Deep Retrofit: everything you need to know about upgrading your home

Introduction/Context/Background:

Living sustainably is not an unfamiliar term for many people nowadays. The definition, in a nutshell, means lessening the burden you place on the environment.

It can be reflected upon many aspects in everyone's life from things like using reusable coffee cups and reducing plastic packaging in stores. However, one of the most important and impactful ways to live more sustainably is to upgrade your home.

Making changes to your home can significantly reducing the carbon footprint of your entire household/family. The most comprehensive and effective way for such changes is what's called a 'deep retrofit'.

Read through the following passages to understand everything you need to know about a deep house retrofit.

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Deep Retrofitting Measures:

Deep retrofitting is usually done with the view to cut down the house’s emissions and lower the monthly energy costs. Typical measures include:

1) Insulation - the most common method

Insulation is the way to prevent heat from escaping. It includes floors, roof, windows and attic insulation.

2) Air sealing

Ai sealing to make the house airtight is a solid energy efficiency measure. It will stop the house from leaking air.

3) Ventilation

Ventilation can involve radiator resizing, solar energy implementation, heating system improvements and so on.

4) Combining methods above:

Combining a number of methods into making the house more energy efficient is the aim of a deep retrofit, as they will work in tandem to achieve maximum efficiency overall.

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Benefits of a deep retrofit

1) improved Energy Efficiency & low carbon footprint 

The efficiency of your house will be greatly improved when it comes to wasted energy, meaning your carbon footprint will be reduced as you’re no longer allowing it to escape unused.

2) improved indoors air quality

You’ll also notice improved air quality indoors which is beneficial to the health of your entire household.

3) money saving in the long run

In the long run, a deep retrofit will save you money in heating and electricity bills and also home repairs as the measures needed to make your house energy efficient also make your home more durable.

4) increased property value for selling

should you want to sell at some stage, an efficient energy house will significantly increase the value of the property.

5) Above all, improved quality of life

Cost of a deep retrofitting

The cost depends on a number of factors. Evaluations are typically done on a case by case basis.

On average, it costs around €50,000 to retrofit a house in Ireland.

In general, the cost factors are:

1) Age of the house

2) Size of the house

Similarly the size of the house plays a role in the cost, along with the frequency of use and the number of people living there.

SEAI has grants available to help cover significant portions of the costs needed for a deep retrofit project and we have compiled them all in one page. Access here.

To get a quick quote on what your project might cost and the finance options available, use our Cost Calculator here and browse our Finance section here.

You can also find and talk to experienced & certified Pros about your project here.

HouseBuild also has money-saving tips, energy efficiency upgrades Case Studies, which can all be viewed in our Inspiration section here.

At HouseBuild, we make your journey to a more energy efficient home easier than ever. For more information see here.