Type of Project
This project added external wall insulation to the front and back of a 1960’s end of terrace house in Thornbury, and added solar panels (to generate electricity). The house is rented, so this work is a landlord driven retrofit.
Aims of the project
When we bought the house, the survey identified that the front and back elevations had very little insulation and would be a large source of heat escape from the property. This would cause the house to be cold at times and to consume a lot of energy to heat.
We wanted to fit solar panels to reduce carbon emissions and to reduce the energy bills for the tenants.
What was done
We started the project by asking an external wall specialist to quote for adding solid wall insulation over the top of the existing structure at front and back, and on the side wall of the property (the end of terrace wall). We had used UrbaneEco before and had a good experience with them. As we trusted them, we did not get any other quotes for the work.
They quoted for expanded polystyrene insulation and for wood fibre board. We chose the latter: that was more expensive, but we consider it to be a more sustainable material.
We decided to insulate only front and back, and to leave the side wall alone. We decided to remove the existing ‘fish scales’ and to fill in between the supporting timber studwork with hemp-based insulation. [top picture]. Over the top of this would go the wood fibreboard [image right].
The outcome
When the fish scales were removed, and the supporting tongue and groove timber, there was no insulation behind. The void was filled with hemp, then all faces (front and back) were overcoated with the woodfibre, then render, and painted. Whilst there was a break in the insulation work, the solar panels were fitted, front and back, in less than 2 days. The hemp insulation cost £1400, the wood fibre overcoat cost £14,100, and the solar cost £5,000.
