Heat My Home Season 1 Episode 2

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Transcript

00:01I'm Ciarán McCarthy, and I've been working as a building engineer for nearly 30 years.

00:07I get asked all the time, how do I save money on energy costs?

00:12Well, retrofitting is all over the news lately.

00:15And in this series, I'm travelling around Ireland, checking out homes that are getting energy upgrades.

00:21That dark blue is the coldest.

00:23This is typically what I'd expect to see in an old house.

00:26With prices only going up and the planet under pressure, more and more people are saving money and energy in their homes by taking on the retrofit challenge.

00:36I'll be showing you what's actually doable and what kind of grants are out there to help.

00:41From heat pumps to HVAC, I'll break down the technical jargon and make sense of all the retrofit lingo so it's easy to follow.

00:48You're just bamboozled with all the decisions that need to be made.

00:51So, come with me as we retrofit Ireland and discover how you can reduce your energy costs.

00:58This is Heat My Home.

01:04Today, I'm on my way to Dublin to meet with Ashley Cortez and his husband, Myles Kenny, who have been living in this beautiful 19th century end of terrace house, which they bought in 2020.

01:16They plan on carrying out a full renovation of their home, aiming to raise its BER rating from a chilly E1 to a toasty A3, with the help of an extensive retrofit process.

01:29Due to the age of the property, there's a lot of work to be done, but Myles has known this since day one.

01:35We'd been looking for a property for a couple of years.

01:40Forever.

01:41But yeah, we really fell in love with the volume and the space we had in this place.

01:46We knew when we bought it, there was a lot of work that needed to be done.

01:49An old building like this, we knew it would need renovation at some stage.

01:52And we were looking for a bit of a project.

01:54Not sure we were looking for as big a project as this actually turned out to be, but we were looking for something that kind of do her upper.

02:02The heating system is fine, it'll heat it up, but once you turn off the heating, that's it.

02:08It doesn't, we don't, so basically the heating needs to be on all the time.

02:12All the external walls are having internal insulation.

02:16We're changing out the gas boiler heating system for a air to water heat pump.

02:22We're also getting the attic insulation complete.

02:24We're doing a full upgrade of the windows and doors.

02:27And that's pretty much the energy upgrades.

02:29Looking forward to it being finished.

02:32I'm not entirely sure I'm looking forward to the middle bit where we have to get in.

02:38But look, that's been done, so let's get on with it.

02:41To be honest, I can just see myself sucking in and then just like get the work done and yeah.

02:47As I approach the house, I can see straight away that it's in great condition for a property of its age.

02:57Maintaining the character of a Victorian era building can be a full time job and a drain on resources.

03:04So it's great to see Miles and Ashley have really invested in its upkeep.

03:09What an amazing house.

03:11She's a wonderful Irish.

03:13Old house.

03:14I think built in 1860 as far as we can see.

03:17And I suppose the benefit of living in the house before you start renovating it is that you get to understand all the ups and downs of the house.

03:25Exactly.

03:26It's south facing property so we get a huge amount of sunlight coming in the windows.

03:29So if we'd launched straight into it, we probably wouldn't have understood exactly how big a feature that is of the house.

03:35So yeah, no, we're happy that we took our time and, you know, understood the property before we started any work.

03:41Will you show me around and give me an overview of what's going to happen inside?

03:45For sure.

03:46Yes.

03:47Come this way.

03:48Great.

03:49Wow.

03:50The first thing you're drawn to is the house this evening, isn't it?

03:53Yeah, they're huge.

03:54They're about 13 feet.

03:56It's great character straight away.

03:58You're trying to keep as much charm but obviously bring the energy efficiency well.

04:02Yes.

04:03Yeah, we want to keep this look that entrance hall as it is but at the same time warm it up.

04:09Wow.

04:10Another fabulous room with high ceilings and great views over the locality as well.

04:14What are you doing in this room now, Tommy?

