Maintenance Matters

Rhyd-y-car Terrace in St Fagans Museum of Welsh Life

For those, who have not been to St Fagans in Cardiff, it is worth the trip. Great place and an ideal way to start to understand how buildings have changed over time.

One of the key elements of the museum is Rhyd-y-car Terrace. It illustrates how one style of property (in this case a Welsh terrace of houses) has been altered over time to address the cultural needs / desires / aspirations of the residents. (click on the photo for a link to discover more)

The original terrace house is represented by the home on the left and the team has made alterations to each subsequent house to reflect the changes to terraces in Wales. So when you reach the last house it has a covering of render on the walls rather than limewash, tiles on the roof rather than slates, modern casement windows rather than sash, large window panes rather than small etc. The internal layouts and services have also changed. Fascinating, but intuitively we sort of know this. However, what is not really explained on site is whether these changes were positive or not.

Of course, we do not want to live in houses anymore that have open coal fires, draughty doors and windows etc. However, neither do we want to live in houses that suffer from trapped moisture in the walls, rotting timbers and poor internal air quality. Unfortunately, some of the 'improvements' that are illustrated in the terrace have caused problems like this in the real world.

In time you could add another cottage to this terrace, with its original stone walls now clad in polystyrene (EPS) external wall insulation. This is a reflection on where we are blindly heading without due regard for the original structure. Again we shall then have a warmer property that is at high risk of overheating and likely to suffer rot and mould issues from penetrative damp and condensation.

Designing improvements to buildings is important, but we must get it right. So again, I urge you to read the STBA documents and guidance on retrofit of older houses. See www.stbauk.org

However, this article is about maintenance. So where does this fit in with the retrofit agenda?

Well, when you read all the underpinning documents about retrofit, they all say that any building should be in a good state of repair and stable before any work starts. So before even contemplating any improvements the house should be damp free and well maintained.

This is where much of the trouble has started. Organisations like the Government have targeted their initial efforts on those properties that were in urgent need and these tend to be the ones in a poor state of repair. So they started putting a load of retrofit measures on properties that weren't ready for it. Putting a load of non-breathable cladding / insulation over a wet wall, just seals in the damp. This would be bad enough, but putting a load of non-breathable cladding / insulation over a wet wall badly so that more water can get in, well, you can guess what has been happening!

So, we need to ensure that our buildings are in a good state of repair first and then we need to ensure that we do any retrofit works well. The second element is starting to be addressed (slowly and still with little real knowledge of the characteristics and pathology of traditionally built houses), but the issues of maintenance is less attractive to business.

Large companies delivering large scale projects are not really interested in minor works, or leaving buildings to become stable over time before starting with the big tools and toys. They just need to crack on, come rain or shine, cold or heat and get the job done ASAP and as cheaply as possible.

So we need to take a step back. Assess what we have, understand it, fix it, let it settle and become stable and then start to improve it sensitively and with the right amount of care and caution so that we don't mess it up.

So the first rung on this retrofit / improvement ladder for traditional buildings is not EPS wall insulation, it is Maintenance and Building Pathology.

CADW have produced some guidance on maintenance, but people see this as being for conservation areas and heritage buildings. We need to make maintenance relevant to the 34% of buildings in Wales that are traditionally built. This means all the terraces and stone / solid brick built homes that litter the landscape that we are so familiar with and proud of. After all it is these buildings that define the character of our inner cities and valleys.

Maintenance in itself is relevant to the retrofit agenda. A wet wall is 1/3 less efficient than a dry wall for example.

Building pathology is equally important. The recent Each Home Counts report for the UK Government highlights the recent case in Preston where the race for energy efficiency and the lack of understanding of older houses has left a trail of catastrophe. The details are being repressed by those concerned inc the Government as it really is a tale of woe, but suffice to say the underpinning issue was the lack of knowledge on traditional buildings within the mainstream construction and retrofit industry.

So we need to understand our homes, their history, how they work. This means getting to grip with material science and building dynamics. A good surveyor should be able to tell you these things, but most just refer on to 'specialists'. Unfortunately most of these are not really specialists, just glorified sales people. So we need 'Power to the People'. These are your homes and you are the ones paying for works to be done. So I urge you to understand older buildings and look after them well. Most of the things that I see when visiting homes are simple maintenance issues that can solve many ills.

As a starter for ten, have a think about the following:

A hole in the junction between a window and a sill. Water running down the window above the hole will go into it. What then? Well generally a damp patch and potentially a rotten floor joist. Solution? Fill the hole with some silicon sealer. Cost? 10p in silicon? 10 minutes in time. Potential savings? £350 for a damp report, £1,000 for DPC injection and replacement plaster, £2,000 for replacement joists,....

A crack in render on a west facing wall. Water above the crack will flow down into it. It cannot get back out if it is a modern cement render. So a damp patch. Rotten timbers maybe... Solution. Fill the crack. Cost? DIY solution, maybe £10. Contractor, maybe £100. Potential savings? Well, see above.

Dislodged guttering pouring water down and into a wall. Replacement bracket cost, maybe £1. Cost of leaving it? Easily into the £1,000's of pounds.

