The Story:

Bought 25 years ago, homeowner Brian described the house as a good house, but as years went by the house got colder. Brian and Patricia decided to contact Electric Ireland Superhomes to start their home retrofit journey. 

Their main motivation was to invest in the house, as the windows, doors and radiators were all quite old. Before the retrofit, the home had a gas boiler and a gas stove as the heating system. After removing their gas boiler, Brian noted that they now have more space in the utility room and a fully replaced heating system with a heat pump for all heating and hot water needs. The home’s side and rear wall construction is hollow blocks, with a brick cavity to the front facade. 

The Measures:

Following a detailed home survey carried out by an Electric Ireland Superhomes engineer, the outcome was a report with specific retrofit measures to bring Brian’s home up to an A1 BER rating.   

The measures included:  

• External Doors 

• External Windows 

• Heat Pump & packaged cylinder system 

• New Radiators 

• Solar PV Panels 

• Demand Control Ventilation  

• External Wall Insulation (brick section to the front was pumped) 

• Attic Insulation 

As an SEAI-registered One Stop Shop, we took care of the full process, including contractor selection, project supervision and management of  SEAI grants. 

The Results:

Homeowner Brian is very happy with the results of retrofitting his house, going from a C1 to A1.  

Speaking about the works, Brian said “There was always a three-way conversation between Electric Ireland Superhomes, Greenwatt [the contractor] and myself. They always consulted me about what they were going to do. They gave me choices about what I could actually have… 

When I was initially going for this home retrofit, I did hear stories that your house would be for four weeks untidy and unliveable. I didn’t find that. The Greenwatt lads tidied up after themselves. They put things back into place. And we were here for the full four weeks. 

The house was good! “   

Brian also spoke about the temperature of the house, saying that “it doesn’t drop as much of a temperature overnight than what it did. Before the upgrade, I would say that the temperature could drop maybe four to five degrees overnight. Now it probably stays the same or drop by one degree or so… It’s still early days, but so far very happy the way it turned out.”  

This project is a fitting example of the benefits of retrofitting an existing house, resulting in a warmer, more comfortable, and healthier home with reduced carbon emissions.  

Contractor: Greenwatt 

Equipment Supplier: Mitsubishi (Heat Pump) And Aereco (Demand Control Ventilation)