04:16These are external walls.

04:17So we need to dry line.

04:19We need to put the internal wall insulation on all these walls.

04:23Some older homes can lose heat through solid walls, making them cold, drafty and expensive to keep warm.

04:29An option is internal wall insulation which adds an insulating layer to the inside of exterior walls, helping keep warmth in and cold out.

04:39It's especially useful in some period properties where external insulation isn't practical and may not be allowed.

04:46It can improve energy efficiency and reduce heating bills without changing the home's external appearance or character.

04:53Tell me what the windows, do you hear much road noise at the moment like during the week with existing windows?

05:02Yes, it's a busy street actually so from the buses and all of the cars so it would be great to get these windows fixed up.

05:09This is currently a bedroom. Is it staying a bedroom? What's your future plan with this room?

05:15No, this will become the living room. So we'll come in the front door and come straight into this room.

05:20We want to get rid of the fireplace here. So rather than just keeping it as an open fire itself, we need to keep the air tightness of a stove unit.

05:29Yeah.

05:30The cost of a wood burning our pellet stove isn't covered by grants, but the benefit of a stove is that it's a sealed appliance.

05:37Typically the air for the fire is drawn from the outside so the room heat is not being sucked in by the stove.

05:44They are much more efficient compared to an open fire with around 80% of the heat generated being emitted to the room.

05:51They also reduce heat loss in the house because eliminating the open chimney reduces warm air escaping.

05:58I've had a good look at the current setup of their home and I want to show Myles and Ashley some of the troublesome

06:07spots that are causing most of their heat loss.

06:10What I have here is a thermal imaging camera. It'd be good to see what the house is like before,

06:14making all this deep retrofit work. We can have another look again afterwards.

06:18So like you have an external wall here and it's all freezing. You can see by the blue there.

06:23So like it's all cold bridging so you're losing an awful heat straight out this wall.

06:27Like when you go down into the fireplace there as well, see the way it's kind of blue in around the fireplace particularly.

06:32You've got all droughts and everything else there so you have negligible air tightness in the building

06:37and particularly you're losing a lot of your heat straight up the chimney.

06:40I know we're dealing with that now in the retrofit but you can see here like how valuable all this work will be, you know.

06:46I've identified some of the heat loss trouble spots and now it's time to sit with the couple and take a look at what this major renovation is going to cost.

06:55Miles and Ashley have gone for a one-stop shop provider who will not only carry out all of the works but will also help with the grant application.

07:03Right, time to look at the thorny issue of the figures for all this work.

07:07Altogether all these works are coming into €134,000.

07:11You have grants of €21,500 coming off that so your end result is still eye-watering €112,500.

07:22It's shocking but it has to be done so yeah we're looking forward to this.

07:27You're looking forward to having it all done I suppose really and enjoying the better quality of the living environment I guess is it?

07:33Indeed.

07:34People initially look at this and go how long before I get payback in terms of lower energy bills and that kind of thing.

07:40But I wouldn't discount the value of just better quality living space and living environment.

07:44I think that's something you really enjoy in the old house to have to maintain all the character that we spoke of.

07:50Yeah.

07:51A prickly one window reveals and ceiling roses and doorways and what have you.

07:54But to have a much nicer living environment inside and lower energy bills as well.

07:58Please go.

07:59When you are retrofitting an old building like this it's all about balance.

08:04You have to consider all the new features you'll be adding all the new insulation some air tightness membranes.

08:09But you have to consider the old building all the old beautiful features.

08:13And of course these old buildings need to breathe so you can't make them too airtight.

08:17But you can dramatically improve these buildings in terms of energy efficiency and good quality living environment.

08:29Before the contractors arrive to start on the full renovation, Myles and Ashley have to do some of their own demolition work.

08:36And time is short.

08:38Yeah, our deadline is tomorrow morning.

08:40The contractor is on site tomorrow morning.