So check things like seals around doors and windows, leaf build up in the gutters, cracks in render, mortar and stonework. Make sure external ground levels are kept 15cm below internal floor levels, that extracts are working properly, that floor vents are not blocked by litter and dirt, that pipes through the wall are sealed up properly, that slipped tiles are replaced quickly, chimney stacks are in a good state and that any repairs are made with lime mortars etc etc.

I could go on. But I hope that you get the message. Preventative maintenance is cheap, relatively easy and essential both in terms of keeping you and your home healthy both now and into the future.

What is the Whole House Approach?

A house is a structure embracing complex systems, embodied history and knowledge, not to mention humans!

We tend to think of houses as being simple structures that provide shelter, security and a place to call home. However, they are in fact, much more than this.

First of all, houses are products of geography, history and society. Geography has dictated the form of many buildings. Think of the different materials that have been used to form buildings in the past. I grew up in Wiltshire where thatch is quite common and there are even some chalk rammed earth houses. Now living in Wales I am surrounded by stone houses.

Geography also places a different set of pressures on buildings. Exposure in areas like west Wales and Scotland is unlike that faced by East Anglia or Kent. Buildings reflect the needs that the weather and topography place upon them. 

History has had wide ranging impacts on buildings. This might be the type of human activity that has taken place in the area (farming, industry, maritime etc), the effects of war and natural disasters, ..... Advances in science have facilitated change by the development of construction materials coupled with advancing building techniques and machinery. Globalisation and the role of the market have also altered how, why, where and what we build. 

Social pressures have also influenced buildings. Where once we would never have dreamed that it was safe or hygienic to have toilets in the house, we are expect new houses to have en-suite bathrooms.

The points above, are only the briefest because the topic is huge, but the principles are there. Houses represent a physical point in time that reflects their origins, but they also then continue to amass these markers in time. People extend and demolish, redecorate, add and remove services, change functionality, follow fashion, .... Each of these changes leaves a mark.

These marks are important. They are largely guided not by specialists. but by individuals. The decisions that have been made are not always the right ones, nor are they always done to a high enough standard. The decisions and their execution are again complex in nature. They are driven by different forces: economics, knowledge, skills, tradition, fashion, material science, ....

So when are are faced with new pressures in the world like: climate change; austerity; fuel poverty; wealth creation these will have an effect, for better or worse, on our buildings. For example, the past few years the main driving factor has been the encouragement to make buildings more energy efficient. This is no bad thing, however we have undertaken this task with self attached blinkers. Everything has been designed with one thought in mind, to reduce carbon and fuel consumption. This in turn has led to serious mistakes and huge amounts of wasted resources both in terms of physical, mental and economic waste. We are now taking out Cavity Wall Insulation (CWI) where is was put into narrow cavities, or into houses in exposed areas of the country, or where is was done without undertaking necessary repairs prior to installation. I fear (and know) that we shall be doing the same with External Wall Insulation (EWI) and Internal Wall Insulation (IWI) in years to come too. All for the same basic reasons: wrong materials used, poor craftsmanship applied, tunnel vision in the design stage, time pressures, funding requirements.

So can a different Whole House Approach (WHA) work and what is it?

The WHA is all about understanding a building, assessing the risks of different solutions, addressing the needs of the occupants (both now and for the future), making recommendations that can be explained and justified, ensuring that the craftsmanship and systems used are of a high enough standard. Ideally the building is also monitored and assessed into the future so that changes can be fine-tuned and lessons learnt and shared.

Building Surveyors should be able to assess a building independently and accurately. However, we need to ensure that they are not taking the easy route and one that leaves stones unturned. It is worth reading my earlier post about the Home Buyers Report and its potential to leave important factors like damp in the hands of 'interested profit making parties'.

Owners need to understand their properties - ain't that a can of worms! Ideally this should be taught in schools, but for now we have to rely on Building Surveyors (and RICS) and the power of the internet to inform.

We also need to have skilled and knowledgeable builders, architects, planners, building control officers, maintenance teams, ....... Yet another can'o'worms! The trouble here is that it does take a really strong and courageous person at the moment to make decisions that are ultimately correct, but that currently fly against the prevailing modus operandii of the construction industry.

For this to change we need changes in regulation, standards and decision making tools. Now that DECC has gone this might mean that a lot of changes that are in the pipeline might get lost, or it might be that the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy drives this forward with new vigour! Time will tell.

Anyhow, back to what is the Whole House Approach!!

The WHA is about looking at all the factors that effect a building. We need to address and assess the risks associated with:

Underpinning Structure - What is it? What is it made from? How well was it made? What orientation is it?

Design - Does the building work well? Is easy to maintain? Is it accessible? Is it easy to navigate? 

Social factors - Is it noisy? Do smells waft into un-wanted places? Is it easy to clean? How will any changes reflect in the appearance of the building?

Energy efficiency - Is it easy / cheap to heat? Will it require cooling? Where is the heat lost / gained?

Energy generation - Can the building generate energy? Which technology is best for particular building?

Moisture movement - Is there damp? Will changes introduce damp? How is moisture managed?

