We spoke back in February about the significant changes to several SEAI grant schemes. As of February 3, 2026, heat pump grants have increased to a maximum of €12,500. This total now includes a new €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus (essentially a boiler scrappage scheme) and a €2,000 Central Heating Upgrade grant, alongside existing supports. Crucially, this level of funding is now available through Better Energy Homes individual grants – which previously capped out at €6,500 – as well as the One Stop Shop, (OSS) route. Grants for attic and cavity wall insulation have also seen an uplift.

At the start of March, the highly-anticipated Windows and Doors grant launched under the individual measure scheme, previously only available under the OSS grant route. This rollout included higher supports for households receiving certain Social Protection payments and new attic insulation grants specifically for first-time buyers. Additionally, homeowners who previously received a grant for cavity or internal wall insulation may now qualify for a second wall insulation grant.

From what we’ve seen through our own business, the window and door grant is causing the most confusion – which isn’t surprising. The rules and application process are more complex than most other measures, and the full details aren’t always clear on the SEAI website. This month, I want to dive deeper into the intricate details of these new grants.

First, let’s cover the straightforward requirements:

Property Age: Your house must have been built and occupied before 2011.

Performance: New windows and doors must meet a U-value of 1.4 or better (a U-value measures heat loss; the lower the number, the better the insulation).

Contractor: You must use an SEAI-registered contractor.

Timeline: You must apply online via the SEAI Better Energy Homes portal before you start the work.

Payment: You have the work completed, pay the contractor, have a BER assessment completed afterward and then claim the grant back.

The complexity lies in the ‘fabric-first’ criteria specific to windows and doors. To qualify, your home must meet one of the following:

Heat Loss Indicator (HLI): You must achieve an HLI of 2.3 or lower after the windows/doors are fitted. This is the same metric used to determine heat pump readiness.

Advisory Report: Alternatively, your BER Advisory Report must show your walls and roof as being rated ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’.

Confirming eligibility is tricky and depends on the age of your home and your current BER status.

If you have a BER (Post-July 2021): You likely have the new-format Advisory Report. You can check this immediately to see your current HLI and wall/roof ratings.

If you have a BER (Pre-July 2021): These older reports don’t display this level of detail. The full data would need to be requested from the SEAI for review, which usually requires professional assistance.

If you don’t have a BER: You will likely need a pre-BER assessment to check eligibility and determine if upgrades to your attic or walls are required first.

Note on 2005-2010 Homes: Houses in this age bracket often meet the ‘Good’ wall and roof definitions by default due to the building regulations of that time.

In all cases, a final BER is required to claim the grant. If you are relying on an existing BER to check compliance, it makes sense to use the same assessor for the final BER to ensure consistency. If starting from scratch, most assessors, including ourselves, now offer a combined ‘pre-and-post’ BER service for these grants.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a ‘whole house’ upgrade. You cannot get the grant to replace just a few windows while leaving poor-performing ones behind. If you’ve upgraded some windows recently (within the last 10 years), they likely already meet the 1.4 U-value and can be retained, provided you can supply a Declaration of Performance from the original supplier.

As always, if you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out: ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

Drat proofing windows.

As the new year dawns, many of us are setting ambitious personal and professional goals for 2026. I know personally that if I achieve even half of mine, I’ll be doing well! Having said that, it’s also a great time to extend that ambition to our homes. This year, resolve to make your living space more comfortable, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly. Retrofitting isn’t just about massive, whole-house overhauls; it’s about making smart improvements that deliver lasting benefits.

Snug Seals – The First Step to a Warmer Home: One of the easiest and most impactful ways to begin your journey is by tackling draughts. Unwanted heat loss via air leakage occurs all over the house. I see lots of these unnoticed gaps around windows, doors, and pipework on my visits around West Cork. The secret culprits force your heating system to work harder and your energy bills to rise.

Resolving to seal these gaps can make an immediate difference, creating a noticeably warmer home from day one. It’s a simple resolution that pays dividends. You can do a lot of this yourself with a can of expanding foam and a roll of draught excluder. Open chimneys are also a huge source of heat loss. If you aren’t ready to fit a stove or block the chimney up completely, consider a chimney balloon or even an old pillow as a temporary, removable seal.

Bright Savings – Illuminate Your Way to Efficiency: Another ‘quick win’ is upgrading your lighting. Swapping old bulbs for energy-efficient LEDs is a no-brainer. LEDs use significantly less electricity and last much longer. They now come in a wide range of colour temperatures to suit any room, allowing you to reduce your carbon footprint without sacrificing a cozy atmosphere.

Beyond the Basics – Planning for a Greener Future: Once you’ve tackled the quick fixes, consider your larger ‘Green Goals’. Perhaps this is the year for better insulation, ensuring your walls and attic act as cozy layers against the elements. Or maybe you’ll explore the benefits of a heat pump or solar panels.

Even if you don’t start the physical work this year, you can take the most important first step: Planning. A Home Energy Assessment (HEA) is essentially a roadmap for your upgrade. It includes an existing BER (Building Energy Rating) to show where your home currently stands, along with a detailed report outlining your options.

The HEA provides estimated savings in carbon and fuel bills, an outline specification and details on available grants. Crucially, this plan ensures that any work you do now won’t jeopardise future upgrades or cause unintended consequences, such as poor ventilation.

A HEA must be completed by an SEAI-registered technical assessor and costs in the region of €550-plus VAT. (Note: a grant is often available toward this cost if you work directly with a registered One Stop Shop).

Making your home more energy-efficient is a powerful resolution that benefits your wallet, your comfort, and the planet. By taking small, manageable steps – or a few larger ones –you can significantly reduce your footprint and enjoy a more sustainable year ahead.