08:42So we still have a bit of demo work that we agreed to do up front.

08:45So it included the floor coverings, carpets, removal of all existing wardrobes, removal of the existing kitchen.

08:53So we're pretty much there other than one wardrobe and we have a floor covering we need to take up in this room.

08:59So it could be a late night tonight before we get wrapped up and ready for the contract to start work in the morning.

09:05The lads have made their demolition deadline so the contractor can get to work straight away.

09:17And first up is the internal wall insulation.

09:20Myles has popped in to see how it's all coming along so far.

09:24Yeah, it looks good.

09:25It looks like it's quite a quick process.

09:28Once the stud is put up then the actual application of the mineral wool seems to be quite quick.

09:33So I have no complaints.

09:35The fact that we're a tree house terrace to put an external insulation wrap around the house,

09:41you're going to change the look of the tree house terrace.

09:44Plus we have the volume in this house that we can afford to lose the 120mm that the internal insulation requires.

09:52So it was a better job.

09:54The internal insulation is going up at a steady pace.

09:59So it's not long before the window contractors can begin the next step of the retrofit.

10:04But the characteristics of the new windows have the team facing into a challenging day.

10:09The new windows are, they come in one piece and they're huge.

10:13They're like 400 kilos to get some of those larger windows in.

10:17And some of the larger windows are on the top and on the landing.

10:21So to get the windows in you need to go up and there's a return on the stairs.

10:26There's another straight stairs.

10:27But hopefully they'll get them in and installed without any concerns.

10:30OK guys, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.

10:33Lads, slowly.

10:35More up and up and up.

10:36OK, one, two, three.

10:38There are double-glays six over six sash windows.

10:41Specifically went for double-glays because we want to maintain the solar gain from the south-facing orientation of the building.

10:47So if we use triple-glays, we don't get that solar gain.

10:51So we kept it to double-glays, which gives us the U-value we need to achieve aerating properly.

10:57But we don't lose the solar gain.

11:01With all hands on deck, the crew managed to get the windows upstairs and into position.

11:06But there's a problem.

11:07Is that the same all the way across?

11:08Yeah.

11:09Is it rotting that side as well?

11:10It's a little better, but this side's really bad.

11:13We had inspected them all and I thought we'd give them the green light on every one of them.

11:17But it looks like that one is not in as good, Nick.

11:20Again, it's one of those things that you find in a 170-year-old house.

11:24There's always going to be some element that's not 100% correct.

11:27So once it's in and set, we'll probably look to reinforce that corner before we complete the final installation.

11:38Today, I'm back in Dublin to catch up with Ashley Cortez and his husband, Miles Kenny,

11:43who are in the middle of a full renovation of their Victorian-era end-of-terrace house.

11:48Alongside the renovation, they're carrying out a full retrofit to bring the house into the 21st century.

11:55Since I last visited, they've had a huge amount of work done.

11:59But they've also had to handle a big challenge on the glazing front.

12:03Hey, Ciaran. Good to see you. Come on in. Thank you very much.

12:07Huge changes already.

12:09Yes, indeed. It might be very different from when the last time you saw it.

12:13Isn't it just, yeah?

12:14We have a great view of the windows now with a beautiful day outside.

12:18How did the windows installation go?

12:20It's quite an ordeal because they're installed as a single unit.

12:23It's just not like you're bringing a frame and then separate window pieces as one unit.

12:27So there's a lot of weight in them.

12:28But one particular window, there was a slight issue with the header.

12:31We ended up having to replace that because it was a certain, it was a timber.

12:35There were original ones. So we ended up having to replace that one.

12:38And all the rest of them are fine?

12:39All the rest of them are perfectly fine. Very good.

12:41As general building work continues around the place, the contractors are preparing to install the new heating arrangement,

12:50which will replace the old oil boiler with an up-to-date air-to-water heating system.

12:55This is the outdoor unit so, Rory?