Ventilation - Is there sufficient fresh air? Is the fresh air fresh?

Material compatibility - Can we use standard materials or do we need specialist ones?

Water efficiency - Can we reduce water use?

Monitoring - Can systems be used to help owners monitor and reduce resource consumption?

Maintenance - Can low maintenance be created? How can alerts be created to trigger responses to need?

Preservation - Do certain features need to be preserved / protected?

External environmental factors - How exposed is the building? Is there a flood risk? How will it perform in a warming world with more extremes of weather?

External social factors - Is there a skilled workforce available? Are the materials available locally?

....

Starting to get the picture?

The main complicating factor is that all of these are interlinked. 

For example, by wishing to improve the energy efficiency of a wall it will generally require the addition of insulation. This then creates RISKS. Is it compatible with the existing structure? Will it effect the appearance of the building? Will it introduce damp? Will it change the way the ventilation system works? Will it need maintaining? What happens if it put in by low skilled workers? Can you preserve wanted features? When will it be done?

After all of these questions are answered it may be that the better (lower risk) solution is to generate energy instead of saving it. But this needs to assessed and a reasoned solution presented.

So will this work? 

The main point behind the WHA is one that minimises the risk associated with proposed changes. Once we can understand the risks, we can assess them and make informed and hopefully rational decisions. This does not mean that it is a recipe for doing nothing, just that we might make fewer long term and costly errors.

A WHA therefore needs really well informed professionals who are independent, have time to make recommendations, have back-up of accepted knowledge and standards, but most importantly have the support of owners of buildings who wish to create a long-term future for their investment. A start has been made on this process by the STBA and you can access their Responsible Retrofit Wheel free of charge.

Should Wales become the Self Build Capital of the UK?

We are used to seeing groups of similar houses in new developments

We all know that the House Builders are not really there to provide us with great homes. They are there to create profit for their shareholders and to be able to pay large salaries to the 'fat cats' at the top.

They work on a 1/3rd model. Cost of land = 1/3, Cost of building = 1/3 and profit = 1/3.

To maximise this profit they obviously build as cheaply as possible, hence they have resisted any real attempts from Government to impose stricter controls on energy efficiency, sustainability etc. Houses are built with the minimum standards, the cheapest products and quickly. So much so that most of the houses built don't even reach the minimum standards in practice (a study in 2004 found that 60% of homes didn't reach building regulations minimum standards)

So is there a different way?

I believe so. I think that if we dealt with land differently we could democratise house building. We have seen the poor value for money that Governments get when they sell off land to developers. In Wales we are experiencing a situation where land has been sold off for around 1/10th of its true market value. What if Government and other public bodies sold off some of this land for self builders, what would happen?

I believe the following benefits would happen:

1. We would help to diversify the types of houses built. This would lead to a completely different feel to our urban landscape as it would be characterful and easy to navigate. "Turn left at the wacky house with a turret and then right at the red house and we are the timber clad house with the raised beds in the front"

Self built homes tend to reflect an owners needs rather than those of the developers

2. The Government would get a better return. It could also incentivise Housing Associations and Co-Housing, Housing Co-ops etc to build on plots. This helps to make new homes more affordable to those with little disposable income.

The Telegraph produced this map showing where houses were more affordable

3. It would encourage a better standard of building. People would demand better standards if they could see their house being built. This would help drive the supply for low carbon homes, 

4. It would help to embed low carbon skills in SME's rather than larger construction companies, as it would be they who were building these new homes. These SME would also be employing local people and keeping the wealth in Wales.

5. It would provide more work for local architects as each house would need to be designed separately in order to fulfil the needs of the client and the environment. Again this keeps the money here in Wales.

6. It would help to drive a movement across the UK and this would help Welsh business, as we would be at the vanguard. We desperately need skills to export and this could be a way forward.

7. It would encourage people and companies to move to Wales if we had a culture of self build. We would soon be seen as the place to do business. Build your own home and your own life afresh in Wales - the way that you like it. We are not so limited by location anymore and Wales has lots to offer in terms of countryside, natural resources and great culture.

8. It would engage people in their communities more. They would, after all, be building the communities themselves, bit by bit. A strategic masterplan from the outset would control development and ensure that the provision of community space etc. But each household would be embedded into the space it has.

9. It would provide longer term communities. If you have built your dream house, why move out? Sense of place would be created and people would take more ownership and pride in their neighbourhoods.

So lots of positives, but would it stack up?

Well even if you look at £800,000 per acre for some land in Cardiff (it would be much less elsewhere) this would equate to £90,000 per plot. The Solcer House is a net exporter of energy and this has been built for around £1,000 per sq m. So an average 3 bed of around 90 sq m would be another £90,000. So for £200,000 approx. people could be building carbon negative homes if we did it as a self build. 

Average cost of new 3 bedroom house-builder built home around Cardiff is around £250,000.

So it seems to make sense, at least to the point of trialing the idea. Obviously there are lots of potential issues etc - size of plots, Section 106 agreements, planning, ....... but it just might be a way of Wales pulling its own socks up, giving the power to develop to the people and avoiding lots of money flowing out to the large corporations and the City of London.