From time to time, I get asked how to gain employment in the retrofit industry.

The Irish Government’s ambitious target through the Climate Action Plan to retrofit 500,000 homes to a minimum of B2 Building Energy Rating (BER) by 2030 is fuelling a sustained demand for a skilled workforce. While reaching this exact target is challenging, the national commitment to retrofit and SEAI grant schemes has firmly established the sector, offering diverse opportunities for long-term careers across various disciplines.

The foundation roles of the industry are the hands-on trades that execute the work. The Irish construction sector is actively seeking to upskill existing trades for these specific requirements.

Retrofit-skilled carpenters, roofers, plasterers,  insulation and airtightness specialist,
general builders and
labourers
Core responsibilities: Installing internal/external insulation systems, roof insulation, remedial work, airtightness layers, window/door replacement.

Key skills/certification: Airtightness principles, thermal bridging, moisture management, NZEB and SEAI compliance training

Retrofit Electrician

Core responsibilities: Upgrading electrical systems to support modern services (e.g., heat pumps), installing PV, smart controls, car chargers

Key skills/certification: Domestic Electrical Installation & Control (DEIC), SEAI Solar PV installation certification.

Mechanical Services Engineer/Plumbers

Core responsibilities: 

Installing and commissioning high-efficiency heating (Heat Pumps) and ventilation systems

Key skills/certification: 

Heat Pump Installer Certification, F-Gas handling, ventilation system balancing.

Many of the personnel working in these roles may have naturally evolved from a background in carpentry, general building, as an electrician, etc. There are, however now specific practical training courses for these roles too. For example, the NZEB training centres in Waterford and Wexford have a suite of courses, and Generation Ireland offers a Solar PV installers course aimed to get people back in employment.

The second area is the critical process of assessment, design, and specification. Without a robust plan, the entire retrofit project risks failure. This is the area I operate in as a BER and Technical Assessor.

Most professionals here hold a third-level qualification in a construction or engineering discipline. My own route was to qualify as an Architectural Technologist, complete an MSc in Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies, and work in architecture for 10 years, gaining significant retrofit experience. Upon returning to Ireland in 2019, I completed the BER assessor course and established my business, Retrofurb. This may sound convoluted, but it is a common professional trajectory among established industry professionals. Samuel,  who works with me, was a carpenter, then went back to study Civil Engineering before completing the BER assessor course when he moved to Ireland sometime after. 

There are three routes to become a BER assessor:

• Route 1 (Standard): NFQ Level 6 Higher or Advanced Certificate in a construction-related discipline plus completion of a QQI Level 6 BER assessment course.

•  Route 2 (Nested Module): Completion of an NFQ Major Award in a relevant construction-related discipline with a BER Assessment Module nested within.

• Route 3 (Experience): For those without the base NFQ Level 6, this can be replaced with two years of relevant experience and an accumulation of SEAI-approved or accredited awards in a relevant construction-related discipline, plus completion of a QQI Level 6 BER assessment course

Like the practical trades side of the industry, there are now a number of third-level degree courses and post-graduate courses in the field of Retrofit. The Digital Academy for the Sustainable Built Environment, (DASBE) runs a Higher Diploma in Residential Energy Retrofit Management, and TU Dublin has an excellent suite of modules that can be taken individually or combined to make up a post-graduate certificate, diploma, or masters in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design). 

The final part of the industry is the sales, administration, and management of the retrofit process. As the retrofit market scales up, there is growing demand for professionals to manage the delivery of large numbers of projects, often within structured programmes. The roles in this sector cross over quite a bit with the first 2 sectors; retrofit trades, (and assessors) can end up becoming project managers, and likewise, assessors and designers could work in higher management, quality inspections, and auditing. There is also a large administration component for the various grant programmes. These roles could be filled in either SEAI-approved contracting organisations such as One Stop Shops, the actual SEAI, or Local Authorities/Approved Housing Bodies. These roles manage the high volume of grant applications, payment claims, and programme reporting.

Finally, there are a number of growing niche specialist careers in Retrofit:

• Digitalisation of Retrofit: This involves using smart digital tools to model retrofit solutions, predict performance, and manage site logistics. Opportunities exist for both start-ups and collaborations with existing companies; we have a great example here in West Cork, RetroKit.

• Conservation Retrofit: A crucial niche focusing on sensitive energy upgrades for protected and older buildings, balancing energy efficiency with heritage conservation. SEAI recently launched the Traditional Building Pilot, which I have been working on personally as a Traditional Building Professional.

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out: ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

Understanding insulation materials

When choosing insulation, there are several things to consider, including cost, performance, suitability for the application, and environmental impact. Insulation materials fall into three broad categories, as shown in the table.

Your quickest win is attic insulation 

The single easiest and most cost-effective insulation upgrade you can make is in your attic. I’m always surprised by how many homes still have only 100mm of old glass wool between the joists.

Upgrading this to a deep 300-400mm will reduce heat loss by almost fourfold! It’s a relatively straightforward DIY job, though a little unpleasant, or a quick morning’s work for a contractor.

DIY tips for attic insulation

• Don’t compress it: It’s the air trapped between the fibres that provides the main insulation value. If you store items in the attic, they will need to be placed on a raised deck.

• Ventilation is key: Most older attic spaces need to be ventilated (usually via vents at the eaves or tile vents) to remove any moist air and prevent condensation.

• Grants: There is an SEAI grant of €1,500 (for a detached house) available towards the work if you use a registered contractor.

Upgrading your walls:
Cavities vs. solid

A large proportion of your heat loss occurs through the walls.If you are fortunate enough to have cavity walls, they can usually be easily upgraded. Once a contractor confirms suitability, polystyrene bead insulation is simply pumped in through a series of holes drilled into the outside of the walls. This is another easy win that can likely be completed before Christmas and there is also an SEAI grant of €1,700 towards this upgrade for a detached house!