12:57Yeah, that's part one of part two. So the indoor unit is inside there, the cylinder and the pump as well.

13:03So that's not too far away from the heat pump. There's only a short run to it.

13:06Which is always good for efficiency.

13:07Exactly, yeah.

13:08Our intent was to plant up this area.

13:11So is there anything that I cannot, is there a clearance that must be left in front of the heat pump?

13:16Or can I plant right up to it or what?

13:18Yeah, that's a good question.

13:19So you do want to leave a gap all the way around the heat pump, okay?

13:22So it needs air flow coming through it.

13:24And there have been problems in the past where people wanted to put fences and things like that in front of them to block out the view.

13:28We advise not to do that.

13:30So at least 350 mil is what you want to be leaving around it.

13:33And probably a half a metre on the front of it because a lot of cold air comes out of that.

13:37It's fine for planting and things like that in front of it.

13:38You won't sit in front of it because it will be cool.

13:40Okay.

13:41But other than that, it's as is. As you see, try and leave it like that.

13:45So a couple of Arctic plants in front of it should be fine?

13:47Yeah, exactly.

13:48Okay.

13:49As the work continues on this domestic project in Dublin 8, I'm curious to see how retrofitting can be implemented on an industrial scale.

14:00At the West Park gym in Tallagh, they're making huge energy savings thanks to a wide range of measures they've put in place.

14:08Facilities manager Kevin Doyle has been leading that transformation.

14:12Kevin, when did energy efficiency first become a big priority at your health level?

14:17So I suppose about five or six years ago we decided to really start looking at energy.

14:21We had a couple of different consultants come in and do some energy balance studies.

14:25And that led us in the direction of different energy saving initiatives that we decided to do.

14:30I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done.

14:32Will you show me inside?

14:33Yeah, absolutely. Let's go. Looking forward to showing you.

14:40Right, Kevin, there's an awful lot of plant here. What's happening here?

14:44This is the hub where everything happens. Some very innovative things. We have a chiller unit.

14:48Our gym needs an area that needs to stay really cold, our gym floor, and our pool area needs to stay really warm.

14:54So this would feed cool air to all our air handling units.

14:57And normally the waste product, the byproduct is heat, and that's normally just put out to exhaust.

15:02But we actually use that now to heat our pool air.

15:05Pool air needs to be a degree above the temperature of the water to stop any kind of heat evaporation.

15:10Your pool, how efficient is this? Tell me how this works.

15:13So this pool is a stainless steel pool. It's like a giant kitchen sink.

15:18It's one of the few pools in the country like that.

15:20Five years ago we put in air to water heat pumps, and the water is heated with heat pumps.

15:25Originally we would have had four gas boilers in place.

15:28So we were able to get rid of all of those and put in the two big heat pumps.

15:32So this, being insulated on heat pumps, it's about as efficient as it'd get.

15:37The pool would be one of the biggest costs in a electric centre like this?

15:40Yeah, by far. The pool was the low-hanging fruit to try and get some kind of energy saving initiative in place.

15:46So between the heat pumps and the chiller, we feel we've taken it as far as we can.

15:50But it's so much cheaper than it was before.

15:53So speaking of costs and cost savings, what kind of impact have you seen from these energy saving measures?

16:01A lot of the energy saving measures we put in place had a payback of about four or five years.

16:06And this is on plant that's guaranteed for 20 years.

16:09So basically at the end of a four or five year period, it was literally making us free energy at that stage.

16:14As regards percentage-wise, our electricity came down in around about 40%.

16:19Now recently, since we put the solar in, there's times through the year where we're 100% efficient.

16:24So we're chipping at that all the time and hopefully we'll have major savings.

16:29What's great about this fitness centre is they didn't complicate things.

16:33They looked at where energy is being used, made smart upgrades and it's really paid off.

16:38It shows that energy savings aren't just for factories and tech companies.

