Live webchat with domestic energy expert Charlotte Lawrance, Mon 12 January, 1-2pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

Charlotte's visiting MN to answer your questions about how to save money on your home's energy bills. As usual, if you can't make the chat but have questions you'd like to ask, please post them here. Charlotte has two children under six and a third on the way, plus four dogs, so she'll need a cup of tea and a sit down! Join us on Monday.

Wilfself with regards to your final question about guilt and more children dogs etc I try and reduce my energy consumption ? partly due to the affect it has on the world and partly due to the cost. I don?t feel guilty about the fact I have children and four dogs because I feel it all balances out.

Would an assessment by a DEA include advice on e.g. local council grants for help with insulation stuff etc?

Hi Olivia a proper DEA should not recommend individual companies. The Energy Performance Certificate does not, at this time, include advice on grants so it is always worth asking your Local Council for advice on what grants are available - and be persistant! My mother in law lives in a LA house and I did an EPC for her last year, because she is a pensioner and on low income the Local Authority have come round and increased the insulation within the loft as well as putting cavity wall insulation in.

So if you ever get stuck for something to get older relatives for a present (who are often very worried re the size of their pension and heating costs) get them an EPC.

I like the idea of giving one as a prezzie. Is it the kind of thing that would "pay for itself" once you'd worked out where you were losing money?

What exactly is involved in an assessment? What do you look at? I only ask because we had a stuctural survey done for our remortgage and the surveyor was here for less than 15 mins

What sort of things do you look at?

thanks for your response, i will definitely look into get an assessment - does it look at electricity consumption?

Champangesupernova - hate to say it but a full structural survey by a RICS surveyor should take ALOT longer than 15 minutes!

When I assess a property the first things I look at is the external parts - is it house/flat etc, mid terrace or semi, type of brickwork and approximate age of the property. A DEA should also take a few photos at this point (for when they get audited by their accreditation body).

Once in the property I am looking to see if there is internal insulation on solid walls, type of boiler, lighting, if there are any fires or additional heat sources such as storage heaters etc. I will also be checking the flooring - is it solid or suspended timber etc? I do admittedly count the lightbulbs that particular myth about DEAs is true! and the windows (double or secondary glazing or single?). Are there TRVs on the radiators and is there a hot water cylinder?

I then have to look in the loft to see how much insulation is fitted.

DEAs do not look at anything such as white goods - the assessment is purely based upon the fixed fittings so thermal curtains don't count.

Once I have gathered that information and taken measurements of the original property + any extensions it is time for me to upload all the information onto my computer.

I personally normally send a pdf of the EPC within 24hours to the client and am then available for any questions after that.

Charlotte
Not sure if you saw this one from Wilfself, am flagging in case you didn't:

How can I tell if my walls are suitable for cavity insulation? How to find a reputable supplier? The various websites run by Energy bods are impenetrable and seem just to be advertising portals. Local authority no help either. VERY difficult to find out good information about whether to buy loose bead, fibre, the stuff that is sprayed with glue and what to ask of installers.

trinanz - it will look at how to save you money and lower your energy costs (ie your carbon footprint and energy consumption) so it won't tell you to switch energy providers but it will provide you with professional advice on how and where you can save money within your home.

Hi OliviaMumsnet - I had answered it further up the pages but have reposted it here so that it is easier to find.

Wilfsell, your house has to be constructed in cavity bond to be suitable for cavity insulation. That depends on the age of the property. There is an easy way to tell if your property has been built of cavity bond construction and that is the way the bricks are facing ? have you just got a row of stretchers? Or is there a ?pattern? ie stretcher, header x 10 etc. If it is just stretchers than it should be cavity wall and therefore suitable for insulation. I would, personally, ring your local council and see if there are any grants available and they then may recommend a particular company to use.

Good to know what's involved, thanks Charlotte.

What's a TRV??

Thermostatic radiator valve - well worth having even if you have an older boiler as it gets you better results on an EPC and enables you to lower the tempreture in specific rooms (great if you have a room that hardly ever gets used) without having to touch your room stat.

Charlotte - I know you're running out of time, but before you go please can you advise me on how best to insulate a cellar?

Loft is done but cellar is FREEZING and chills the whole ground floor and the staircase above it {BRR}

Thanks

is the cellar in use? If you have a cellar I am assuming you have suspended timber floors for the ground floor (above the cellar) and I would highly recommend insulating the floor to save heat that way.

With regards to actually insulating the cellar it is always going to be tricky as too much heat retention given the issues of damp within cellar even when unused and it may well cause additional problems.

I think we'll have to do more via the floor then.

Just time to say a huge thank you to Charlotte for answering all of our questions and wish her best of luck with the impending arrival .

Thank you Olivia - was very nervous but its been fun.

I hope everyone feels I answered their questions properly and that I explained the process of a EPC well.

A good link for anyone looking for a DEA is www.communities.gov.uk/epbd.

I, personally, cover the Leicestershire and Warwickshire area so if I can do anything to help please let me know - [email protected].

Bye

If you're looking for more information, have a look here

On behalf of all those working people that can't be here at designated time.. I am a bit that my questions didn't get a look in.

nor did mine.

mine didn't get answered either, actually robinpud, i thought your questions were really interesting, would have really liked to have had some answers to those.

i just googled my question to see if i could get an answer about cavity wall insulation and one of the top links is to this thread

Hi Robinpud and Ilovetochat

Just posting to say sorry that your questions weren't answered. When doing webchats, we do have limited time available.

Charlotte did her best but it's likely that she didn't have the relevant answer to your questions;as some of the questions did not come under the expertise of a Domestic Energy Assessor.

Thanks
MN Towers

i understand but it's a shame as it is a sublect i am struggling to research myself.
thanks anyway.

Canwe find someone who can answer this type of questions then.. a domestic energy use adviser pleeease?

Hi Robinpud - we'll look into this.

In the meantime, anyone looking for more info can also look here: -www.direct.gov.uk/epc
M Towers

thank you