Older properties (typically pre-1930s, but sometimes up to the 1960s) are likely to have solid, hollow block, or stone construction. These require more advanced insulation solutions, such as external or internal wall insulation, which we will come back to in a future article.

Windows and doors:
The glazing choice

Poor-performing windows and doors are a major source of heat loss, particularly if they allow cold air to leak in. Replacing old windows completely is a big and expensive job, but there are huge benefits to changing single or old double glazing (20-plus years).

Modern triple glazed windows are about four times as effective at keeping the heat in as double glazing from the late 90s. I tell all my clients that for an increase in cost of only about 15pc, modern triple glazing is 60 per cent more effective at retaining heat than modern double glazing. It’s a huge performance leap for a small price difference.

There are some interim solutions for existing windows if you can’t stretch to a full replacement:

• Draught-proofing: A simple measure to immediately reduce air leakage.

• Professional service: Get an expert to adjust the hinges and locks so the windows close correctly.

• Slimline glazing: With some older wooden frames, it may be possible to change the glass. Slimline glazing will improve performance but will not compete with the heat retention of a full triple-glazed replacement.

The last step: Air leakage and draught-proofing

Unwanted heat loss via air leakage occurs all around the home.

You can do a lot of this yourself with a can of expanding foam and a roll of draught excluder. Typical locations for air leakage include: around attic hatches, windows, and doors. Penetrations where plumbing and electrics come through walls are also problem spots. 

Open chimneys create a huge draught, not to mention their inefficiency when burning fuel. Think about fitting a stove instead or blocking it up completely. You can also use something like a chimney balloon or even an old pillow as a temporary, removable seal.

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out;  ruairi@retrofurb.ie.  

Free home energy upgrades. That sounds attractive! As part of the government’s effort to tackle energy poverty, the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme offers free energy upgrades to improve the energy efficiency of homes occupied by vulnerable individuals and families. The scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), which plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable energy practices and reducing Ireland’s carbon emissions.

The primary purpose of the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme is to provide free energy efficiency upgrades to homeowners who are struggling with energy poverty. This directly addresses the challenges faced by low-income households in affording necessary home improvements to keep their homes warm and reduce high heating costs. By upgrading these homes, the scheme aims to:

• Improve thermal comfort: Making homes warmer and more comfortable for occupants, especially during colder months.

• Reduce energy bills: Lowering the amount of energy required to heat homes, leading to significant savings for households.

• Enhance health and well-being: A warmer home environment can have a positive impact on the health and quality of life of residents, reducing instances of cold-related illnesses.

• Contribute to climate action targets: Decreasing the energy demand from residential buildings helps Ireland meet its national and European climate change commitments.

• Support local employment: The scheme relies on a network of contractors and suppliers across Ireland, thereby supporting local jobs and economic activity.

Eligibility criteria

To ensure the scheme targets those most in need, strict eligibility criteria are in place. To qualify for free energy upgrades, applicants must meet the following conditions:

• The applicant must be the owner of the property.

• The property must be the applicant’s primary residence.

• The dwelling must have been built before 2006. This ensures that older, less energy-efficient homes are prioritised.

• The applicant, or another member of the household, must be receiving one of the qualifying social welfare payments. These typically include: Fuel Allowance; Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than six months and have a child under seven years of age; Working Family Payment; One-Parent Family Payment; Domiciliary Care Allowance; Disability Allowance for more than six months and have a child under seven years of age.

Once a household is deemed eligible, SEAI arranges for a survey to be carried out and a range of energy efficiency upgrades to be completed on their home, free of charge. The type of upgrades provided depends on what is suitable for the property and is ultimately decided by SEAI. Items that can be funded under the scheme include:

• Attic Insulation: Preventing heat loss through the roof, a major source of energy inefficiency in many older homes.

• Cavity Wall Insulation: Filling the gaps in external walls to reduce heat escaping through the walls.

• External Wall Insulation (the wrap): For homes with older walls that cannot be insulated with cavity fill, external insulation provides a significant thermal improvement.

• Draft Proofing: Sealing gaps around windows, doors, and other openings to prevent drafts and uncontrolled air leakage.

• Lagging Jackets: Insulating hot water cylinders to keep water warmer for longer and reduce energy consumption.

• Heating System Upgrades: In some cases, and where appropriate, upgrades to heating systems may also be provided. Oil and gas boilers are no longer covered by the scheme, but renewable technologies like heat pumps are now possible.

• Energy Efficient Lighting: Replacing inefficient lighting with LED bulbs.

• Ventilation: Ensuring proper ventilation to maintain indoor air quality while minimising heat loss.

• Windows and Doors: These may also be considered for upgrades in certain cases.

All works are managed by SEAI through its network of approved and supervised contractors, ensuring high standards of quality and safety. Homeowners do not need to directly manage the works or pay any costs.

I haven’t worked on the scheme directly myself, but I’m aware one of the key issues is the wait time, currently about two years from application to completion of the work. If you wish to apply for this scheme, you need to do so directly to SEAI via an online form. Once your application is approved, a pre-work BER will be completed (if you don’t already have one), followed by a survey from an approved contractor. After the work is carried out, a post-work BER will be completed at the end of the project.

For further details on the scheme and for a link to apply, you can visit www.seai.ie.

With the introduction of the vacant and derelict property grants in 2022, more and more of these older buildings are being refurbished and retrofitted to bring them back into use. When retrofitting these kind of homes, attention needs to be given to the kind of materials and techniques used. Modern materials and methods are not always appropriate, particularly when dealing with the walls.

