Or the house with ( Virtually) no heating
I deliberated between these two titles but I decided on the first one because it reflects more the my views of the renovation market and its relationship with retrofit
When homeowners are looking to do work on their home there is normally a trigger such as a new kitchen, a new bathroom, more space with an extension, a loft conversion.
Rarely does the homeowner say ” I want to retrofit my house” although I actually have had people say this to me and it really warms my heart, but it is not the majority.
Often homeowners are battling those niggly issues in their home such as cold rooms, damp and moul and that tends to come out in conversation. I visited a close friend the other day who has just moved into their new but not new home, a bunglalow built in the 1970’s that has the original aluminium windows and is frankly freezing. Despite their move from a period stone cottage with more holes in it than a grater this new home hasn’t lived up to their expectations of modern living despite the central heating.
But this is not uncommon, they are planning an extension renovation and loft conversion but my conversation with my friend was not about the aesthetic ( Which is important and more on that later) but the performance as well. The media is very good at portraying how your home should look aka Grand Designs, the to die for interiors all very lust worthy but we are pretty poor at promoting performance and comfort and glamour is a long way from retrofit.
But the two concepts are mutually compatible its just that some more thought and care needs to go in behind the scenes as upgrading the thermal performance is really all behind the scenes. My husband Ross’ attitude is that whatever he is constructing he wants to know that it is the best quality he can produce whether its hidden behind the plasterboard or on show for all to see.
Our own retrofit journey began 2 years ago when we slowly started to pull apart our rather tired looking 1950’s house and added a single story extension to it as well as upgrading all the rooms starting from the ground level and working our way up.
We are still working on it, thats partly because we have limited time to work on our own home and I quite liked not having a kitchen for a year (!) but also the time and thought that has gone on behind the scene, applying airtight liquid membrane to the blockwork walls, taping and sealing all the new windows and penetrations, linking the airtightness layer between the intermediate floors and the tricky loft space junctions. to name a few.Of course we could have just gone with a lick of paint, a few stud walls here and there but the house wouldn’t really have been improved- not underneath .
And now with all the work we have done we have not had our heating on this winter, we have a log burner for off cuts that goes on in the evening for a few hours but the next day the house is at a lovely steady 18-19 degrees- the downside is that I never know how cold it actually is outside!
Yes I love my new open plan kitchen living space, I love the front room that used to be so cold it was unbearable but what I love the most is the comfort the house provides, its like a lovely warm hug that you feel safe in, that’s what a home should be.
By the way for those interested we have 3 heat pumps, solar PV and a battery too to complement all the loveliness. A friend suggested that the collective noun for numerous heat pumps is a huddle!
Airtightness detailing in the ground floor kitchen extension with a lovely warm woodfiibre roof above the vaulted ceiling
The New Kitchen which was worth the wait
My message is that if you are thinking of any home renovations or upgrades try to think how you can also improve the performance of your home rather than just making it look pretty- it will future proof your home!