Carbon Neutral Guide for home owners

Making sensitive changes to your historic building

Buildings in poor repair perform less efficiently; good maintenance and repair should be the first action. If retrofit measures are considered, be aware that they may make a building less sustainable unless approached in a well-informed way. If you’d like to find out more a very comprehensive guide is available here https://www.cse.org.uk/downloads/reports-and-publications/energy-advice/insulation-and-heating/warmer_bath_june2011.pdf

Planning your project

Successful projects are usually achieved by careful planning. Understanding the options and how to achieve energy saving or generation sensitively is the key to helping save the planet while maintaining the character of your property. A really good starting point is the advice on Historic England’s website here https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/your-home/saving-energy/

Some measures can be done without having an impact on the character of your property. We would advise these are considered first but then we have also given advice about how measures that could have an impact on the character of your property can be brought in sensitively.

Measures to improve the energy efficiency of your property without changing the character

In the first instance there are lots of simple changes to how your property is performing that are not costly and can reduce your energy consumption and bills. This follows idea of the energy hierarchy of reduce, reuse and recycle. Historic England have listed quick fixes which will make a difference without changing the character of your home:

• Change how you use energy in your home

• Carry out basic maintenance - A faulty gutter or high external ground levels can lead to damp walls, which will then reduce their energy efficiency.

• Stopping draughts - Draughts can be a significant cause of heat loss as well as contributing to discomfort. Timber windows and doors can easily be draught-proofed as well as suspended timber floors and chimneys.

• Install or increase roof insulation - Roof insulation at ceiling level is a quick and cheap way of improving the energy efficiency of your home. Even if you have already had it installed it is worth checking to make sure its deep enough and there are no gaps at the edges.

• Upgrade heating systems and controls - Modern condensing boilers are much more energy efficient than boilers even 10 years ago. Use intelligent thermostats or thermostatic radiator valves to control the levels of heating in different rooms.

Government funded low carbon measures

Through the Green Homes Grant from the Government the following home improvements can be funded which have the potential to have an impact on the character and appearance of historic buildings:

• solid wall insulation (internal or external)

• cavity wall insulation

• under-floor insulation (solid floor, suspended floor)

• roof insulation

• windows and doors

  ·       double or triple glazing (where replacing single glazing)

  ·       secondary glazing (in addition to single glazing)

  ·       energy efficient replacement doors (replacing single glazed or solid doors installed before 2002)

• energy Microgeneration

Insulating your property

Historic England and Historic Environment Scotland have published extensive guidance about how to sensitively insulate your property

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/saving-energy-in-traditional-buildings/insulate-your-property/

Roofs, chimneys and flues:

Insulating pitched roofs at rafter level- warm roofs - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-pitched-roofs-rafter-level-warm-roofs/

Insulating pitched roofs at ceiling level-cold roofs - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-pitched-roofs-ceiling-level-cold-roofs/

Insulating flat roofs - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-flat-roofs/

Insulating thatched roofs - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-thatched-roofs/

Open fires, chimneys and flues - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-open-fires-chimneys-flues/

Walls:

·       Insulating timber-framed walls - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-timber-framed-walls/

·       Insulating solid walls - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-solid-walls/

·       Early cavity walls - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-early-cavity-walls/

Floors:

·       Insulating suspended timber floors - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulation-suspended-timber-floors/

·       Insulating solid ground floors - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-solid-ground-floors/

Changes to Windows and Doors

Windows are often a key part of the significance of a historic building but also one of the elements where most energy can escape from a building. The energy efficiency in historic buildings can be improved to a similar performance to double or triple glazed windows sensitively. The following Historic England and Historic Environment Scotland guidance lets you know how this can be achieved:

Historic England Guidance on Windows and Doors:

·       Insulating dormer windows - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulating-dormer-windows/

·       Draught-proofing windows and doors - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-draught-proofing-windows-doors/

·       Secondary glazing for windows - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-secondary-glazing-windows/

Historic Environment Scotland guidance - https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/saving-energy-in-traditional-buildings/sash-windows-how-to-reduce-heat-loss/

Energy Microgeneration

Historic England have lots of information about sensitively installing energy microgeneration technology in historic buildings here https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/your-home/saving-energy/generating-energy/

Flood adaptation and mitigation measures

Historic England Guidance on different measures to adapt to flooding and mitigate the effects in historic buildings can be found here https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/flooding-and-historic-buildings-2ednrev/heag017-flooding-and-historic-buildings/

Historic Environment Scotland expands on this guidance here

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/saving-energy-in-traditional-buildings/draught-proof-your-property/