Traditional solid walls have quite a clever way to deal with moisture. They are constructed of permeable materials, such as stone with lime mortar joints and a permeable lime plaster internally, for example. Here is how they process moisture: when it rains, the external surface of the wall draws in liquid water through the porous structure, which is then distributed throughout the wall. As the rain stops and the sun shines, or as heat passes through the wall from the inside, this rain evaporates out of the wall.

Internally, excessive water vapour can pass through the permeable structure to reach the outside or can be temporarily stored in the hygroscopic lime plaster and evaporated back to the room once the inside relative humidity  level drops. In the past, the burning of an open fire from Autumn through to Spring, ensured the surfaces were kept warm and the leaky construction of the buildings allowed drafts to keep the buildings well ventilated. This ensured the solid walls of traditional buildings were kept relatively dry. By comparison, a modern cavity wall works very differently and is designed to prevent moisture from entering or exiting the building altogether with the use of impervious non-breathable materials and a cavity break in the middle. In fact, the gap in a cavity wall was only originally added to prevent moisture movement through the wall, adding insulation to this cavity came later. 

When insulating solid walls, the addition of external wall insulation, (EWI) is relatively safe. The insulation and new render coat act as a protective layer, keeping the original wall dry and warm. With this method of insulation, problems are unlikely to occur, when done correctly. However, adding internal wall insulation, (IWI) to a solid wall is not without its complications, particularly with modern solutions. One of the major concerns is how the IWI will affect the existing wall’s ability to deal with moisture, both internally and externally. This additional insulation will inhibit the walls breathability and reduce the drying capacity, creating a cold surface behind the insulation. This can lead to an increase of moisture within the existing wall, which can in turn bring potential problems such as external cracking of the existing wall due to freeze-thaw, corrosion of timber or metal components within the wall, interstitial condensation and mould growth. The fact that many of these walls may have been ‘renovated’ with cement-based renders over the years makes the problems worse. 

In order to minimise the risks when upgrading these older walls with IWI,  breathable materials are often used. The use of lime plaster and wood fibre insulation, for example, maintain the original moisture function of the wall. The target level of insulation may also be reduced. The reasoning behind this concept is to still allow some heat to pass through, helping to keep the wall dry. Adequate ventilation of the building is also crucial.

One of the considerations with these materials and methods, is that they are generally more expensive than modern solutions and, until recently, it was not possible to access the SEAI grants. The SEAI grant criteria requires insulation ‘systems’ with National Standards Authority of Ireland, (NSAI) approvals, which none of these breathable materials have and the u-values (level of insulation) required would be impractical to achieve with natural breathable materials.  

At the end of last year, SEAI launched a Traditional Building Retrofit Pilot to address these shortcomings. The pilot is run through the existing One Stop Shop, (OSS) framework and will ultimately lead to the development of a new stream of grants.  For now, the levels of funding available for an upgrade under the pilot will be the same as the normal OSS offering, but there is a relaxation on some of the criteria. For example, wall insulation materials without an NSAI certificate can now be used and the target level of insulation, (u-value) is relaxed. This means that you could upgrade a solid wall with hemp, lime, woodfibre, and so on, and still benefit from the internal wall insulation grant. A grant towards secondary glazing is also possible. In certain situations, the requirement to meet a minimum B2 BER rating may also be relaxed, on a case by case basis. If you would like to join the pilot you will need to contact a registered One Stop Shop and you will also need to appoint a traditional building professional to specify the materials used in your upgrade, (an engineer, architect or building surveyor specialist in conservation)

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out;  ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

Passivhaus, or Passive House in English is a standard for low energy building that originated in Germany but is now recognised worldwide. The standard rewards efficient design, (which we discussed last month) and focuses on a ‘fabric first’ approach to building design with high levels of insulation and airtightness, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and thermal bridge free construction. The result is a building that needs minimal heating, has very low fuel bills, carbon dioxide emissions and high levels of comfort. So why is Passivhaus better than other low energy standards?

First of all, it has been proven to deliver. The graph above shows predicted versus actual energy use for a traditional German low energy housing development compared to three Passivhaus schemes. 

The red line is the predicted space heating consumption for the houses and the blue bars show the measured space heating consumption for each house. Some houses are higher than the predicted use but when they are averaged out across all dwellings, the result is pretty much right on the predicted line. The Passivhaus schemes also have a much lower consumption than the Low Energy Houses, (predicted and measured). This is a study from Germany in the early days of Passivhaus but this has been replicated in the UK and Ireland with similar results. 

The standard has been popular in Ireland for a while now. Architect Tomás O’Leary of MosArt built the first certified Passivhaus in Ireland and it has been his family home since 2005. Many more have been built since, including  housing estates, schools, apartments and commercial buildings. 

Passivhaus projects are also designed and built to be extremely efficient. In order to meet the Passivhaus standard, there are a number of key criteria that need to be met, with a slight relaxation in these criteria for the EnerPHit retrofit Passivhaus standard, as illustrated in the chart pictured here.

In Ireland, meeting these values will require efficient design of the building form, high levels of insulation beyond current building regulations, triple glazed windows, very good airtightness, thermal bridge free construction and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. The result will be a building with very low heating demand but this will still need to be from an efficient source, like a heat pump. Passivhaus Plus and Premium version of the standard were created recently and consider renewables like solar panels. However, these cannot be used to offset inefficient design or lower levels of insulation. 

All of the criteria need to be verified at design stage using the Passivhaus Planning Package, (PHPP) and there is a rigorous certification process to ensure quality control of the finished building. Certification is completed by various organisation accredited by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany, such as MozArt in Ireland and a number of others in the UK. There are also Passivhaus accreditations for products, building designers and tradespeople.  

How does the Passivhaus standard compare to the Irish BER ratings? 