16:42With the right approach, even a busy leisure centre can make big savings.

16:46And that's something a lot of small businesses could take inspiration from.

16:55Back in Dublin 8, the retrofit works are accelerating to a finish on Myles and Ashley's mid-19th century end of terrace home.

17:03Today, it's time to install one of the final pieces, helping to ensure a solid thermal seal around the whole house.

17:11We've insulated all the external walls, so now we need to make sure that the roof is equally insulated.

17:18For a house to go from an E1 to an A3 rating, the attic needs to have 300mm of insulation packed into the floor.

17:27Site manager, Rory, is taking Myles through the steps involved in the process.

17:33You already had some insulation, so sometime in the lifespan of the house, somebody decided to put insulation in the house.

17:37So there's about a hundred millimetres there, so we're going to leave that in place. It's still performing.

17:41There's no reason to take it out as we're disposed.

17:44And what we're going to do is we're putting in an extra 200mm of this stuff, which is earth wool.

17:48Excellent insulation properties.

17:49We're going to roll that across the existing insulation up there.

17:52We're also going to insulate any pipe work that's up there, because in the wintertime that attic is going to be freezing cold.

17:56It's going to be keeping all the heat into the house.

17:58We don't want any of the pipes to freeze, because if they freeze, they expand and they burst.

18:02So there's little things like that, precautions that we take.

18:05And then the very last thing is we're going to provide enough ventilation, because now that we've sealed the attic and made it really airtight,

18:10we still want the timbers up there to breathe, so we're going to put in vents.

18:14This house, and when it was built, it wasn't designed to have proper roof ventilation,

18:19so we just need to make sure that we're providing enough ventilation in this very old structure

18:23that's going to last and stand the test of time.

18:26While work continues on the attic insulation, attention is also focused on another way to keep this house nice and warm.

18:34The old front door is for the chop.

18:36All the windows are in a couple of weeks now at this stage, and the door was the last portion.

18:40So we've ripped out the existing door and door frame.

18:44It looked like it was an original door, but the door itself wasn't in good shape.

18:48Probably one of the very last steps that's actually kind of a messy job.

18:53So once the door gets in, we've patched it all up, seal it all up,

18:58then we can start cleaning it down and get into the final fix.

19:06Almost seven months ago, Miles and Ashley's mid-19th century End of Terrace House

19:11was invaded by an army of builders in a campaign to increase its chilly E1BER rating up to a toasty A3.

19:22Thanks to interior insulation, a heat pump, double-glaze windows and a new energy-efficient front door,

19:29they have transformed it without losing much of its character.

19:32Today, I'm back to see the results for myself.

19:36Wow, look at the house. I'm lost for words.

19:41Yeah, it's coming together, or it has come together.

19:43It took a while to get to here, but yeah, it's been worth it in the long run.

19:47And Ashley, how are you at the end of this long journey?

19:50Delighted that it's nearly over.

19:52What's been the toughest part so far?

19:54I suppose it's a lot of us staying up late at night, and I'm working, and you're doing all the work.

20:01So, yeah.

20:03Well, look, you've really set the scene. Will you show me inside?

20:06Of course.

20:07Great. Lead the way.

20:10The place looks amazing. The incredible front door is the first thing you notice.

20:15It's such a lovely, heavy front door as well. Of course, it's an energy-efficient front door.

20:19Yes.

20:20A bit of time in deciding the design of the door.

20:22We, as I said, need to be energy-efficient, but the shape of it is a little bit different

20:27from your standard doors you would get.

20:31There's a huge transformation in this room.

20:33You have that gorgeous new window that really sets off the room, doesn't it?

20:36Yeah. This was a bedroom originally, so we wanted to bring it back in to make it a reception room

20:42or a living room again, and it really stands out as that room.

20:45And these walls here, like this wall over here and over here, all have that 100ml of internal wall insulation.

20:51But I'm not feeling any lack of space in this room.

