Penarth eco-refurbishment

Penarth eco-refurbishment

The thermal bridging of the existing steel wall ties and at the junction of the external walls with the ground slab would be unacceptable for an ecohouse but here it exists, and getting rid of the problem would be very expensive. There were other thermal bridging problems which I could more easily deal with around all the openings. The brick external leaf returned at the reveals but stopped very roughly before meeting the internal leaf, with no ties, bonding, or vertical DPC. Thankfully the concrete lintels are to each leaf of the wall, but some of the in-situ cast concrete spanned the cavity and with the rest the cavity was closed with brick. The reveals and sills were all cut back, taking great care to make sure that none of the rubble fell in to the cavity. These were then filled with firesock cavity closers, as was the head of the cavity.

 

We also decided to replace all the external doors and windows with triple glazed units from Velfac. These had an average ‘U’ value of 1.2Wm²K. There are windows with lower ‘U’ values but they’re more expensive and there were other more cost-effective areas to spend money on. What they also provide if they’re well fitted is a very good seal with double seals on the sashes and a Compriband seal around the whole frame. In the Ecotect modeling reducing the Air Change Rate per hour accounted for almost 50% of the reductions to the space heating load. Ordering Velfac windows and doors for existing openings requires careful measuring and courage. Fitting them is also best done from the outside.

 

When we lifted all the carpets and lino we found the original tarrazo floors in the Entrance Hall and Kitchen, and Oak parquet in the Sitting and Dining rooms. I really didn’t want to go to the cost of pulling these up to put in underfloor heating, which meant looking for another way of putting in an energy-efficient distribution system, which I’ll talk about later.

 

Next was to gain as much free (solar) and renewable energy as we could, from the PV panels on the roof, through the windows, roof lights and the Conservatory. Surprisingly with roof slopes facing South East and South West the Solar PV generates over 1700kWhrs, almost as much as a South facing roof.

 

Penarth eco-refurbishment - ecotect

 

Click on the page number links below to read the rest of this story

Similar Posts