Home Q&A: How to get a big return for a small spend when renovating

'I have just a few hundred euros to get my two-storey, detached home in order before next winter. The BER is a D, and the rooms upstairs are chill and slightly draughty. The windows are 20 years old'

Tackle your attic insulation with SEAI grant aid and address weather-ealing and the physical performance of your windows and doors. File picture

Question

I have just a few hundred euros to get my two-storey, detached home in order before next winter. The BER is a D, and the rooms upstairs are chill and slightly draughty when the wind is to the south or east. The windows are double-glazed and about 20 years old. Should I throw all the money at an SEAI grant, and which one? 

Answer

Right. This is a perfect time of year to start some incremental energy improvements, and with that budget in mind, I would suggest a two-pronged approach, one grant-aided, one potentially DIY. Number one: tackle the attic insulation with SEAI grant aid. 

Secondly, address the weather-sealing and physical performance of the existing windows and doors. You may have an advisory report with your last BER (useful for pinpointing challenges), otherwise, carry out your own (lite) energy survey of the house — just some broad strokes. Some 20% to 30% of your heat may be whipping up and out through the roof, so we need to check the attic to reveal the depth and condition of the existing insulation (most likely batt rolls in fibre-glass). 

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

It should be nicely tucked and fluffed, and a consistent depth of 300mm (minimum) everywhere on the attic floor. If you have any respiratory conditions or you just cannot deal with it, have someone else take a peek with a tape in hand, and take a few snaps, even if it’s just from the top of a step ladder, to include any water tank and pipes, as these may also need attention.

Address the weather-sealing and physical performance of the existing windows and doors. File picture

The single best value SEAI grant aid, in my view (heat pumps included), is the attic grant. It can cover up to 80% of the cost of attic insulation, and in my case, it did the lot. This grant has just been enhanced, but it’s still a retroactive payment. You have to pay the supplier in full and will be paid back any qualifying grant amount by the SEAI on completion, with all paperwork required from the installer returned to the SEAI. 

In your case, I would suggest additional help from a local bank or credit union with an unsecured low-interest green-loan product to bridge that capital outlay. This would likely be €1800 plus for a full install to 300mm of 100m2 over existing insulation, with the tank covered, pipes insulated and no serious additional work. Some lenders only offer these loans from €5,000 up, but they should be able to offer you a credit package to suit your needs and ability to pay monthly. If you think you could use an extra bit of money to do something else (like getting better heating controls (also SEAI grant aided to €700), now is the time. 

You can find a useful guide to grant-aided heating controls on the SEAI website (Seai.ie).  The maximum available SEAI Attic Insulation grant is €2000 for a detached home like yours, and first-time buyers are eligible for a grant of up to €2500. If you bought the house after January 2025 and it’s your first home, you should qualify. Additionally, if you are on certain welfare payments, you may qualify for this uplift too. 

All grant applicants must carry out a post-work BER assessment through a registered SEAI BER assessor. There’s no getting away from this BER, as it’s required before drawing down the grant. There is a €50 BER grant available towards one BER, so you can expect to pay in the order of €200 out of pocket if you qualify, and the whole amount will be paid up-front.

Before going any further with this bold project, we need a rough idea of the size of the attic, which you will most likely be able to work out from the rooms downstairs that you know have attic floors overhead. Work out their sq m and add it all together, rounding up a metre or two to get that footprint. Any supplier/installer can help you here with an on-site survey, and I would always encourage readers to take this free service to head off an inaccurate quote with additional supplier costs tacked on after the fact. Some complex roofs (lofted downstairs, for instance) may need rafter insulation. If the supplier has been eyes-on, they should stand over their figure.

Top-hung safe 3-GPL roof window by Velux, Roofwindows, Veluxshop.ie.

To apply for the SEAI grant, you simply choose one or more firms from the registered contractors list on Seai.ie, ensure they are available to do the work, and get some quotes (preferably with an in-house survey). Handle this just as you would any contracted home improvement — referrals from friends or neighbours, behaviour in person or on the phone, and real customer feedback. 

This work is not guaranteed by the SEAI and is only investigated in very serious cases, so due diligence is especially important. Each contractor has a name and ID number for the SEAI, and you will also need your 11-digit MPRN number to apply online. Don’t proceed with anything, including any payment whatsoever, until you have an SEAI grant offer by email. You can then take this proof to your lender if they require it.

Next, take a look at the principal windows in the bedrooms and the rooms you actually use downstairs. There might only be 10% of your energy bills slipping away here, but draughty windows can really upend comfort levels, too. Serious failure, like misting between panes and condensation? It might be worth replacing the worst offenders. Don’t get too excited about, for instance, the utility room.

 

if you can close the door and zone off your sitting/dining/cooking areas. It may be completely obvious that the windows are failing to keep drafts out. Dip your fingertips in a little water and place them on the opening edge with the window shut. 

Do they feel cold? If you’re still unsure, on a breezy day, you may be able to find weak points with a smoking incense stick. This is a great hack for doors and general drafts at floor level, too. Look where the smoke snaps to a horizontal, picking up speed.

When opening the window, examine the compression seals (rubbery and black) and any foam weather-strips. Are they loose, or is the profile flattened, brittle or crumbling? Still unsure? Take a piece of soft paper or a five Euro note (don’t lose it out the window!) — and close the window on the note in various places. If you cannot easily slip it out, the seals are doing some good. 

Someone with a little confidence and dexterity can replace compression seals. They pull out of position with a little winkling. Use this opportunity to clean off the edges of the windows and doors, the hinges and catches, and oil moving parts where needed.

If you cannot access upstairs windows easily and safely from inside, or you prefer to leave it to a trade, leave this job alone. Experience counts. A visiting window specialist will be able to reset the locks and hinges to pull the windows and doors tighter against the frame (again, there are tips to do this yourself from specialists and suppliers on YouTube). 

Press-to-fit window seals are malleable, can be cut with scissors and are within the skill set of a confident DIYer. 

The profile of the compression seals will need to match exactly to the split mm, and push-fits common to many PVC windows are exceptionally easy to manage. Take a little piece of the old seal with you to a good DIY outlet or window supplier (just nip it off with some scissors) if you’re determined to have a go. Prices start around €1.20 to €1.50 a metre in an easy-to-handle roll.

Roll-out foam seals can shore up sneaky air leaks in an older frame, including sashes, and are excellent for all kinds of doors, combined with brush strips for the opening side and base. A little tip here — avoid covering drain holes at the base of the window, which allow the frame to shed any rainwater, and don’t interfere with trickle vents. Again, plenty of advice online about this finessing. 

Don’t stray beyond your comfortable skill-set. Always keep in mind, whenever you tighten up the external “envelope” of the home, and add insulation, it’s vital to check that your ventilation is in good order. Those draughts you’ve just conquered were facilitating easy air exchanges, whipping away excess humidity. Finish the project by checking passive wall vents and ensuring they are clean, clear, and left open, and that all your mechanical ventilation (cooker hood and bathroom fans) are in good working order.

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