20:54I mean, how did you feel when you realised you were losing 100ml on this wall and 100ml on this wall?

20:59Did it take much getting used to?

21:00No, I don't think in the whole scheme of things you really miss it.

21:03We obviously knew there was plenty of volume in that room anyway.

21:06So if this house couldn't take 100ml, then nobody could.

21:13So there's a massive transformation in this room.

21:15The last time I was here it was still under construction.

21:18But one thing I'm noticing is these amazing tall radiators.

21:21So they're all connected to your air-to-water system.

21:24Yeah, the heating system allows us to set up different zones.

21:27So individually we can set what temperature we want in each of the rooms

21:31and what time the heat pump will turn on or off the heating.

21:34So it's fantastic, yeah. Absolutely no issue.

21:37A lot of people think you have to have underfloor heating with an air-to-water system.

21:40But like in your situation you fitted these kind of statement feature radiators,

21:44which could do the same thing.

21:48The transformation is stunning.

21:50Miles and Ashley's home will have no problem nailing the target of an A3 rating.

21:55On my first visit my thermal imaging camera was setting off all kinds of cold colours.

22:01It'll be interesting to see the readings now all the work is done.

22:05I know you're a fireplace here and you've covered all that

22:08and you've brought insulation over all this wall.

22:10It'll be good to just check it to make sure there's no cold bridging anyway.

22:14So I mean a dramatic improvement straight away isn't it?

22:16That looks good.

22:17A lot of greens and yellows.

22:18I mean this is exactly what you want to see, you know,

22:20because you can get a kind of a cold bridging when you're covering over some existing features.

22:24But I mean this is a dramatic improvement isn't it?

22:26Yeah.

22:27Oh it's great to see that all the installations are all working.

22:30So yeah.

22:31That's a good relief right isn't it?

22:32Very very happy.

22:33It's open house in Dublin 8.

22:37Miles and Ashley's friends and family are here to give this warm home the once over

22:42and hopefully the seal of approval.

22:44You like it?

22:45It's beautiful.

22:46I like it.

22:47Oh we love it.

22:49We'll move in tomorrow.

22:50We'll move in tomorrow.

22:51The house is fantastic.

22:53It brings a really nice atmosphere.

22:55Yeah.

22:56That's true.

22:57Oh wow this is gorgeous.

22:59Really cosy, really gorgeous and I'm very jealous it's finished to such a high degree.

23:04There's a big impact with the new windows.

23:06You wouldn't know you're on a busy road here in any way.

23:09Miles and Ashley, congratulations on your beautiful home.

23:13You've done an amazing job.

23:14Your house is amazingly energy efficient but also beautiful to look at.

23:18So well done.

23:23We came to this project as both an energy and a upgrade project not just one or the other.

23:29So now that we have combined both the quality of the house is very different from when we

23:33started.

23:34Very happy but really hands on to Miles.

23:36He really did all of it.

23:37So proud of him.

23:38Aww.

23:39Yeah.

23:40Retrofitting a house of this age was always going to be a monumental task.

23:44But Miles and Ashley have pulled it off.

23:47Their home is now warm, efficient and ready for the future.

23:50This project proves that even our oldest homes can be upgraded to modern energy standards

23:55without losing too much character.

24:05The last day was the first time with the future.

24:06The past day was a good, painfulless journey.

24:08I started off with the closest to the world.

24:09The past day in the past day was always going to be a perfect place for us to learn.

24:12The last day was another day after a month of the past month.

24:13It was almost like a year of the last day.

24:15Midnight has had a major job.

24:16It seemed like I couldn't even get rid of it.

24:18The last day was a great job.

24:19And was it that we were able to get rid of it.

24:21It was a regular job and the whole family.

24:23The last day was there.

24:24The new world happens to me.

24:25I was going to be a busy day and the rest.

24:26The next day was a new kid.

24:27The first day was a place for the past day.

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