Wales could be a land of Bio-Solar, Passive, Solcer, Ty Unnos, Wild & Wacky homes built for the future by the people of today. What say you??

Love a real fire?

Image from Burley Stoves

Wood burning stoves are gaining in popularity. Good thing too. However, you need to know more than just that you want to have a carbon neutral energy source.

Efficiency. The efficiencies of wood stoves vary tremendously. The design of stoves go from the simplest grates to the more complex second burn options. Most are now rated and so look out for those that give the better rates.

Cleanliness. Hand in hand with efficiencies go the amount of soot produced. More efficient burns create less soot, so again if you don't want to be emptying out large amounts of waste, look for high efficiency stoves.

Drying wood. Wood needs to be dry before being burned and so you may well need to store wood so that it can air dry. This requires space and some sort of system so that you can have a stack of wood drying and another ready to burn.

Source of wood. Great if you have a source of natural wood, but if you are going to be burning waste wood you need to be aware that there is a bit of work required to get it ready for burning (removing nails etc). Also different woods burn at different temperatures. Wood like oak, blackthorn are great for burning, but birch, lime and pine are not so great. Check out: http://www.firewood.co.uk/heating-qualities/

Location of stove. Ideally the stove will be away from a wall and air will be able to circulate around it freely. This will allow the maximum amount of heat to be transferred to the room.

Air for burning. If you have stove that takes air from the room you will be encouraging colder fresh air into the house (in fact you will need to have external ventilation into the room). Also if you are using the stove as secondary heating you will be drawing your heated air into the stove and straight up the flue! So it is much better to draw fresh air into the stove directly from outside using a dedicated air inlet. Many new stoves have this capacity for a direct air inlet, but the older ones do not. By using fresh air from outside you will make your stove much more efficient.

Stove fans. If you have your stove set into the chimney breast then you may wish to look at a stove fan. These are powered by the heat of the stove itself and help to circulate the warm air around the room. They are expensive, but do work well.

Sizing. Think about what you will use the stove for. If it is just secondary heating then you will only need a small kW stove, but if you are to use it for heating the whole house then you will need to think about circulation of air as well as sizing. Too big a stove can overpower a room and make it unusable (unless you are into swimwear in the winter!) It may be better to have two smaller stoves in separate rooms etc. So care is needed here as it can be a bit of a balancing act.

Flue liners. There are two main grades of liners. Personally I would go for the higher grade as you will be peace of mind and a longer guarantee.

Installers. Always use a HETAS installer.

Carbon monoxide sensor. All stoves should be monitored by a working carbon monoxide alarm. No point having a lower carbon future if you are not here to enjoy it.

Sweeping. Check with you installer that the stove can be swept easily. This will need to be done annually on average.

Chimney pot. The pot should reduce the amount of water able to enter the system, so ensure that you have a cowl of some description. Do not fit cowls with fine grating as they can be blocked more easily. Again your installer should be able to advise.

So, have a think about these factors before you buy and fit a stove. Good luck!

New Solid Wall Insulation Guide

Bristol City Council came to the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (the STBA) to address the issues associated with the Solid Wall Insulation (SWI) works that they were doing. The video and associated tools (that can be found at https://warmupbristol.co.uk/content/planning-guidance-your-home) have been developed to help locals find out about solid wall insulation (SWI) and the issues associated with it.

As you will know we are board members of the STBA and so have a keen understanding of the issues around SWI. So we recommend that anyone thinking about SWI should have a look at the video made for the Bristol as certainly many areas of Wales are in a similar climate / weather pattern to those living over the channel.

Getting the balance right is really, really important and the whole house approach is one that we have been delivering on for many years. With Bristol taking the lead we hope that many councils in Wales will learn from this ground breaking work and adopt a similar approach.

We really need Building Control, Planners as well as Architects and Builders to get onboard with this knowledge and concept. Without their buy-in it is difficult for owners of houses to enact on the best advice. Our focus on energy only is ruining houses and homes and we need to stop, take a breath and really look at each house individually.

Assessing the structure, materials, occupation, context and character of a building is MORE important that just looking at how much energy it is predicted to use (by using inaccurate EPCs). We need to ensure that the integrity of the house is improved by addressing ventilation, material compatibility etc otherwise we will end up damaging the health of the structure and its occupants. That is a waste of resources, money and ultimately will not address the underpinning threat of climate change.

So if you are thinking about refurbishing your home and want an independent assessment of what to do, what the risks are, what materials will minimise impacts on your health etc etc then give us a call at the Eco Home Centre.

Home Report Video from Profiad Ni

Thought that this might be of interest as it shows the types of advice given when we do a Home Inspection Report. The winners of the Profiad Ni competition had visits from us for around 2 - 3 hours each followed by a written report that re-enforced the messages about damp, energy efficiency, maintenance, ventilation, structure etc.

It was a great couple of days (if a tad tiring) so many thanks to Bethan from Profiad Ni for arranging it all.

Happy watching.

Forget Energy Efficiency think Health!

