Guide to future building regulations

[John Rumm]

I presume he means that if you can get a grant to have cavity wall insulation done, then you ought to be able to get a grant to insulate a solid walled property.

[John Rumm]

You can see the peddlers of marginal technologies are going to be rubbing their hands with glee here. Many people in your situation will be forced to spend money on anything even mildly "energy saving" so as to be able to complete their plans.

Perhaps they will come up with some "offset" or "carbon credits" scheme. Where in order to let you build an extension, you have to pay for cavity wall insulation for the house over the road!

[Simon]

Yep, thats about the size of it. Simon.

[Fredxx]

>>>>>>>>> If they want more efficient houses, just tax heating fuels and

The poor will always pay a higher proportion of tax than the rich. The poor also spend more money per head on cigarettes and subscription TV than the rich. It doesn't stop them smoking or watching Sky Sports.

The emphasis would be to reassign taxes to encourage energy efficiency rather than ad hoc taxes, such as 50p per month on your landline.

Don't poor people have smaller houses and consequently have lower heating bills? So all in all a very proportionate tax.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I did a glass panal above the front door with cling-film type double glazing 23 years ago, and it's still in place, and in perfect condition. I think that means it's lasted longer than much "proper" double glazing.

[Andrew Gabriel]

This was the case when proposed - don't know it it's changed. It means anyone thinking of extending should probably avoid doing anything relating to energy efficiency improvements before starting on the extension, a thought which has crossed my mind a number of times, and typical of the very poor quality regulation which has been churned out for many years now.

[John Stumbles]

Ah but smaller houses have higher heat losses in proportion to their sizes!

[The Medway Handyman]

No doubt you can provide statistics to back up this claim - or have you OD'd on the Daily Mail?

[Simon]

The poor spend a higher amount per head on the lottery ! Simon.

[Owain]

Can't remember who said it, but the lottery is the fairest form of taxation as it's entirely voluntary

Owain

[Hugo Nebula]

On Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:22:40 +0100, a certain chimpanzee, Steve Walker randomly hit a keyboard and produced:

If the regulations for non-domestic work is anything to go by, there will be a proviso that the improvements only have to amount to 10% of the cost of the building work, and nothing can be required that is not technically, functionally or economically feasible.

In other words, you'll only be required to carry out improvements that will save more than they cost over 15 years*, or don't lead to unacceptable loss of floor area or other technical problems. If you've already done the 'easy fixes' you probably won't need to do much more.

*A shorter period is allowed for alternative technologies because these are more capital intensive or have a much less well defined payback period.