A Passivhaus will generally  receive an A band BER rating but an A rated house won’t necessarily meet the Passivhaus criteria. A BER rating is based on the homes primary energy use per meter square of the/per floor area per year. This number, called the ‘energy value’, will dictate where your home sits on the BER scale from G-A. How efficient the house design is and how well it is insulated will affect the BER, but things like the choice of fuel, heating system efficiency and weather any renewables like solar panels are included is also considered. This is not a bad metric for BER purposes but it does present a few anomalies. You could, for example, have a poorly insulated house with an old oil boiler and get it to an A rating by adding a huge amount of solar panels.

One of the key criteria of the Passivhaus standard is a space heating demand below 15 kilowatt per hour per metre squared of floor area per year. This metric is a true representation of how well insulated the house is and it is not affected by the type of heating system you fit or whether renewables are included. Of course having an efficient heating system and renewables is a big part of reducing our carbon footprint, but we should get the design and insulation right first.  

The other key difference between the two, is how they are assessed. BER ratings are created using the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP) which is quite different to PHPP used for Passivhaus. They both use a steady state heat loss model at their core but a lot more detail goes into PHPP. For example, in DEAP a window composed of a fixed pane and an opening casement is treated as one window in DEAP with a single u-value (measure of heat loss) for the whole window combination. In PHPP this would be treated as two windows, as the fixed and casement section have slightly different properties. The u-value will be entered for the glazing, the frame and corrections applied for thermal bridging around the perimeter of the glass and for how the window is installed in the wall. All of this is combined with the window size and frame dimensions to calculate the window u-value. There is a lot more detail considered in the PHPP model, which is partly why it is so successful and delivers the results it promises.

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out;  ruairi@retrofurb.ie.  

The more compact the design, the more efficient it will be. For example, let’s have a look at an apartment compared to a bungalow of the same floor area: we can think about the two buildings like a box and when we unfold the heat loss areas, such as the floors, walls and roofs, (as highlighted in the image) the bungalow has almost four times as many square meters of heat loss area compared to the apartment of the same size.

This concept can be expressed numerically and is often referred to the form factor. This is the ratio of a building’s total surface area, (ground floor, walls and roof) to its useable floor area. The table illustrates it quite nicely – it is taken from a UK study by the NHBC Foundation ‘The Challenge of Shape and Form’. Each of the four house types have the same floor area and insulation specification. Energy use was modelled in the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP software, similar to DEAP we use to produce BERs in Ireland). Naturally, the apartment has the lowest space heating requirement. The mid-terrace house is the next lowest but still requires 56 per cent more energy for space heating, the semi-D 89 per cent more, the detached house 117 per cent more and the bungalow required 136 per cent more energy for space heating compared to the apartment of the same size!

Now, in rural West Cork, we are more likely to be building detached houses, so we are already on the poorer end of the form factor scale. If possible, two-storey houses or bungalows with a room in the roof are  preferable to single storey bungalows. 

But it’s not only the house style that affects the form factor, the building  shape also has an impact. Buildings with an L or T shape will have increased heat loss and details like bay windows and recessed entrance also have a negative result on the form factor. There is a risk with following this logic that we could end up with bland rectangular house designs but there is a beauty in simplicity executed well and interesting architectural details can still be incorporated: canopies instead of recessed doors, changes of external wall material or deep window seats to create a bay window feel. 

The other big benefit of a low form factor is cost. If you have less quantity of external envelope to build, your house will be cheaper. Simplifying the shape should also lower cost; cutting out complicated junctions and details which are tricky to build,  harder to insulate, make airtight and build without thermal bridging. 

Of course, there will be other considerations that will put constraints on the form of your building design such as the site or planning requirements. There will always be a balance between efficiency and aesthetics but it should be considered and these decisions should be quantified at design stage. 

Now, with the upgrade of existing homes, we can’t do much about the form factor unless adding an extension and even then the scope will be limited. However it is still relevant and impacts your BER rating. The BER of a home is calculated based on the total primary energy use of the house per square meter of floor area so the same rules apply. For example, an apartment of the same size and specification will get a better BER rating than an equivalent size bungalow. Likewise the heat loss indicator, (HLI, used to determine how well insulated your home is and if it is suitable for a heat pump) is calculated based on the total heat loss divided by the floor area.  I often see examples of how this affects upgrades when completing heat pump technical assessments. A bungalow will generally need more insulation compared to a similar 2-storey house, before a heat pump can be fitted.  

Next month, we will be continuing to look at the efficiency of design, focusing in on gold standard for low energy standard,  Passivhaus and there is a version for the retrofit of existing buildings. 

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out; ruairi@retrofurb.ie.  

I first met Paul in May of 2024, when I completed a home energy assessment for him under the SEAI One Stop Shop Scheme. At this point, his plan was to apply for the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the SEAI OSS grants. 

Paul first came across the property in August 2023 while looking for a new home for himself and his two children, around Clonakilty. At the time, he wasn’t aware of the vacant property grant but discovered it later while researching for the project. Interestingly, when the property went on the market first, it wouldn’t have been eligible for the vacant property grant, as it was only empty for about 18 months. The slow property sale process in Ireland meant that by the time Paul got the keys in January 2024 it was, over the two years, eligible to apply for the grant. 

Once Paul had taken possession of the property, he started looking at what was required for the grant application.  From his experience, he said “the key thing here is to spend time doing your research and make sure you fully understand what is required.” Cork County Council have a vacant property booklet on their website that you can downland which explains it all clearly. After reading through this, Paul established that the first thing he would need to do, was to prove that the property was vacant for two years. He found the easiest way to do this was to contact the ESB, who supplied him with a letter stating that the energy use in the past two years was low enough to confirm the property had been empty during this period. Once this stumbling block was passed, the next thing was to get quotes together for all the work. Before Paul started this process, he first did some strip out and demolition work on the house himself. He said he did this for two reasons: One, to save some money, but also to discover any potential issues before the main works started. This meant that all the contractors who followed had a clear picture of the work they were pricing for, and this greatly reduced the risk of extras or unwanted surprises further down the line. This was the stage that the work in his house was at when I met Paul at the property last May. 

