EPC of G - how bad is this?

[Jim K..]

Read the rest of the EPC?

[David]

A friend is looking at a bungalow with an EPC rating of "G".

It has a new boiler (so presumably condensing) which should score quite well.

What old/inefficient/bad things would drag the whole rating down to G?

Cheers

Dave R

[charles]

Lack of any roof insulation, lack of cavity walls, solid fuel heating,

[spuorgelgoog]

Single glazing, filament lightbulbs, value custard creams for the EPC surveyor instead of proper chocolate hobnobs ...

Owain

[John Rumm]

Trivial stuff like use of incandescent light bulbs will lower an assessed rating, also clueless energy assessors are a problem. Many of them seem to work from a list of assumptions, but are not usually that keen on challenging them - so for example retrofit insulation measures may often be ignored.

Still in the grand scheme of things, I doubt a low EPC is assessment is going to be a deal breaker for many - its well down the list or priorities for selection of somewhere you want to buy. It might have a bigger impact on rental stock - but only if there is adequate stock available for people to be choosy.

[tabbypurr]

basically means no insulation. It'll cost him a bit to insulate it.

NT

[Andy Bennet]

No roof, glass missing from windows, single brick no cavity. Maybe an external door or two missing?

[charles]

but for public buildings, like Village Halls, built just after WW1, they will have to close if that's the assessment they get.

[Theo]

I came across a listing with an EPC percentage of zero. It was an uninsulated draughty wooden shed in the middle of a windy fen.

Theo

[dennis]

Easiest thing is to look at the EPC and see what it says.

Things that drag it down are..

solid walls with no insulation solid floors single glazing draughts wrong heating right heating with cr@p controls (ie radiator stats which are only a little up from nothing) no loft insulation no insulation on hot water tank tungsten lights

[Andrew]

Lack of any underfloor insulation, PLUS a huge perimeter to area ratio (most of the heat leaves through the metre of floor abutting the outside walls.

Single glazed windows, or even worse, single glazed crittall-style windows.

Location and orientation. Large uninsulated +/- single glazed windows facing North or East, like Aberdeenshire or other locations. Many factors.

This property doesn't even have an EPC rating, though on the plus side it has its own ?DeWitt kiln in the garden so you make your own lime cement and plaster

[Andrew]

Back when home-sellers packs were mandatory and a wonderful scam, the website of one 'surveyor' requested that noisy children be removed and the applicant must fill in a detailed questionaire stating what improvements they had already done (so doing the 'surveyors' work for him).

[R D S]

Unless there's a mortgage needed and the bank have a minimum. Santander did when we bought a commercial property last year. Can't remember what it was though.

[charles]

If a public building has a rating lower thaan E - it can't be let.

[The Marquis Saint Evremonde]

charles [e-mail]> posted

What is your source for this, Charles?

And when and why would such an assessment be performed on a village hall?

[Brian Gaff]

No windows or doors single skin walls and a lot of damp and dodgy roof? grin Brian

[David]

Thanks. Haven't had sight of the EPC listing. Asking for a friend.

Solid floors and single skin walls are probably on the list.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

In this case the friend is looking to downsize from a 3 bedroom detached to a two bedroom bungalow.

Finding that the average heating bills are larger for the smaller house isn't encouraging.

We suspect that the walls are single skin. The floors are probably solid. Walls are fixable with, for example, external cladding but adding insulation to solid floors could be tricky without replacing them.

Cheers

Dave R

[spuorgelgoog]

Depends on the ceiling and doorway height. If there's enough headroom the doorways don't have to be extended upwards, then an insulation layer and overboarding or overscreeding shouldn't be difficult to install without building work.

Skirting mounted sockets and other period idiosyncracies may make the whole job more complicated, of course.

Just replacing the existing screed layer is a third option.

Owain

[Bill Wright]

No glass in the windows.

Bill