Before you begin any work

Before you start planning your retrofit, it is important to understand a few key principles. These will help you make decisions when planning your home improvements and think about how you can make your home more comfortable.

Key principles

A whole-house retrofit approach ensures that the whole building is considered with the installation of an energy efficiency measure to reduce the risk of things going wrong. This enables you to deliver the retrofit in a staged plan.

Everyone involved needs to be on the same page and understand the aims of the project and not just the detail of the work that they are involved in. Working with existing buildings can be tricky and if problems arise you want to make sure that you are discussing any changes with everyone in the team. The guide can be a useful means of communication.

All buildings benefit from good repair and maintenance and this alone can improve the energy efficiency of your building.

Cold bridging is where there is a gap in the insulation. Most often this is where two parts of the existing building materials meet (e.g. where the floor joists meet the external wall). Follow the suggested details in the guide to avoid cold bridging or reduce its impact.

Insulation should not be installed without ensuring airtightness, as untreated gaps can lead to heat loss. Insulation and airtightness reduce air circulation which may cause damp and mould issues, making ventilation a necessary consideration.

To maintain the Old Meadows houses' breathability and thermal performance, we must use vapour-permeable materials in our retrofit, as non-vapour-permeable materials can trap moisture and harm the building.

You probably already know where there are patches of damp or condensation issues in your property. You want to make sure that you investigate these issues and find the cause of the problem before beginning installation.

While adding insulation will reduce energy use in the Old Meadows houses, it's essential to preserve their Victorian architectural features. E.g. We wouldn't want to cover the front of these buildings with External Wall Insulation as we would be hiding the features that give the area its charm! The guide offers solutions and best practices.

Green Meadows are here to help

The guide runs through all the essential areas above in even more detail, with a glossary of important terms to help you get to grips with retrofit.

Click here to build your guide online and/or get in touch at enquire about a physical copy.

Next steps

You may already have the skills to carry this work out on your own, but if not, this guide can also be given to your builder to show them how you want the work to be done. You can also attend one of our DIY Workshops or our Practical Introduction to Conservation Retrofit Course to learn some of the practical skills needed to carry out this work.

Green Meadows also have a Toolshare where you can hire the tools you will need to insulate your home for free.

Green Meadows can also offer you a Future-Fit Home Plan. This is a step-by-step retrofit plan tailored to your home, which considers the best order to make improvements, and how to pair energy saving measures with routine maintenance jobs.

Contact us:

Call us: 0115 718 2028 (Mon-Thurs, 9am-5.30pm, Fri 9am-4:30pm)

Email us: admin@greenmeadows.uk

Visit us: Green Meadows, Queens Walk Community Centre, Queens Walk, The Meadows, Nottingham, NG2 2DF (Please get in touch prior to visiting).

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