you shower helps massively as it allows the extractor to draw in fresh air to replace the moist air it’s taking out.

If you must try washing inside, use a rack, not the rads and ventilate the room you do it in (E.g. turn off the rad, open the window and close the door to the rest of the house).

MVHR is the gold standard but hardly anyone actually has it and really needs to be built into the house from the off.

 

[HungryHippos]

MVHR is the gold standard but hardly anyone actually has it and really needs to be built into the house from the off.

I had a new house with MVHR from the get go, but those units aren't that quiet, the racket it made inside at manufacturer spec rates was nuts, very noisy.

When showing me around the house, they had it switched off at the fuse box, and told me it was silent. Well of course it will be silent if it's not switched on.

Even lowering the speed it was fairly noisy, and also underperforming the spec. If designed better than yeah maybe, in my case they had the vents directly above where you'd sleep upstairs.

 

[gpuerrilla]

You really can't close them, it's just a bit of flimsy plastic that partially covers it and does nowt about the sound. I understand why they are there but it's overkill in my place.

But you need MORE insulation as the experts keep telling us!!

 

[GIBURROWS]

Ive got the same, too many and some unnecessary. Plus as you say they are really poor quality. Either buy new ones which are better, but they all warp over time in my experience.
Or if you really want to stop them, unscrew them, cover with some white electrical tape and put the vents back over the top. Its a 2 min job

I've duct taped them all in the bedroom and front room just for draught exclusion but that's done nothing about the noise.

In regards to insulation I'm in a top floor flat with an oddly shaped crawl space and I would bet my life there is no insulation and as it's still a council place(at the minute) there's nothing I can do about it.

 

[GIBURROWS]

But you need MORE insulation as the experts keep telling us!!

I'd like to be insulated from the outside world.

 

[Richie]

I've duct taped them all in the bedroom and front room just for draught exclusion but that's done nothing about the noise.

You should get some sheets of noise insulating foam, remove the vents and push the foam into the holes in the frame then refit the vents.

You may want to seal the outside with tape or even a bit of UPVC strip (then refit the outer vent) to prevent wicking of moisture from outside.

That should help - I plan to do this myself when I get a chance

 

[Doobedoo]

I've duct taped them all in the bedroom and front room just for draught exclusion but that's done nothing about the noise.

In regards to insulation I'm in a top floor flat with an oddly shaped crawl space and I would bet my life there is no insulation and as it's still a council place(at the minute) there's nothing I can do about it.

You can get noise insulated ones but they are not cheap if I remember correctly.

Something like this.

SF Xtra Sound Attenuator (Acoustic) Vent

The SF Xtra Sound Attenuating ventilator (SFXSA) is an acoustic trickle vent which provides high levels of sound attenuation in a compact size.

www.titon.com