First-time buyer Roy Renovates his Bungalow in Southville

Heating and hot water Internal walls Windows and doors

Roy and his partner purchased their family home back in 2016. A few years later they decided to renovate and completely transform it. They installed a heat pump, cavity & wall insulation and new secondary glazing on all their windows.

Summary

Warm and cosier in the winter months

95% less carbon produced per year (than average household)

EPC rating up to 63D

Off gas

The Home

House Type: 1970’s Bungalow
No. Bedrooms 2
Wall Type: Cavity
Area: Southville, Bristol

Overview

Roy and his partner purchased their first Southville family home back in 2016. With influence from the Centre of Sustainable Energy and Roy’s prior knowledge, along with the plan to work on the house anyway, they started their renovation journey in 2020.

With their home being in a conservation area they had to consider this from the planning process stage.

Their end goal was to make the home a place of warmth and as energy efficient as possible with costs of the total project rising to £150,000.

Background

In 2016, Roy and his partner became first-time buyers of their bungalow in Southville with their intention to make the home a cosier, warmer living space in the winter along with it being well insulated for the warmer months.

With work being planned throughout the house already, Roy thought this was the perfect opportunity to completely renovate their home with a new heating system, new windows, underfloor, cavity wall and roof insulation.

The project ended up slightly over budget with £150,000 spent, with that money also being allocated to having some internal walls removed to create an open plan living room, kitchen and sitting room.

Assessment

A survey before the work started took place in 2019 where it was decided that cavity wall insulation was needed along with extending an existing window opening as it was required for putting a steel beam in for structural support. Jenna from Futureproof conducted an energy performance assessment on Roy’s home for a research project that was taking place at the time.

The Challenge

The main challenge was the timing of the project, as it started in 2020 which was late into the pandemic of COVID-19. This affected the maximum amount of people allowed in the bungalow at one time. It also delayed the installation of their heat pump due to the demand for heat pump engineers along with the arrival of the heat pump itself. Overall, from ordering the heat pump to getting it installed the process took 3 months.

Results

The home is now noticeably warmer in the winter months. There have been no issues post completion and everything is working as expected. A few places in the bungalow have extended with existing openings for windows with all-new double glazing, which are argon filled. Roy quotes that there is no real noticeable difference in energy bills and seem to be averagely priced, with Octopus Energy.