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Hi all, We've been slowly doing a retrofit over the past two years or so with the aim to get Enerphit certification. We have done a PHPP with the help of a passive house designer. Current status is this: half of the windows and the front door have been replaced with passive certified components. We have an MVHR installed (hard work retrofitting this, but it is in). We've just put in a new kitchen, done three bathrooms. We plan to rebuild the upstairs, replace the rest of the windows, replace the roof with insulation etc. We will certainly struggle with air-tightness. While doing all this, I am now wondering if it makes sense to continue this further, or knock down the house and rebuild from scratch as a fully certified passive house, perhaps using ICF for speed of construction. I'm trying to build a business case for this with the following approach: - We use the current windows and front door in the new plan. - We use most of the components in the three bathrooms we have just done up including shower trays, glass partitions, toilets, furniture etc. - We use the new kitchen and appliances we have just put in. - We use the MVHR unit but redo the ducts in the new house. - We save money with reduced energy bills over say 15 years, compared to the current house or even become net zero positive with solar. - We are planning to rebuild the upstairs anyway as per the current plan with a new insulated roof and replace the rest of the windows in the house. So is it just the new foundations and the ground floor structure and finishings that'll be extra? With the above approach, does it make sense to think about a knock down a rebuild, which will give us a better house without the retrofit related compromises? Obviously there will be costs associated with demolition etc. I'm not sure how to begin analysing this. Has anyone done anything like this or can provide some useful nuggets to ponder? Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Thank you.

Hello all, I'm a chemical engineer working in the sustainable energy industry (who right now wishes he was a structural/civil engineer) and I'm just over one year into an EnerPHit retrofit of a three bed end terrace. I'm passionate about sustainable housing and sustainable urban design. Currently in the middle of levelling a concrete ground floor and working out how to reinforce a timber first floor of a house that has been stripped virtually back to brick. This is my first time joining a forum of any kind and I look forward to hearing advice from the community! 😃