Paul then got together all his quotes and pointed out a few important things to consider at this stage. First of all, you can only claim for work completed after your application is approved. Paul completed some demolition and ground works before applying, which will not be eligible for any grant funding. You need to work with registered builders and any contractors you use have to have the necessary tax clearance. You can claim for materials used for work completed yourself, but not your time. Paul planned to do the decorating himself so filled an online shopping basket at a hardware store with all the materials he would need, as a quotation for this section. The final point is to make sure the amounts you are claiming for, do not exceed the maximum allowable amounts in each of the categories the council has set. The quotes you submit need to follow the same format as the council categories. There are a few exclusions too; for example, the  grant will cover a new kitchen but not appliances, so if you have a quote for both, this needs to be separated out for the application. Likewise, timber flooring is covered but not carpets. 

Paul also applied for an SEAI home upgrade grant working with a local One Stop Shop, (OSS) Insulex. The upgrades I agreed with Paul for this section of the work included; external wall insulation, triple glazed windows and doors, insulating all the roofs, mechanical ventilation along with an air-to-water heat pump including new radiators. This list attracted about €30,000 in additional SEAI grants. 

Be aware that though you can apply for both, the vacant property grant and the OSS grants, you can’t claim for the same  items under both schemes. For example, if your windows are estimated to cost €10,000, you can get a €4,000 grant under the OSS scheme, but you can’t claim the remaining €6,000 under the vacant grant. The list of items under each scheme needs to be distinctly separated. Paul made this very clear with his application and included a separate quotation for the OSS work as well as the work  he was applying for under the vacant grant. 

Getting all the paperwork together and filing in all the forms takes time and it is important to get this right. Paul reckons he spent about a week preparing the application. Incorrectly submitted information will only get sent back delaying your application. As Senior Lecturer in Clean Energy at UCC, Paul is reasonably familiar with government forms and said he finds that the key is to read all the documentation very carefully and then submit exactly what is asked for, no more or no less. 

Once the application was submitted, a council engineer came to inspect quite quickly, then it was about another four weeks or so before an approval letter was received. Following that, Paul pushed ahead with the work, starting in earnest in  September and moving in for Christmas!  

I visited Paul again in December last year when the project was nearing completion to do a final BER and verify the energy upgrade side of things for Insulex to claim back his OSS grants. When I spoke with Paul again last week, he was just in the process of getting everything together to claim back the vacant property grant. He has now completed the first step, which was to notify the council that he is finished. Then, they provided a list of all the documentation that is required for the grant payment;  invoices and proof of payment, tax clearance for all parties involved in the project, proof of ownership, proof that you have paid your property tax, a nominated  solicitor who will provide a folio map and there is a claw back agreement you need to sign. Paul got his solicitor to review this: basically, if you sell the property within 10 years, you will need to pay back some part of the grant. 

Paul mentioned two main shortcomings that he sees with the scheme;  the lack of clarity on how the final payment is calculated and the need to fund the grant out of your own pocket until you are repaid by the council, in his case with a bridging loan. On the final payment, Paul has heard that it is very unusual to get the full amount paid back, which was a surprise to me. The council will pay for the value of the work completed, not necessarily what it costs you. Further clarity on how this is assessed is certainly needed. Paul is hoping for at least €45,000 of the €50,000 but he has yet to submit all his final paperwork and find out. 

Talking of project costs, assuming Paul receives in the region of €45,000 for the vacant grant, he will be left with just under €50,000 to pay himself. He has also had an SEAI OSS grant of just over €30,000. So the total project cost is in the region of €130,000. Now, it is worth pointing out that Paul has done a portion of the work himself, which helped to keep costs down. The property is also relatively small and it was quite a straightforward project. Still, that is amazing value to take a G-rated dilapidated property to an A2-rated cosy and fully-renovated home. 

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out: email ruairi@retrofurb.ie.  

As  part of the government’s ‘Housing For All’ plan, in July 2022 the Vacant Property Refurbishment grant was launched, aiming to enable ordinary people to bring vacant properties back into use as homes. After a slow initial take up, the remit of the scheme was expanded and the grant increased in May 2023. The grants are administered by the relevant local authorities, Cork County Council for most of us, and offer up to €50,000 to refurbish a vacant property with an additional €20,000 available for derelict properties. Though the scheme was slow to take off, it is picking up now and I have seen more clients applying for it in the last 12 months. So how exactly does it work?

In order to qualify for the grant, the property must have been vacant for at least two years, built before 2008, and you must own or be in the process of buying it. Once the work is completed you must live in the property or make it available for rent. You also need to have tax clearance from revenue (have your tax affairs in order), local property tax must be paid and the scheme is not open to limited companies or developers. Additionally, to qualify for the extra €20,000 for a derelict property,  you will require an Engineer’s report to confirm that it is derelict.

The grant can cover a wide range of building work including; demolition, structure, sub structure, roofing, window and doors, internal finishing, decoration and even extensions. It is not limited to residential buildings and can be used towards converting a commercial property. There are set maximum amounts that can be applied for in each category of building work, though with the current cost of construction, making up the €50.000 or €70,000 wouldn’t be difficult in most cases.  As long you keep the relevant receipts and invoices, you can spend the money as you wish, using a main contractor for the whole project, individual sub contractors, or just buying the materials and doing most of the work yourself (in this case you cannot claim for your own labour). 

