Do you have an old home? Or are you thinking of buying one?
Many of us love living in older properties due to their character, sense of space and period features. But many of us despair at how cold, draughty and expensive to heat they are in winter.
This doesn’t need to be the case. A properly designed and executed retrofit can dramatically improve your comfort throughout the year, without damaging the historic character you fell in love with.
What is a retrofit?
A retrofit is work that modifies and upgrades an existing building for energy efficiency. Retrofitting includes actions that increase the health, comfort and quality of the building, whilst reducing the property’s impact on the environment.
Why would I retrofit my older property?
There’s a host of benefits to having a warm and comfortable home, which we’ve previously written about here.
It’s estimated 80% of the UK housing stock that will exist in 2050 is already built. Many of these have been built 80-plus years ago.
This was at a time when environmental standards were much lower. Because of this, there was little or no consideration given to sustainability and comfort.
As a result there is plenty of opportunity to retrofit an older building. Both to deliver efficiency benefits and create happy, healthy homes for you and your family.
How can I improve my comfort?
- Thermal insulation Wrap the building in a warm blanket to keep the heat in
- Minimise cold bridges: Cold bridges are gaps in your insulation. They need to be minimised to avoid heat loss or condensation issues.
- Air-tightness: Uncontrolled air-leakage can also lead to unwanted heat loss.
- Ventilation: Improving ventilation to ensure good air-quality and humidity control.
Undertaking a step by step retrofit
You may not be able to do everything you want in one go. The above actions can have unintended consequences if done incorrectly.
By following a phased plan, you can mitigate risk and minimise negative impacts on your home.
By taking an informed and holistic approach you will ensure you gain the maximum benefit at every stage of the retrofit.
We’re experts at retrofitting older properties. Our new retrofit strategy service can drastically improve the performance of your home.
Are you ready to improve the performance of your historic home?
As a practice we’re passionate about improving the comfort, safety and health of our clients by retrofitting their homes or businesses.