Readers of this blog will know my views on lots of the energy driven 'improvements' that we are blindly doing in the UK at the moment.

We are making so many mistakes due to the fact that we are using more than useless techniques, materials etc in a slap dash manner. All of this is being done with the best intentions, but we are storing up many problems for the future by our haste and lack of underpinning knowledge.

In years to come we shall look back at this period in our history and hang our heads in shame, I think that in the worse case scenarios it will be regarded as a modern day 'asbestos' story.

So how can we change and do this better?

Well, a very easy way would be to think about it all in a very different manner.

At the moment all we can think about is energy bills, carbon reduction, fuel poverty and regeneration. None of these things are bad, but they do drive us into solutions that are not fit for purpose. For any readers not up to speed here there are fundamental flaws with how we measure energy efficiency in buildings (especially older ones), how we measure thermal efficiency in walls and also more importantly how awful we are when it comes to moisture. Have a look at the STBA reports on thermal and moisture measuring for more info.

Now DECC know all of this stuff - the STBA have told them, but it takes a long time to change Standards, Conventions, a whole industry! And then there is the political fallout! So basically we will have to wait a long time before we manage to make things better, so in the meantime we shall continue to make lots of mistakes and install lots of inappropriate measures.

So, as a proposal, should we not think about Health.

To have a healthy internal environment we need to provide:

• Fresh clean air
• Stable Relative Humidity (around 50-60%)
• No mould or damp
• Comfortable internal temperatures that are not prone to overheating
• Sufficient natural light
• Low toxicity in materials
• No off-gassing from materials
• A long term solution that maintains these conditions

To do this we need to have items like:

• Breathable walls (where they were designed to breathe)
• Insulation that is suitable
• Good ventilation that is controlled by Internal Air Quality systems
• Natural materials used
• Low / Non toxic materials used
• Good quality installers / builders

So the basic idea is that, if we can create safe, comfortable and healthy internal environments then energy efficiency comes as a by-product of this process / specification. So we would create good internal environments that are suitable for human beings. Isn't this the point of a building in the first place - to create a safe, sheltered and nice place to spend time with loved ones?

Won't it be great to look at a building and think 'how can I make this a really great place to live?' The satisfaction in making a house a home that you would want to live in and enjoy. After all someone has to live there and shouldn't we make it as healthy, homely and safe as possible?

However if we work within our current unrealistically blinkered parameters we shall just produce internal environments that help to burden the NHS and also provide people with poor quality of domestic life.

So lets start to put people first and I wouldn't mind betting that we shall be able to not only provide high quality space, but also save more money in the long term and reduce CO2.

Wales is in an ideal place to make this happen, but we need to drop using dangerous tools like rdSAP and also BS5250, especially for older buildings.

Passive House Retrofit

From Bere Architects

Passiv Haus is an excellent German energy standard for building new homes. It is a system that relies on making houses really airtight and insulating. Insolation then provides much of the heat energy for the house. Fresh air is supplied via a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system. This means that it extracts the stale moist air and uses this to preheat the incoming fresh air. This keeps heat loses to a minimum and hence means that heating bills are virtually non-existent.

Designing for this system to work in a new home requires the use of a spreadsheet called the Passiv Haus Planning Package (PHPP). Using this accurate system one can design a building with a primary heat demand of around 15 kWh / sq m per annum. This compares to a new building in the UK that complies to the latest building regulations, that will have a primary heat load of around 85 kWh / sq m per annum. So this means that Passiv Haus is around 9 times more efficient than a modern house.

But is it possible to make an old house into a Passiv Haus? Well, not even Passiv Haus Institute think that this is really possible, however the basic principles can still be applied. So they came up with the EnerPHit standard. The EnerPHit standard relaxes the requirement down 25 kWh / sq m per annum. So still about a quarter of the primary heating energy of a modern new build.

Sounds impossible? Well for many houses I think that it is impossible, especially where you are dealing with old solid and breathable walls. The risks involved in this type of construction are really too great to seriously contemplate, although there are people who have attempted it. The risks associated with 'deep retrofit' and the use of high performance materials when one is exposed to a fair amount of wind driven rain, increase to an extent where the whole project might be compromised and hence and savings would rapidly disappear.

There are houses, though where this 'deep' EnerPHit retrofit is possible. Most typically this is where you are starting with a modern cavity walled house. Here the materials used and the basic philosophy can overlap with the Passiv Haus concept. However it is still a mammoth task to upgrade a house from 120 - 150 kWh per sqm per annum down to around 25.

To undertake an EnerPHit project one has to have a real drive, vision and passion. A long term commitment to a house is also needed as it takes a while for any savings to start to pay back the capital outlays.

Personally I think that whilst the carbon savings are huge and hence it is absolutely the right thing to do for the planet, most owners will be doing it to get different types of satisfaction. Things like 'better internal environment', 'feel good factor' and 'future-proofing ones energy bills' will be more like the real driving force rather than purely an economic one.

