Energy Reporter - How to prepare for the EPC inspection?

This page outlines many of the low cost measures (i.e. under £500) that are the most
cost-effective in terms of savings generated in relatively short space of time. If you are
thinking of selling your home and require a Home Information Pack (and therefore an
Energy Performance Certificate), implementing these measures could have a dramatic
effect on your home's energy rating. After each section there is a tip from a qualified
energy assessor that should help you maximise your rating.

Low energy lights
This is the most obvious adjustment to make to your property before an energy
assessment. It must be noted that the lighting of your property represents a very small
amount of energy use in relation to space and water heating, and this is reflected in the
EPC. Switching all your lights to low energy versions should only improve your EPC by
between 1 and 2 points. On the other hand they are very easy to install and very
financially efficient in terms of cost, light bulb durability and energy bills. There has been
considerable advances in the cost and quality of low energy lights and they can now be
found for almost all light sockets. As a rule of thumb you can tell if your bulbs are low
energy by turning them on and seeing how hot they get. Bulbs that get very hot are not
low energy, as they are wasting a large amount of energy in heat. Low energy bulbs will
get warm, but not nearly as much as the standard sort. Low energy bulbs come in all
sorts of shapes, sizes, light intensities, colours and fittings.
Tip - When counting light bulbs the energy reporter counts each hanging light pendant
as one light (regardless of the number of bulbs). Also lights are only counted in habitable
rooms, so lights in loft spaces and garages will be ignored.

Increase loft insulation
This is one of the highest impact energy saving measures you can implement. It is
particularly relevant if you have no insulation in your loft at all. The difference in energy
efficiency between no loft insulation and just a small amount is enormous. Insulating an
uninsulated loft with 270mm thick insulation could improve your rating by up to 10 points.
If you currently have less than 150mm of insulation in your loft your EPC will probably
recommend increasing it to 270mm. The EPC will show you the savings that could be
achieved if you do this.
Tip - When installing insulation please note that it does not have to be cut in between the
rafters, it can be just laid over the top of them. Doing this saves time and can be done by
most able-bodied people.

Additional insulation to water cylinder
If you have a functional hot water cylinder you should ensure that it is adequately
insulated. The EPC will recommend additional cylinder insulation if it is less than or equal
to 25mm in spray foam or if it is less than or equal to 100mm jacket insulation.
Tip - A loose fitting jacket (where you can see the cylinder through the jacket) can
dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the insulation and therefore the energy reporter
will have to reduce its recorded thickness. Recommendations for additional insulation will
not occur if your jacket is well fitted and 120mm thick or more, (although a 160mm jacket
is preferable), or if it has spray foam insulation of 38mm or over. Insulating an
uninsulated hot water cylinder can significantly improve your point rating.

Cavity fill
Cavity wall insulation can dramatically improve the thermal efficiency of your home. Cavity
walls became the standard method of building exterior walls from the 1930’s, although
some properties had cavity walls pre-1900. If your property was built after 1983, EPC
software will assume that it complies with the building regulations of that date and
therefore will have had cavity insulation installed when it was constructed. You can check
to see if your property has cavity walls by examining the brickwork of the building. Cavity
brickwork is usually built in stretcher bond, i.e. two skins of bricks laid on the long edge
with a cavity in between them. This means that only the long face of the brick is showing.
Solid brick walls are constructed by joining the two rows together with header bricks that
span both rows. Both walls may use the same brick type, but the presence of header
bricks makes it very likely that you property is of solid wall construction, (please note that
some cavity walls have header bricks, and further inspection may be necessary). Cavity
walls are much more thermally efficient than solid walls as they use the air in-between the
two skins of bricks as insulation. If your home is between the ages of 1930 and 1983 it will
very likely have an uninsulated cavity. Although these walls are much more thermally
efficient than solid walls they can be improved by having the cavity filled with blown fibre
insulation.
Tip - You can check to see if your cavity walls have been retro-filled by looking for a
specific drilling pattern in the mortar joints of the brickwork. 25mm holes are drilled at
regular intervals and usually 2 or 3 courses below each side of the windows openings.
These holes are then injected with blown fibre under pressure to completely fill the cavity.
The holes are then filled with matching mortar and in many cases fairly close inspection is
needed to spot the holes. If the wall has been rendered or the replacement mortar is a
very good match, further inspection may be necessary. An average 1960’s semi
detached property could improve its rating by over 7 points by having its cavity walls filled
with insulation.

Tip - Open fireplaces
Open fireplaces affect your EPC rating, although as they are considered to be part of the
integral fabric of the building they will not be recommended for alteration. They negatively
affect the EPC because open chimneys provide greater ventilation and therefore greater
heat loss in a property. For a fireplace to be described as ‘open’ it must have either an
open chimney with no appliance installed, an open chimney with a non-flued appliance
installed and with no control of air supply, or a temporarily closed chimney with or without
ventilation. The control of air supply is the key point here. If the opening has no
permanent way of being closed it will be considered open. Temporarily closing your
fireplace, (for example with a piece of card wedged in the opening) is not considered
sufficient to be a long term alteration and therefore will not be considered as closed.
Sealing an open fireplace may improve your SAP rating by 1 or 2 points, however you
should note two things about this. Firstly, chimneys require at least a little ventilation and
occasional cleaning. This is to prevent condensation and stagnant air building up, and to
enable the clearing of debris which can cause a fire hazard. Secondly, working open
fireplaces can be a massive attraction and selling point for a property and although
sealing them up may improve your energy rating, this may not outweigh the attraction of
the feature. Furthermore the EPC will not recommend sealing them.

Tip - Separated conservatories
Like open fireplaces, unseparated conservatories are considered to be part of the
integral fabric of the building and will therefore not be recommended for alteration. They
negatively effect the EPC as they extend the heat perimeter and heated area of the
property. Although the EPC is measured in terms of the average square metre the
addition of an unseperated conservatory will lower the average efficiency. This is
because glass (even double glazed) loses heat at a much faster rate than walls or roofs.
Unseperated conservatories are assumed to be heated to the same temperature as the
rest of the house. It is therefore an advantage to have your conservatory defined as
‘separated’ as it can therefore be ignored for the purposes of your energy assessment. A
separated conservatory is defined as one that is separated from the house by external
grade doors. In essence this means that if the conservatory wasn’t there the property
would still be weatherproof. Most conservatories are defined as separated as they were
added after the original design and construction of the property.

Please note that this is not a comprehensive guide to all the recommendations in the
'under £500' section. Other recommendations may occur, however the advice given
covers most of the main ones.

If you would like to know more about longer term energy saving measures (that will
typically cost over £500 to install) click here