Your reply to a query on Ber ratings on January 13th last (I had a new boiler installed but my home’s Ber rating has gone down. How can this be?) prompted me to contact you, in the hope you can shed light on my own Ber rating.
In 1998, I bought my three-bed detached house. It was built originally in 1960 with solid blocks and had an old Aga that had been converted to oil. The house was very cold.
In 2002 we had the internal surfaces of all the exterior walls drylined with 2in-thick panels, and most of the windows double-glazed. The attic tanks were insulated (50mm fibreglass) and the pipes were clad. A sunroom (14ft x 12ft) was built on to the rear of the house with 50mm wall and floor insulation, along with a pitched roof. The construction works were supervised by an engineer.
In 2003, all the windows were double-glazed, while in 2009 we had solar panels installed on the rear roof.
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In 2020 we had the house externally insulated and the attic insulated to a depth of 12 inches. The sunroom walls were upgraded with bead insulation.
Having carried out all these works, we were disappointed to be given a Ber rating of C2. The drylining was disregarded by the assessor on the grounds that it had been installed by a builder as opposed to a specialist company.
And while I accept that double-glazing is not now in line with modern efficiency, I couldn’t afford to upgrade/replace it when the house’s external insulation was fitted.
What are the regulations (if any) in respect of drylining, especially where combined with external insulation? Is there much prospect of the C2 Ber rating being upgraded if I seek a new assessment?
This is a very thorough rundown of the history of improvements, and this shows that positive steps were taken at various times since you acquired the house with a view to improving the overall thermal performance of the property.
While a lot of work has been done, you are disappointed with the C2 Ber rating. However, this is quite a good rating for a 1960s property with a basic construction building standard.
You have, however, raised an interesting point in that the Ber assessor could not and would not take account of the internal drylining system as the work was not carried out by a recognised company.
This highlights an anomaly in that while the process is intended to be scientific, in reality the calculations are based on a combination of “assumptions” and “opinions”. Clearly the application of an internal drylining system is better than if there was no drylining here, and thus if one were to compare two properties being equal in all other regards save for the internal drylining, then clearly the house with the internal drylining system would have a better insulation standard, which in turn should give rise to a higher Ber rating.
However, given that the system was either not done by a specialist or cannot be proven as achieving a certain standard, then it has in effect been discounted in its entirety. As the situation cannot be verified, the Ber assessor cannot rely on it and thus they are assuming the worst scenario and basing their opinion on that.
Accordingly, if you want to get a better rating, you will have to prove that the drylining system as installed achieves a particular standard. This can be done by opening up the wall lining in a few areas and checking the depth and type of insulation and by further confirming that it has been properly installed.
If this confirmation was provided to the Ber assessor, then I would expect that it should be possible to get a better rating. However, I suspect that even with this, any improved rating would be marginal. This is largely because it is really only within the last 15 years or so that there has been an acute awareness of energy efficiency and the products and materials available nowadays are so much better than those that were available 20 years ago.
[ Here’s how to improve your home’s Ber energy rating and lower your billsOpens in new window ]
Accordingly, when you would have been drylining the walls in the early 2000s, a typical drylining system at that time would only be approximately 30-40 per cent of what would be considered to be a good drylining system in more recent times. Similarly, the quality of the double-glazed windows in 2003, while reasonable for that time, would be much inferior to the quality of double-glazed windows that are now available.
Your question around the regulations in respect of drylining is almost a moot point in that this is not so much a regulation matter, but rather a matter of achieving a standard.
While clearly there are regulations around the construction of new houses in that they now have to achieve a particular standard, when it comes to second-hand properties, it is about setting a target and achieving same through a variety of options – including upgrades to the insulation standards and heating installations. It is fair to say that one could simply opt to dryline only, or apply an external insulation only, or a hybrid of both.
As mentioned, I believe that if you can supply the necessary proof to the Ber assessor of your drylining system, you should be able to get an upgrade in the rating, but it will be marginal.
It is probably worthwhile consulting a Ber assessor and being upfront about the situation. They will be able to give you an indication as to the likelihood of getting an improved rating. It will also be useful to have an up-to-date Ber assessment anyway as the Ber assessor would also point out practical improvements that could be undertaken with a view to achieving a higher rating.
Val O’Brien is a chartered building surveyor and member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland
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