One of the main shortcomings I see in the scheme, is that you need to complete the work before you can claim the grant back. So you either need to front the grant money out of your own pocket, which will be difficult for many people, or apply for a temporary bridging loan. There is a Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Loan, a government backed mortgage, which aims to address this issue, with interest rates  between 3.5-4 per cent. 

If you wish to apply for the grant, you will first need  to complete a standard form and apply to your relevant local authority. They are also available over the phone for initial inquiries. There is a list of supporting documentation required, including proof that the property is vacant, proof of ownership or purchase, planning permission, (if required) and a detailed quote for the work. You also need to agree to a clawback clause to repay the grant if you sell within 10 years. You can apply for the grant up to twice: once for a property to live in and once for one to rent out. 

The local authority will, then, review your application and arrange an inspection of the building. Once approved, you have 13 months to complete the work. When the work is completed, you need to submit all invoices and receipts for the work, and then there is a final inspection. In most cases, you will also need a post work Building Energy Rating, (BER) for building regulation compliance. Once the local authority is satisfied with the work, they will ask you to sign a charge document agreeing to repay the grant if you sell in less than 10 years. Then, the grant is repaid. I have heard many stories of delays with this payment, taking months to come through, but I think that in reality this is often due to incomplete information in the final paperwork submission to claim the grant, for example missing invoices. Provided everything is in order, then payment should come through in around four weeks after signing the charge document. 

The vacant and derelict property grants can be used in conjunction with any of the SEAI home energy upgrade grants, as long as you are not claiming a grant on the same item twice. For example, if you can spend the €70,000 derelict and vacant property on items like structural work, roofing, electric, fittings and finishes and decorations, you could then apply for another €30,000 or so from SEAI for your insulation, window, doors and heat pump via the One Stop Shop or Community Energy  grants. I have completed a number of home energy assessments for clients who plan to apply for both and in fact have had two enquiries this week from people who have applied for the vacant property grant but did not realise they could also get SEAI grants. Combining the vacant derelict and SEAI One Stop Shop or Community Energy  grants could give an additional €33,400, totalling to €103,400 in grants. This is quite an attractive proposition. 

Tune in next month for a case study of a retrofit project that received both the vacant property grant and SEAI One Stop Shops Grant. 

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out;  ruairi@retrofurb.ie.  

A key part of any retrofit is reducing drafts, whether this is targeted specifically or a bi-product of insulation upgrades. It is important to distinguish between draughts and ventilation; draughts are unwanted air leakage and heat loss through the building fabric, for example around loft hatches, windows, doors, through holes and cracks, and so on. Ventilation is the removal of stale air from daily living, cooking, showering and so on, providing fresh air for us to breathe.

I come across lots of different ventilation setups and issues in my work. For example, in an old draughty property there might not be the need for any formal ventilation, as there is enough wind blowing through all the cracks and holes – so that stale air is removed and fresh air provided – albeit in a very uncontrolled way with a lot of heat loss. I have also seen plenty of cases of properties that may have had some insulation upgrades completed already, where the lack of formal ventilation has led to various issues like mould on the bathroom ceiling. In all cases, when upgrading the insulation, ventilation needs to be considered too. 

So what are the options for ventilation?

Natural ventilation: The home is ventilated through  a combination of air leakage and opening windows to remove stale air and provide fresh air. Though it would not meet new building regulations, this type of ventilation is common in older homes. The ventilation rate is difficult to control and relies heavily on the residents to open and close windows. It tends to result in under-ventilation in the winter months, when people are less inclined to open the windows. I wouldn’t recommend this in a home where any effort has been made to reduce draughts. 

Intermittent extract fans: This system uses intermittent extract fans to remove stale air from the wet rooms, often set to run for 30 minutes when a light is turned in the bathroom, for example. If fresh air is planned for in this kind of system, it can be through trickle vents in the windows or through wall vents. Though often there may be no formal allowance for air supply. These systems work reasonably well in medium draughty buildings but can lead to over or under ventilation. As draughts are reduced, they are often inadequate. 

Centralised extract ventilation  systems: There are some variations to these systems but the general principle is that you extract stale air continuously at a low rate. This is done via a central extract fan for the whole house which has ducting, (pipes) to extract points in all the wet rooms. Air intake is normally via trickle vents in the windows or through wall vents. This is referred to as mechanical extract ventilation or MEV. Demand control ventilation, (DCV) is very similar to MEV but can be boosted by certain triggers such as when humidity reaches a certain level in the room, hence the term demand control. These kind of systems can also use humidity-sensitive inlet vents through the walls or windows for air supply, only opening when fresh air is required. Some single room extract fans now also offer the same function, which can be handy in situations where routing ducting to a central location will be difficult.  MEV or DCV is great for a retrofit where draughts are being reduced significantly and would be my choice on most projects. They are also useful where there is an existing problem with high levels of humidity, condensation or mould. The fans are extremely efficient to run and usually cost less than €20 a year to run in electricity. A small price to pay for indoor air quality. 

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, (MVHR): This is the gold standard for ventilation, which originates from the German Passivhaus low energy building standard. The system comprises a centralised heat recovery unit with ducting to extract air from the wet rooms, as an MEV or DCV system would. The difference is that when this air is extracted, it is passed through a heat exchanger in the heat recovery unit before being dumped outside.  This heat is then used to pre-heat incoming filtered fresh air, which is supplied to bedrooms and living rooms through a separate set of ducts. Heat recovery with a system like this can be up to 90 per cent. These kind of systems are more complex and expensive to install, particular in a retrofit where duct routes need to be found around the existing building structure to each room in the house. They are most effective in buildings, which have been made specifically airtight with very few draughts, to maximise the efficiency of the unit and balance the cost of the electricity to run the fans, (around €50 a year). The main situations where I would recommend MVHR are; on a deep retrofit and renovation project where the whole house is being stripped back inside and there is the opportunity to route the ductwork or in an airtight single storey bungalow where all the ducting may be able to pass through the attic.