The costs involved has meant that many of these EnerPHit projects have been either done as demonstrations, or by people with too much money on the SE of England. However, we do have a pioneer in Cardiff. To get a glimpse of the work that has been undertaken have a look at this amazing blog. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mypassivhaushome

EnerPHit is not for all, but certainly there are huge advantages in doing retrofit properly and well and having the discipline of EnerPHit can be key in this. For more information have a look at the Passive House Trust website

Ventilation vs Energy Efficiency

Ventilation does not mean uncontrolled draughts!

Ventilation is key for all buildings, after all we do need a bit of the fresh air stuff to stay alive! However for older buildings it is even more important. Solid walled buildings should be regarded as having 'moist' walls and hence they dry to the inside as well as the out (assuming that they have not been covered with cement render!) They therefore allow moisture into the internal environment and this needs to be wicked away along with all the moisture that we bring into our homes.

To illustrate this one study found that in a house we produce the following daily:

1.25 litres per person (just by breathing and sweating)

2.40 litres by showering, bathing etc

1.75 litres from a gas oven

1.00 litres from plants (assuming 25-30 plants per house)

....

So we are looking at around 10 litres of water per day from a family of four. All this water needs to be removed from the house and this requires ventilation.

Understanding how this works is really important, but actually very difficult. Where does the fresh air come from? Draughts around doors and windows? Chimneys? Punctures through the walls that have been poorly sealed? Where does it leave the house? Mechanical extracts? Chimneys? Trickle vents? Windows? Lofts?

Housing Associations and others are now wising up to the need for ventilation (after all many of their complaints are about damp and mould). Most are now fitting 2 x low energy vents in houses that run constantly. These only cost around £5 a year to run and can help tremendously with ventilation, but still people will turn them off! This is because people associate ventilation with increased energy consumption and hence costs.

Energy efficiency though is affected by poor ventilation. If walls are wet due to poor ventilation then the walls will be less efficient (by a factor of around 30%). So actually having good ventilation can help with energy efficiency. However most importantly ventilation is important for the health of the occupants and the health of the building itself. Without ventilation we are more likely to end up with mould and damp issues and this then leads to additional expense dealing with this. So it is a false economy in not venting well.

Ventilation is therefore linked to energy efficiency in several ways
So how to go about this?

Well there is no easy answer as each house is different (construction, levels of moisture, knowledge of occupants, lifestyles etc etc). So the best way is to use tools that measure what is actually happening and then automatically adjust ventilation rates.

Modern systems monitor and control a range of factors like temperature, humidity and CO2

These systems are not cheap and generally require a whole house solution with heat recovery (MVHR). These systems require vents to be placed in each room for either extract or input (or both). These are then combined (via ventilation ducts) in a central unit where the outgoing warm moist air help to pre-warm the incoming fresh air. These systems can work really well, but they need the house to be well sealed before they are fitted. They also require the ducts to be passed through the house etc. So these are quite complicated systems, but certainly the most effective as they help save the warm air in the house and therefore are more energy efficient.

Older houses of course are more difficult as they are harder to make airtight. However due to improvements over time many of these houses are now lacking in ventilation. People have fitted doubled glazed windows and doors (many of which have not had trickle vents specified), chimneys have been blocked up, suspended floors have been replaced with solid, lofts have been insulated, hatches draught proofed etc.

This has meant that whilst many houses do not have the required airtightness for efficient MVHR they are lacking in the required background ventilation to remove the 10 litres of water a day needed. Rock and a hard place territory!

So the exercise becomes a little vague and distinctly difficult, especially where people are not used to having (or paying for) pressure tests on their homes. So we are in the territory of 'guestimating'. This is not ideal, but it is really poorly understood area of housing. So you may well find that you are the best person to make decisions on this, after all you will know how bad issues like condensation, mould and stale air are in the house and whereabouts it occurs most and when. So spend a little time thinking about where any problems are and what the root cause may be.

Windows and trickle vents
Chimneys and vents
Draught proofing measures
Extract fans and their direction of venting
Floor ventilation
Airflow in and between rooms (is furniture hard against walls? Is there an airgap at the top or bottom of internal doors? Are certain areas sealed off from the rest of the building?)
Functions of rooms (bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms are subject to high humidity)
Thermal bridging / cold spots (these attract condensation)

Uncontrolled ventilation via major draughts around doors and windows, floors etc is not the answer though. This can be a real drain on resources as you cannot adjust the airflow to meet the ventilation needs of the building, so make sure that any major draughts are dealt with properly, but be aware that by reducing the uncontrolled airflow that you should be thinking about installing controllable airflow. For example, if you are replacing some old draughty windows then replace them with well sealed units that have adjustable trickle vents on.

Many social housing providers now also fit Positive Input Ventilation systems to reduce humidity levels in their houses. These systems can be simple and easy to install in houses with lofts. Basically they pump air from the loft into the house constantly and the warm moist air is pushed out of the various holes in the housing envelope. They have had a variety of reviews, but those houses that suffer most from high humidity / condensation issues seem to see the best results. I may well try a system in my house and then I can speak with a bit more authority!

