Tobibi
2022-08-30 10:30:12
- #1
Hello,
I am currently trying to make a plan on how best to proceed to better insulate our house. I hope I can write everything down in an organized way so that one or the other might give me tips who might take a different approach.
So, we bought a large house from 1982, about 200 sqm of living space. About 6 years old heat pump for heating and hot water, a small wood stove in the living room. Underfloor heating on the ground floor and first floor, radiators in 3 basement rooms and in a finished room above the garage, which have a separate heating circuit with a separate supply temperature and are only used very little, basically not at all in the basement.
In the first floor, a few years ago the previous owner opened the ceiling of the large bedroom so that a high room up to the attic was created. The roof was insulated here, but I have no documents on how well. The rest of the house is in its original state, basically uninsulated.
Walls are brick on brick. Wooden windows double-glazed. Many windows and the front door don’t close well so that at some windows a noticeable draft is present. The uppermost floor ceiling is not a concrete ceiling but a beam ceiling, boarded with drywall underneath towards the first floor, boards on top, with rockwool (?) stuffed between the beams.
We have a 9 kWp photovoltaic system with a battery that the previous owner also installed. As it is currently all connected, the electricity from the photovoltaic system cannot be used for the heat pump, only for other household electricity. There is a separate meter with a heating electricity contract. Surplus is fed into the grid.
I recently received the bill for the heating electricity; from March 21 to March 22, so a full year, we used about 12,500 kWh for heating and hot water, which I already find very much. Therefore, I definitely want to do something because electricity prices are currently also rising extremely. I am not an experienced handyman myself, but I am good as an assistant and have both a very helpful father and father-in-law who know a lot. Some things can therefore be done ourselves, but it is always a question of time.
A no-brainer would probably be to replace the seals on the windows and adjust them so that they close tightly again. I am already in contact with a company for that.
Next, I thought about insulating the roller shutter boxes. I would probably also have that done by a company.
I am considering insulating the basement ceiling with boards that you glue or bolt on. If there are instructions for this, we would rather do it ourselves. Or rather the insulation of the uppermost floor ceiling or insulation between rafters? Or both? Probably not at the same time, one this year and one in 1 or 2 years. What is the more sensible order?
Is it sensible to convert the photovoltaic system so that the electricity can be used for the heat pump? I would have to have that done by an electrician, which costs. But then the electricity would be usable and only one basic fee. On the other hand, in winter the yield is not so good and then I would also no longer have a cheaper heat tariff. I once kept notes over a long period of generated / fed in / self-used / purchased electricity and basically came to the conclusion that the conversion is rather not worth it. But now electricity is becoming extremely more expensive.
Facade insulation and/or new windows are honestly too expensive for me at the moment. On the other hand, we would have to have the whole house painted outside next year or the year after. That also costs a few thousand if done by a company, so you would almost have to deduct this amount from the cost of the facade exterior insulation. But then both probably belong together, insulation and new windows, right? Only one is not sensible and possibly problematic due to dew point.
So, that turned out to be quite a long text. I hope it’s understandable. How would you proceed? If I forgot something, just ask. Maybe I will still add a supplement.
Best regards,
Tobi
I am currently trying to make a plan on how best to proceed to better insulate our house. I hope I can write everything down in an organized way so that one or the other might give me tips who might take a different approach.
So, we bought a large house from 1982, about 200 sqm of living space. About 6 years old heat pump for heating and hot water, a small wood stove in the living room. Underfloor heating on the ground floor and first floor, radiators in 3 basement rooms and in a finished room above the garage, which have a separate heating circuit with a separate supply temperature and are only used very little, basically not at all in the basement.
In the first floor, a few years ago the previous owner opened the ceiling of the large bedroom so that a high room up to the attic was created. The roof was insulated here, but I have no documents on how well. The rest of the house is in its original state, basically uninsulated.
Walls are brick on brick. Wooden windows double-glazed. Many windows and the front door don’t close well so that at some windows a noticeable draft is present. The uppermost floor ceiling is not a concrete ceiling but a beam ceiling, boarded with drywall underneath towards the first floor, boards on top, with rockwool (?) stuffed between the beams.
We have a 9 kWp photovoltaic system with a battery that the previous owner also installed. As it is currently all connected, the electricity from the photovoltaic system cannot be used for the heat pump, only for other household electricity. There is a separate meter with a heating electricity contract. Surplus is fed into the grid.
I recently received the bill for the heating electricity; from March 21 to March 22, so a full year, we used about 12,500 kWh for heating and hot water, which I already find very much. Therefore, I definitely want to do something because electricity prices are currently also rising extremely. I am not an experienced handyman myself, but I am good as an assistant and have both a very helpful father and father-in-law who know a lot. Some things can therefore be done ourselves, but it is always a question of time.
A no-brainer would probably be to replace the seals on the windows and adjust them so that they close tightly again. I am already in contact with a company for that.
Next, I thought about insulating the roller shutter boxes. I would probably also have that done by a company.
I am considering insulating the basement ceiling with boards that you glue or bolt on. If there are instructions for this, we would rather do it ourselves. Or rather the insulation of the uppermost floor ceiling or insulation between rafters? Or both? Probably not at the same time, one this year and one in 1 or 2 years. What is the more sensible order?
Is it sensible to convert the photovoltaic system so that the electricity can be used for the heat pump? I would have to have that done by an electrician, which costs. But then the electricity would be usable and only one basic fee. On the other hand, in winter the yield is not so good and then I would also no longer have a cheaper heat tariff. I once kept notes over a long period of generated / fed in / self-used / purchased electricity and basically came to the conclusion that the conversion is rather not worth it. But now electricity is becoming extremely more expensive.
Facade insulation and/or new windows are honestly too expensive for me at the moment. On the other hand, we would have to have the whole house painted outside next year or the year after. That also costs a few thousand if done by a company, so you would almost have to deduct this amount from the cost of the facade exterior insulation. But then both probably belong together, insulation and new windows, right? Only one is not sensible and possibly problematic due to dew point.
So, that turned out to be quite a long text. I hope it’s understandable. How would you proceed? If I forgot something, just ask. Maybe I will still add a supplement.
Best regards,
Tobi