If you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out;  ruairi@retrofurb.ie. 

Last month we covered the basics of insulating your home and the low hanging fruit that can be tackled relatively easily; insulating your attic, pumping cavity walls and draught-proofing.  However, we are not all fortunate enough to live in homes that are that easy to upgrade. On my trips around West Cork, I come across a wide range of house types and hard-to-treat elements such as solid stone walls, sloping ceilings and flat roofs. These all need more specialist attention to upgrade their insulation. 

Older properties, pre-1930s (but sometimes as recent as 1960s) are likely to have solid walls of some kind, for example stone in older farmhouse and cottages. Another form of solid wall is hollow block, which was quite popular between 1950 and 1970 and there are a few other types in between. These walls can only be upgraded with insulation externally or internally, as there is no suitable cavity to fill. External insulation involves fixing about 100mm of polystyrene or mineral insulation boards to the outside of the walls and then applying a thorough colour render finish on top. It is a very effective way to upgrade solid walls, effectively wrapping the house in insulation, like a tea cosy and keeping the existing walls warm and dry. As the insulation is added outside there is minimal disruption; all the work is completed outside, though it is important that all the junctions are dealt with properly; where the insulation meets the roof, ground and windows/doors. If possible it’s good to combine this with a window upgrade, to avoid disturbing the insulation when fitting windows at a later date and ensure thermal continuity. This is a bigger and more expensive job that needs reasonable weather, so it’s one to plan for next spring.

In situations where external wall insulation might not be possible, for example where the external appearance of the building needs to be retained, or the work is being completed in stages, room by room, over a number of years, internal wall insulation might be more suitable. The idea is similar but the insulation is added to the inside, usually some form of foam insulation laminated to plasterboard (often referred to as an insulated slab). Breathable natural materials like wood-fibre boards may be more suitable when working with old stone walls. Internal wall insulation is obviously more disruptive, as the work is completed on the inside and anything that is fixed to the external walls needs to be removed and refitted; radiators, sockets and switches, sometimes kitchens and bathroom fittings. There is also a loss of floor space due to the depth of the insulation, about 70-100mm. 

The main advantage of internal insulation is that it can be completed room by room, as you do redecorations or other work in the house, over a number of years. This is the approach we have taken in our home, doing it all externally in one go was too big and expensive a job. We did the bathroom when we refurbished it during Covid, then my study, and last year the kitchen and dining area. Even though we are only half way through the insulation of the walls, you can notice a big difference in the rooms that have been done. 

SEAI offer individual grants up to €8,000 towards external and €4,500 for internal insulation, (detached house). 

Moving on to roofs, as we discussed last month, attic spaces are relatively straightforward to upgrade. However many houses will also have some areas of sloping ceilings or flat roofs, a small flat-roofed rear extension for example, or the strip of roof that cuts into the bedrooms upstairs in farmhouses, creating a small area of sloping ceiling.

With sloping ceilings, usually there is very little space to fill with insulation, as you will be limited by the depth of the existing rafters. The best way to upgrade these roofs is to remove the plasterboard linings from below (and usually any existing insulation). Then insulate between and under the rafters with a high performance foam insulation board. It is important when fitting the insulation between the rafters to maintain a ventilated void behind the insulation, to ensure any moisture present is taken away, avoiding damage to the roof timbers. Often old roofs may not have been constructed with this void to begin with; I regularly see glass fibre insulation filling the full depth of the rafter, which can cause problems, particularly when additional insulation is added below. Hence the recommendation to remove everything from below and start again. If you have knee walls – the low timber stud walls typically found around the edge of a dormer bungalow for example – these can be upgraded in a similar way.  

There is no individual SEAI grant towards sloping ceiling insulation, but €3,000 is potentially available through the One Stop Shop scheme as part of a whole house upgrade. 

The same principles can be applied to flat roofs if there is sufficient ceiling height below for the additional insulation. But it often makes more sense  to insulate on top of the flat roof structure. This is referred to as a ‘warm roof’ and would be combined with adding new waterproofing layer, (asphalt, fibreglass or rubber) on top. Sloping ceilings can be insulated from above too, but it only makes sense if you are re-roofing the house anyway, as all the slates or tiles would need to come off.  

Though it’s probably a step too far for most people, let’s talk briefly about floor insulation. This is probably the most disruptive retrofit measure, so I would only recommend it as part of a deep retrofit project, maybe a derelict/vacant property upgrade or in conjunction with other renovation or repair works that necessitate lifting the floor. It is also worth mentioning that heat loss through the floor is less than the walls and roofs, as the ground below your house stays a little warmer than outside air. So you can achieve a warm well-insulated home without necessarily tackling the floor. 

If you are going to tackle floor insulation the first thing to check is the type of ground floor you have. Is it suspended with timber flooring on joists over a void or solid concrete? The latter is probably more likely and will need to be broken and dug out to add a new slab, damp proof membrane, about 150mm of rigid foam insulation and a screed on top. Other than the additional insulation, another advantage of a new insulated floor slab is the opportunity to add underfloor heating. Suspended floors are a little easier, as you could just remove the boards and fit insulation between the joists before refitting a floor finish on top. 

Likewise there is no individual SEAI grant towards floor insulation, but €3,500 is available through the One Stop Shop scheme as part of a whole house upgrade. 

We are looking for people of West Cork who would like to share their retrofit journey, particularly experiences with the derelict homes grant. Feel free to get in touch with ruairi@retrofurb.ie if you are interested in contributing.