Location
4 Rosemary Gardens
Hereford
HR1 1UP
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Opening times
Opening times:
Saturday 26th October. Tours starting at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm and 3pm. Closed for lunch 1-2pm.
Sunday 27th October. Tours starting at 2pm & 3pm.
Please note: Downstairs toilet available. 2 parking spaces next to house otherwise on road.
This event has now finished.
Other Turn up for house tours at given times
Terry and Rachel welcome you to their 4 bedroomed detached house with separate garage on corner plot in residential area near Hereford.
The original property was constructed in mid 1970's with a 2 storey extension constructed a few years later. Original dwelling - ground floor walls comprised cavity masonry with a total thickness of about 300mm with the upper parts of all elevations comprising single skin masonry with outer timber framework clad with hung concrete tiles, giving a total wall thickness of about 220mm. Later extension constructed with cavity walls to ground and first floor.
Modifications:
Changes made since February 2022:
- Additional loft insulation
- Cavity wall insulation
- Hung tiles replaced with external wall insulation and render
- Solar PV panels on roof with inverter and battery
- Air source heat pump and additional/replacement radiators
- EV charging point
- Smart meter
- 6 water butts collecting water from house, garage, workshop, shed and greenhouse roofs
Motivation to retrofit:
Whilst the majority of the works listed below needed to be done we had been unable to undertake similar work on previous properties and we felt it was 'the right thing to do'.
- Cavity wall and roof insulation needed to be installed or increased
- External wall to upper floor was single skin with hung tiles - cold in winter but hot in summer - hence requirement for external wall insulation
- Roof underling needed to be replaced
- Re-roof meant eaves could be easily extended to accommodate external insulation
- Roofing meant scaffolding was in place to install PV panels
- Opportunity to install air source heat pump and benefit from Renewable Heat Initiative
- EV charging point installed at same time to avoid damaging external insulation in the future
- Replaced extractor fans in bathroom and en-suite with new fans incorporation heat exchanger
Works:
EWIS (Effective Wall Insulation Systems (UK) Ltd
Re-roof and external insulation
- Strip, replace baton and replace tiles (including Scaffolding)
- Strip all vertical walls and install a fully insulated render system
- Remove existing facia and rainwater goods and replace with new
Caplor
Air source heat pump, PV panels etc and EV charging point
- Air Source Heat Pump including additional and replacement radiators, additional electricity consumer unit and additional armour cabling to facilitate connection to workshop and garage
CLC Solutions
- Cavity Wall Insulation
- Additional Loft Insulation
CF Roberts
- Installation of Vent-Axia units with heat recovery facility in bathroom & en-suite
Approximate energy savings:
Difficult to estimate as the air source heat pump was installed at the end of February 2022 (7 months after we moved into the property). However we correctly anticipated that we would be paying approximately one third of the monthly payment requested by the energy supplier when we embarked on a 2 year fixed rate deal in August 2021. Since August 2023 the standing charges on Gas and Electricity have increased but average monthly dual fuel charge is approximately £50.00. (We have detailed spreadsheets showing energy consumption and payments since we moved into the property).
Benefits:
- Very small temperature drop when heating is off overnight
- House cooler on very warm/hot days
- Income from generation of electricity exported to the grid
- Lower utility bills
- Energy from green supplier (Octopus)
- Receive quarterly payments under Renewable Heating Incentive
Other comments:
Given our age, we realise we will not recoup all the investment made in energy savings during our lifetime. But again, 'it is the right thing to do'.
We would have liked more time to research 'greener' alternatives to the insulation and render systems but were under pressure to get the roof issue sorted and wanted to make it all a single project.