Personally I think that buildings need to have:

- extracts in the main moisture generating areas, i.e. kitchen and bathrooms (these should be through walls that are not subjected to the prevailing winds and where this is necessary they should have vent covers installed).
- background trickle vents in windows
- where no trickle vents then 2 x background vents should be installed, ideally these will be heat recovery units that can exchange warmth from the stale air and impart it to the incoming fresh air
- all chimneys should be vented (both at the top and at each breast)
- ideally the whole wall structure should still be breathable
- suspended floors should be vented correctly
- all loft space should be vented correctly
- potentially a Positive Ventilation System installed

This should be treated as guidance to minimise the risks associated with poor ventilation. Most importantly remember that ventilation is not an 'enemy' of energy efficiency. It is a requirement of a healthy house.

Definition of Economic

There was a great presentation at a Wales Zero / Low Carbon Hub meeting this year and it mentioned the original definition for Economic. It comes from the Latin Oeconomicus and means management of the household. This is obviously quite different from our current meaning based almost purely on finances.


In the wider sense it is easy to extrapolate 'household' to 'world' given the current state of globalism. So do Economics need to be purely about money? After all, as the picture above illustrates, what would we prioritise about our homes? Probably:

Cleanliness

Comfort

Health

We probably would not want:

Disruption

Mess

Stress

Conflict

Yet, we are encouraged to behave in our global household in a manner that pursues material gain and money. How disconnected we have become from what we fundamentally know to be important (the power of advertising and corporations eh!). The pursuit of 'monetary wealth' adds to our carbon emissions and hence will help bring about future chaos predicted by the IPCC.
The IPCC state that we have to reduce carbon emissions by around a 80% reduction by 2050 if we are to avoid a >2 degree rise in global temperatures (this is seen as a tipping point in the climate). So in theory we have to reduce the carbon emissions of our 1.3 million households in Wales by 80% by 2050. This means radical improvements at a rate of around 36,000 houses per annum (in Wales we have the ARBED programme and this huge 'improvement' project is only tackling around 1,000 per annum!)

As you may have gathered from reading this blog, getting reductions of 80% in emissions from older terraces is just not viable. It has been done with some TSB Retrofit for the Future projects but they are really expensive and also rely on people living in the buildings in an efficient manner. So what can we do? After all, doing nothing will just help to create an uneconomic situation (think of the issues and costs associated with a >2 degree rise in temperature: mass migration, water shortages, crop failure, flooding, forest fires, sea level rises, ocean acidification, disease spread etc). I think that we are limited to a few options.

1. Improve our homes to as good a condition as possible (this may only be 20-40% and may be achieved through simple draught proofing, insulation, efficient boilers etc)
2. Maintain our homes (check rainwater goods, repair silicone seals, repair cracks etc)
3. Use lower energy materials (wood fibre, recycled insulation, lime etc)
4. Service infrastructure annually (boilers, mechanical vents)
5. Install renewable energy generation where possible (PV panels are now much more affordable and provide a good rate of return financially)
6. Manage energy use wisely (for example only heat areas that you need to a temperature that is as low as feasible)
7. Think about how we use energy and what we really need rather than what we want
8. Reduce water consumption with some simple and cheap retrofit devices
9. Change your energy supply over to a green tariff

We have the potential for greater impact outside of our homes though. How about?

1. Walk and cycle wherever you can
2. Use public transport
3. Buy things that you actually need rather than what you want
4. Invest in quality goods rather than throwaway goods
5. Holiday close to home
6. Only travel when you need to
7. Buy foods that are in season (in the UK) or if not grown in the UK when in season in the northern hemisphere
8. Grow your own food at home / allotment
9. Get an electric car (second hand electric cars are now well under £10,000 for a 5 door)
10. Invest in some community renewable projects
11. Keep fit

It is essential that we practice old school 'economics' in our lives and this means both looking after our own households, but also the our wider home of the planet. The time to act is now so that we can all help to avoid the costs, heartaches and resource demands of an unsustainable, uneconomic future.

Do your bit and do think about your children / grandchildren. It is worth it economically, just maybe not financially in the immediate future. That is our choice to make.

Which is the best light bulb?

Incandescent, CFL or LED?

Choosing a bulb would appear to be a straight forward choice. Incandescent bulbs are slowly being withdrawn as they are better at making heat than light! However, we are very used to the light that they give and the way that they do it. The change over from incandescent to better efficiency bulbs has been a focus of the energy saving movement, but it has hit upon a degree of resistance from the great British public. So what are the choices now that the market has matured a bit?

Incandescent and halogen bulbs are high energy users, but they do give a instant light that has a high CRI value. A what? CRI is Colour Rendering Index. So this tells us how much of the visible spectrum is given off by a bulb. CFL bulbs have poor CRI, hence the light that they produce makes colours appear different. LED bulbs give off a better CRI than CFL bulbs.

Another common complaint about energy saving bulbs is that they are duller than the incandescents and halogens. This can be true, if you don't get a powerful, or efficient enough one. We are used to looking at the wattage of the bulb and also believing what companies tell us are equivalents, whereas we should be looking at Lumen output. Lumens are a measure of the quantity of light. So if you want an equivalent to a 60w bulb you will need to match its light output which is around 600 Lumen. This means that you will need a modern CFL bulb of around 11w and a LED bulb of around 6w. But check the box as there is a wide variety of outputs for different types, shapes and colours of bulbs. Colours??

