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Hiya folks, I have been looking at the solar technologies and how they are improving for a project at work. It lead me to think, how much would it cost to add some sustainability power generation to my terrace. Unfortunately it faces east west but according to a specialist I saw today you don't need direct sunlight any more just UV radiation. . . they are coming back on tuesday to discuss the work project and I am going to collar them and get them to assess my house at the same time.

What do you suggest as improvements to the house?

We have done the following:
1 - Insulated the loft with 300mm of insulation
2 - double glazing throughout
3 - efficient boiler

I can think of the following improvements:
1 - Solar water heating (might have to change the boiler though which sounds very expensive)
2 - Electricity generation
3 - Insulate the rear walls (external insulated render system?)

Does anyone have any idea of costs of any of the above or any grants that are available?

This news story shows that the UK government is not that committed to sustainable energy generation. Someone was telling me that in Germany the national grid buys your electricity during the day for 10p a unit and then you can buy it back in the evening at 5p per unit. If the sun is still shining when you are home in the evening then you could still be earning 5p a unit!

By number 3 do you mean cavity walls?

If you do, about £300 for a terrace I would imagine depending on who you go to. You're not over 70 like my gran so tough shit. Make sure you cover up any gaps as the stuff leaks through like the SF B-Movie 'The Blob'.

OR do you mean the complete rendering process?

Don't know for a terrace, a semi is bloody expensive for what it is and the bloke who came round to offer me a quote was a complete cowboy so be careful. I personally will end up going for just cavity walls. Rendering may look great and you can get a grant somehow - speak to Rowenna's Uncle Ian at my wedding as he somehow got a contributional grant for his (It may have been his loft though).

Well it would be rather pointless going for cavity wall insulation when I don't have any cavities in my walls! The terrace I live in is about 105 years old and cavity style construction only really became popular in the 1930's - 40's. I know I am such a construction Geek!

You could add some rainwater harvesting, for the toilet flushes.

The alternative to an external render system would be an insulated drylining system, that would not affect you exterior period look but would knock off valuable floor space. We are lucky, although our house is from around 1900-1910 I am pretty sure we cavity walls, either that or they are un-feasably thick. I have surveyed them at around 400mm. As we are eligible for an energy grant, I will find out either way fo sure before winter, when julia gets round to claiming it.

Oh yeah, turn the heating down a notch and wear a sweater in winter.

The Walls could just be that thick! I think the cavities were invented as a way to save money on tonnes of building materials. The only way to know for sure would be to do an invasive test, yes that does mean knocking a big hole in your wall.

We were able to knock the heating down a notch following the loft insulation installation. I was very impressed!

Having drilled thru into the cavity of the wall that forms our party wall I am reasonably confident that I have a cavity. As I said when we get em round to insult my house I will find out for sure.

I thought the party walls were different! I could be very wrong though. Let us know when the specialists come round.

I don't trust em anyway. When they came to insulate my old house they said I didn't have a cavity but when I drilled through the front wall to fit the alarm box guess what I found.. A cavity! and that one was 102 yrs old. Also the purchasers negotiated money off asking price for cavity wall ties, after a specialist survey. I have seen numerous terraces in our area having the outer leaf of brickwork replaced following cavity wall tie failure.

Our first house was an end terraced in Leigh and that had just had the end wall rebuilt before we bought it. Apparently it had been bowing outwards for years.

Anyway, the build date was just prior to 1900 and it had cavity walls. It's still there, just where we left it when we moved to Tyldesley.

In that case I stand corrected. . . not so much of a construction geek as I thought!

I've no idea whether the new flat has a cavity or not, all I do know is that the walls are effing solid! Decent plaster as well...hopefully that plus the double glazing will mean that I don't have to keep the heating very high over the winter.

I forgot to ask. Are you top, bottom or mid flat? If you are mid they rock on, the heating bills will be TINY!

Bottom unfortunately...flat seems pretty warm though and the windows are well fitted. I may have to fit a draught excluder on the door to the flat though as there is a bit of a gap!

Bex and I once lived in the coldest flat in the world.
Ground floor. End Terrace. North facing. Draughty-thru door and... Single glazing. Stone walls (with no insulation). Only 3 small storage heaters in the 2bed flat.
I got up in winter to find that, not only had the beer I left on the worksurface frozen. So had the washing up liquid!

We'll NEVER make that kind of mistake again.
p