42, Dial Hill Road

1928 Detatched house. We bought it 35 years ago and have gradually improved it with regard to reducing energy costs and being more comfortable during winter and extremes of heat. EPC C (should be B!) up from E.

External Wall insulation, Under Floor insulation, Triple glazing, PV Solar panels, water heating from solar panels, EV charger, Solar gain, Low water usage, 9 water butts in garden.

External Wall insulation: 80mm Sustainable Woodfibre, locks in carbon. Baumit rendering system.

Under Floor insulation, 200mm, also Woodfibre with breathable airtight membrane. U value 0.17W/m2K.

Triple glazing: Internorm. U value 0.67W/m2K. Extra benefit is noise reduction. We made some windows, on the north and east elevations smaller and increased the west and south facing ones, to reduce heat loss and increase solar gain in the winter. This makes a major difference to the warmth in the house, and reduces our energy need.

PV Solar panels, 3.8Kw installed 12 years ago. No degredation apparent. Bird prooofing fitted later.

Water heating from PV, i-Boost switch automatically sends surplus PV to immersion. Tank is double lagged, loses about 2KW a day. We rarely put gas boiler on from April to September, to heat water.

EV charger, Zappi, works with PV, can be set so car only charges when surplusPV, and/or to make use of cheaper EV tariffs. App shows energy flows in or out of house in real time.

Positive Ventilation:Nuaire Drimaster-ECO. Positive Input Ventilator fitted in loft to push filtered air from outside into the landing, forcing stale, condensation laden air out.

Curtains with thermal linings on doors and windows.

Reduced water use, Lo-flow shower (you get used to it) and toilet fitted, we only use what one "average" person uses.

9 water butts usually delivering our garden water requirementsand aiding climate change resilience by holding back downpours.