Well now, a whole different area. White light comes in a variety of colours! This is measured in K (Kelvin). Warm whites (incandescent and halogens produce warm white) is around 2700 to 3000K. LED and CFL bulbs are available at this colour temperature. But they produce more light at higher K, but this means that they produce a whiter / slightly bluer light and this is commonly called Cool White. Cool White is around 5000K. You can also get Daylight bulbs at around 6500K. The different light that these bulbs give off is very different and so make sure that you are getting the right Lumen with the Colour Temperature (K).

So what with size varying, the amount of time required to get to full brightness (CFL's have to warm up, whilst LED is instant), cost, length of time a bulb is on for (no point investing loads of money on a new bulb if it is only on once a week for a few minutes!), guarantee periods (these tend to come with LED bulbs), estimated lifespan (LED bulbs have the longest span, but CFL's also have a good lifetime), location of bulb (is it hard to get to? If so you might wish to go for the longest projected life), is it on a dimmer? etc etc.

Get the idea? There is a huge variety of factors that can influence what bulbs you might put where. So, it is worth thinking a little about the lights that would suit you best.

If you need instant light that will be on a lot - LED
If you need background light - CFL
If you need a high quality light - LED
If you only use the light ever now and again - keep what you have!

You get the idea.

Just be aware that there is a wide variety of choices and that not all bulbs are the same.

Check Lumen, not Watts.
Check Guarantee as well as Lifespan.
Check Colour Temperature to ensure who have the right type of light.
Check size to ensure that it will fit in your fittings (especially important for some halogen replacements). Check to ensure that your bulbs are compatible with your dimmer system (if you have one).

Ultra Insulating Windows and Doors

Eco Home Centre has a great relationship with ARU Joinery in Estonia. Now the lovely people at ARU have developed a brand new ultra insulating range of doors and windows for the Passive House / Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and 6 market.

The Nordic Range is made from solid wood so there is no chance of the frames de-laminating. (De-lamination has been a cause for concern on insulated windows and doors as there is an inherent weak point in the structure.) These frames are chunky at 92mm thick, but this is required to house the 52mm deep triple glazed units. The frames, though, do not look over heavy (despite being very heavy!)

The U values achieved are very impressive. The glazing itself gives a Ug of 0.47 and a standard window gives an overall Uw of 0.78. Compare this to the Building Regulations standard of around Uw of 2 and we start to see how well these windows and doors perform.

The Nordic series of products is wide ranging and includes:

• Inward and outward opening doors and windows;
• Sliding patio doors; and
• Folding patio doors

All are also available in aluminium cladding for extra weather protection for those hard to service areas.

So if you are looking for some great high performance, high specification windows or doors then have a look at http://www.arugrupp.ee/window-and-door-production/products/facades-and-conservatories or give us a call.

Superhomes on show

Superhome network can be found at www.superhomes.org.uk

It is worth knowing about the Superhomes network that exists in the UK.

This is a partnership between a number of organisations and even though they have been really focused on carbon reduction, some of the work done is of really good quality and you also have an opportunity to visit some of the homes through their events. Talking though work with people who have planned and sweated over their homes and who are now reaping the rewards is always useful and inspirational. Check out the events diary on the website to see if there is an open home event close to you, or that you could go to on a trip out. See http://www.superhomes.org.uk/

The site also has more information on refurbishing your type of home. It is not just for solid walled buildings, but for any refurbishment. So there is info on cavity walled properties, system builts etc. Their FAQ section is OK, but there are some mistakes / high risk recommendations that I would not give out as an overarching advice. However, hearts are in the right place and there is plenty to learn from.

Examples include people insulating their homes, fitting new heating systems, installing renewable energy, changing control systems etc.

Vacuum Glazing

Pilkington Spacia is one of the new generation of high performance vacuum windows

Vacuum glazing has now appeared on the UK market and will be sold into the heritage market as a highly energy efficient option for windows where thin glazing is needed - sash windows etc.

On the face of it these are amazing windows, very low U values (so very good thermal performance) and easier fitting in thinner, older frames that cannot take modern double glazed units. So all well and good. However, there is a major issue that is not looked at in the brochures - Time.

Nature does not like a vacuum. So what happens to the window performance once the vacuum has failed?? Some of the manufacturers state that there is a 10 year guarantee period and that the windows are expected to last longer. To me I don't think that people will be aware of when the windows are no longer working properly and also the idea that you have to replace your windows every decade or so seems like a waste of resources / money.

I fear that this is a well intended energy efficiency exercise that might have unintended consequences. I think that it will lead to even poorer calculations in EPCs after a couple of years as they will be adjusted to take the windows original value, not its actual value at the time (this would be impossible to calculate easily). Later homeowners will be told that the windows are super efficient, but actually they will probably be very inefficient.

CADW have shown that single glazed windows can be improved radically by using secondary glazing, draught proofing, heavy curtains and shutters. So the expense of fitting vacuum glazing might be better spent on these improvements in the long run.