I think my A-rated house isn't A-rated?

[cindiefloss]

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the comments. Turns out my attic floor/2nd floor ceiling has 0 insulation. I had always assumed that the 2nd floor ceiling/attic floor plasterboard was high density insulated plasterboard. However, there should be 300mm of wool insulation between the rafters and there is none. The builder has escalated the situation and will insulate it for me ASAP.

I'm a fool for missing this and can't believe it was missed in the snag too. Anyway, seems it is going to be rectified by the builder soon!

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Hello everyone. As the title says, I think my new build, A2 rated house isn't A rated. The upstairs heating zone seems not to hold it's heat for any period of time and I'm wondering if the house just had an A2 rating slapped on it by the builders but it wasn't actually tested properly.

To give some context. I bought a 4 bed detached A2 rated house this year in April. The electricity bills were fine during the two summer billing periods with the house using approximately 360 kWh units and the two bills being approx €150-160 for each 8 week billing period. However, once autumn and the cooler weather kicked in I noticed that the upstairs was loosing heat really quickly and the heat pump is nearly on constantly to heat the upstairs zone up by 1 degree. I have upstairs set to 18 degrees, so it isn't massively high. My lates bill was for nearly 800 kWh and was €300. Downstairs seems fine, it holds heat much longer than upstairs.

Maybe I'm overreacting but it just seems higher than what other peoples experiences are, especially considering that there are only 2 people in the house so our energy consumption shouldn't be super high. We have consumed over 3100 kWh since April to date.

I've noticed that the attic is scarcely insulated and I'm wondering am I losing heat through the roof more quickly because of this?

Would love to hear other peoples experiences.

 

[resjudicata]

@cindiefloss The public library lends out some equipment. A home energy kit. You could get that have an idea yourself before getting the actual BER assessor in

https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/home-energy-saving-kits-available-all-libraries

 

[cindiefloss]

@resjudicata Amazing information. I think I’ll look into this equipment in my local library and see if that have it

 

[resjudicata]

@cindiefloss If they don’t they can get from another one for you. Should be easy enough. Good luck

 

[resjudicata]

@cindiefloss It’s just going to confirm what you already know … what developer did you buy the house from?

 

[eternal1551]

@resjudicata That's unreal! I didn't know this at all. Definitely going to use this. Thanks for posting

 

[resjudicata]

@eternal1551 You don’t even have to be a card holding member of the library. Just register online. Best of luck

 

[drauvix]

@resjudicata That's actually really good. Do you know if there something like this available outside of the Dublin CC/Library services?

Such as on other counties.

 

[resjudicata]

@drauvix Just depends on your county council. Meath definitely does them too. You should check with your local library or council directly.

 

[drauvix]

@resjudicata Great thanks, I'll look into it.

 

[about_blank]

@drauvix Wexford has them for sure

 

[bcrawley21]

@about_blank Just rang new ross library it's got 30 people on the list waiting for it

 

[alison10]

@resjudicata Wow that's cool!

 

[kebo12345]

@cindiefloss They don't tend to insulate the roof, they insulate the floor in the attic. There should be a lot of insulation up there on the floor. Have you made any changes since you moved in? For reference, I'm in a 4 bed semi. It was a2 rated when I moved in, but it's now an a1 due to adding solar panels

 

[resjudicata]

@kebo12345 He says the attic is scarcely insulated at the end.

 

[kebo12345]

@resjudicata Yeah but he says he's thinks the heat is being lost through the roof. The attic shouldn't be warm, so I'm trying to find out is there insulation on the floor as there should be with an A2 rated house, or did he assume the inside of the roof would be done too

 

[resjudicata]

@kebo12345 I read it as the attic floor doesn’t have much insulation so he’s losing heat from upstairs through the ceiling and then out though the roof which would be the case.

But yes I guess there is a chance he thinks his roof should be insulated but I don’t see any indication of that.