Property energy efficiency

[RusBun]

We have been looking to buy a bungalow as the last home (well ahead). Can't afford a new one so have seen several older ones that we liked. One was build in the 30-s, one in the 70-s and one in the 90-s. Some have suspended floors and solid brick walls, some concrete floors and cavity walls, insulated or not. All of them have double glazing. Not bothered about roof insulation as this can be easily improved. Wondering how cold they get in winter and worried about the heating bill. Do you have experience of living in the properties of different eras and how cold they get?

I don't have experience of living in any bungalows, but what I would say is this: pull up the EPCs of all of them, look at 'current' and 'potential' ratings. Also look at the year they were created; the older the EPC, the less likely it is to give a higher potential because technologies have changed; a 9 yo epc is far less likely to reflect energy POTENTIAL than a 1 yo one. If you have money to spend, the potential rating is the most important.

To figure out the heating bill, take the KwH stated on the EPC and basically double or even triple it, because most of them are wildly inaccurate. So if it's fully electric with no gas, you'd take say 19,000 kwh per year with 0.33p per KwH for the current electric rate, plus the, what, 50p a day standing charge, add all that up, times it by two. Electric being three or four times more expensive than gas, I'd be very loathe to buy a property that only runs on electric. The Kwh is only for heating and HW btw; doesn't include cooking, washing, tumble drying, etc.

If the home is gas central heated, take your KwH and get the gas rates (I am not on gas, maybe 8p a kwh? check), that should be 3/4's of your bill, and the electric 1/4th. That's around the split homes have that are heated by gas. Remember you also have to add up a separate daily standing charge for gas too, if it has both utilities.

Bear in mind bungalows tend to have lower ceilings than houses thus get a lot less natural light, and because are also prone to damp and need more heat, you should err on the side of caution and overestimate how much you will need to heat it. I remember viewing a rental bungalow on a hot sunny day in May one year, it was really big and absolutely freezing cold.

Again, bungalow disclaimer: 1930s HOUSES are probably hard to retro insulate to an extent (at least the floors and walls), 1970s should be fine, and the build quality from 1990s onwards has frankly been so shoddy that I'd really have to be talked into buying any home from then onwards because the house itself is likely to be shit (poor quality of materials, sound insulation, I'm sure others will come along and fill anything I am missing in).

I'd be tempted to go to 70s over 30s because it's probably slightly cheaper to fix any damp issues due to the forty year age gap, but really, consult with a builder: the construction between the two property types could vary massively.

I hope that makes some sense.

NB: the amount the EPC quotes as the heating and hot water running costs could also be wildly out of date. That's why you have to look at the KwH and work it out yourself.

Thank you very much, what a comprehensive reply

My mum lives in a D-rated bungalow (EPC was done last week). It was rated an E when she moved in, but that was around 12 years ago. Bungalow was built in the 60’s.

No carpet - laminate throughout. Double-glazed. Roof insulation. She had cavity wall insulation done a few years ago. And upgraded her boiler to a combi boiler around 4 years ago.

Her place stays warm quite easily (I visit her more in the winter 🤣). I do her meter readings every month. She’s actually just had her DD debit lowered to £60 per month (for gas and electric) as she’s built up a decent amount of credit. She has a heated faux fur throw that she uses a fair bit through the winter.

There’s a lot of EPC C&D houses I have seen are all quite warm with reasonable heating bills 💵

EPC = meaningless 🙄

I'm renovating a 1930's bungalow currently. Staying there last winter I noticed that it cost more to keep warm than my Victorian mid-terrace house, but not to an excessive extent. My house has an EPC D rating so I suspect that the bungalow was a D or E.

I would recommend wall and floor insulation, which have been relatively easy to retro-fit, but it would be disruptive if you weren't doing a total refurb. I've been told that the floor insulation especially makes a huge difference, and I expect the property to achieve at least a C rating after completion of the works.

EPCs can be very subjective, we are looking at 2 terraced houses, same street, identical in all respects but why is 1 just inside a C and the other an E ? (both EPCs done by different people, approx 12months apart) with neither having under floor or cavity wall insulation, which when retrofitted - can often cause damp issues.

We saw the EPC on another property, so many assumptions made "Doesn't appear to have cavity wall insulation or under floor" & "flat roof not insulated" i mean how the heck did he know??? (turned out the flat roof was, when a light fitting was removed)

The costs to bring a E or even a D up to a C can be astronomical too, as too how warm it is or how much to heat, depends on the individual surely.

The BBC's R4 recently did an investigation into the EPC rating system and how it is also open to corruption.

Do you remember any more details about the BBC programme please? I can’t seem to find it.

@KievLoverTwo it was on their lunch news program, last week i think, they were reporting on a investigation done by an energy conservation company.... but a quick google shows a few other organisations have done similar things and came up with the same conclusions.