bungalow refurb

[Gill]

Hello.   We're about to move to an 80s built 2 bed detached bungalow which needs bit of a reburb.  I'm a software engineer with no real diy skills so I'm in here taking advantage of all community experience while wondering what I have got myself in to.  

 

Probably going to be a long slow refurb but we're not planning on moving again so plenty of time on our side even.   1st up I'll be looking into reducing heat requirements (suspended floor has zero insulation, doors and windows might need some attention) and trying to get my head around suitable heating systems when there's no mains gas.   Hopefully after a few years we can tackle refitting the delightful baby blue bathroom with matching sunken bath and bidet.  

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Gill

[Conor]

Welcome. I'm a fan of moving in 5o a place, living there for a year through all the seasons to decide how to line in it before taking on any big jobs. 

 

Stick with your existing heating and spend the money on insulation and airtightness. Then in a few years when you are all done, you will have a better idea of heating demand and possible options. If you are doing any plumbing works in the meantime, just assume you'll be fitting a heatpump in the future so oversize radiators etc.

[JohnMo]

Hi, steep learning curve ahead of you.  Hope you enjoy.

 

If you have to do electrical work get that out of way first, as they will make holes everywhere, walls, floor ceiling, same with plumbing.

 

As you start to seal the house, you need a ventilation strategy.  Options are MEV, dMEV, MVHR, dMVHR.  Both MEV, dMEV require trickle vents to function the others provide balanced supply and extract air. 

 

Then once that's out the way you can get down to sealing things up and insulation.  Windows and doors, the gaps around them can leak air like a sieve if not correctly installed.  So worth adding to list of jobs.  Also if you have single glazed windows (U value 5) they leak lots of heat, old double glazed ones (U value 2.5 to 3) leaked less than half, good modern ones 1.2 to 1.4) are way better, triple better again (0.7 to 1).  External doors can vary in heat loss by the same margins as the windows, so worth keeping an eye on that.

 

Plenty of material to read on here and the internet.  Passivhaus institute has some great articles, don't be put of passivhaus as being not what you want to achieve, the articles make good sense and explain the benifit or otherwise of different ways of thinking and doing.

 

If you have storage heaters, they may just need a good clean out.  As you reduce you heat required they will perform better also.

 

Overall it's worth noting that really well insulated houses need very little heat.

 

[SteamyTea]

Monitor your energy and temperatures.  It tells you a lot about what is going on.

[Gill]

Thanks for the tips. 

 

@ConorWe were planning on insulating first but I wasn't sure on the order of things.  Without knowing what heating system we might want to use is there a chance we'd have to redo underfloor or loft insulation or am I just over thinking things ?  

 

@JohnMo Windows are double but some of the panels are blown. I think the windows are original so ~35 y/o .  Sounds like triple would be a worthwhile investment to commit to early on.  Might help with this winters heating bill.   It is old storage heaters so will add getting them cleaned out the list.

Been a bit remiss in not reading up on the Passiv as I figured a leaky bungalow that we don't plan to rip apart isn't going to get anywhere near to those standards but as you point out, there will be a lot to learn from principles.   Might help me wrap my head around u values and r values.

 

@SteamyTea Measuring temps - sounds like a automation project.  Room by room and outdoor or just inside and out?  The property is on economy 7 so hopefully there is an easy way to scrape the usage data .  It would be good to build up the data over time and measure improvements.  
 

 

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

55 minutes ago, Gill said:

Room by room and outdoor or just inside and out

The more the merrier.

55 minutes ago, Gill said:

The property is on economy 7 so hopefully there is an easy way to scrape the usage data

So am I, makes it easy.  I just got a RPi based logger on a CurrentCost energy monitor.