How a 2001 Semi-Detached Home in Sligo Went from D Rated to A1 and Saved €2,450 a Year

What Was Installed and What It Cost

After the Home Energy Assessment, Martin's Retrofit Advisor recommended a full deep retrofit. Here's exactly what was installed:

🧱 External Wall Insulation (EWI)
Grant availed €6,000

100mm EPS 70 with 1.5mm Granosil KR silicon rendered in premium white (WH89) finish. 20mm EPS 200 boards were applied to the garage front with render match. Boxes are fitted to all windows and doors.

Benefits:

✔ Reduces wall heat loss by up to 70%. 

✔ Transforms the external appearance of the home with a fresh premium finish

✔ Eliminates cold bridging at window and door reveals

🏠 Cavity Wall Insulation 

KORE-Fill Original EPS bead insulation pumped into the existing 50mm brick cavity to fully fill the cavity across the entire brick section of the property.

Benefits:

✔ Stops heat escaping through the existing unfilled cavity

✔ Works in combination with EWI for maximum wall performance

🏠 Cold Flat Roof Insulation

100mm Earthwool mineral insulation mat (λ 0.044 W/m²K) was fitted between existing flat roof ceiling joists, combined with 62.5mm Unilin Thin-R PIR insulated plasterboard. Applied across 18.09m² of flat/lean-to roof area.

Benefits: 

✔ Eliminates heat loss through the flat/lean-to roof section

✔ Improves thermal performance of the garage ceiling area

🏠 Internal Insulation in Garage Bathroom
For Internal Insulation, thin-R PIR insulated plasterboard with Gyproc skim coats were mechanically fixed to external walls around the garage bathroom and along the right wall of the garage all the way through to the back door.

Benefits:

✔ Insulates cold garage-adjacent walls from the inside

✔ Brings previously uninsulated sections up to required thermal standard

🏠 Natural Ventilation Upgrade

New background vents were installed with a 100mm PVC inside to outside sleeved white 241 x 165mm internal hit-and-miss vent cover. Tile vents were added to the attic to compensate for existing vents blocked by new EWI.

Benefits:

✔ Maintains healthy air quality in a newly airtight home

✔ Prevents condensation and damp after insulation works

✔ Meets Building Regulations Part F requirements

🔥 Air-to-Water Heat Pump 

Grant availed €10,500

Mitsubishi Ecodan 5kW monobloc air source heat pump was installed on the rear footpath with insulated and un-insulated pipework run vertically up the wall and ducted through the rear bedroom floor to a new hot water cylinder. It included Flow Temperature Controller, temperature sensors, plate heat exchanger, scale trap, antifreeze inhibitor, and full MELCloud remote access setup.

Benefits:

✔ Replaces fossil fuel heating with a system 3x more efficient

✔ Provides both space heating and domestic hot water from one unit

✔ Fully compatible with the upgraded insulation envelope for A1 rating

☀️ Solar PV
Grant availed €2,100

For Solar PV,  Jinko Tiger Neo N-Type 475w black frame panels were installed on the front roof in portrait layout.

Benefits:

✔ Generates free electricity to power the heat pump and household loads

✔ Battery-ready inverter   add storage in the future without replacing the inverter

✔ Excess electricity exported to the grid for microgeneration payments

🪟 Windows & External Doors
Grant availed €4,600

Homeowner supplies and installs triple-glazed windows (U-value ≤0.72) and up to 2 external doors (U-value ≤1.4). CHS signs off on the SEAI grant for windows and doors on the homeowner's behalf as part of the One Stop Shop service. U-value datasheets and window/door certs must be on site at the interim BER stage.

Benefits:

✔ Triple glazing dramatically reduces heat loss through windows

✔ Grant processed by CHS   no direct dealings with SEAI required

SEAI Grants Availed

✔ External wall insulation (EWI) - €6,000
✔ Heating system - €10,500

✔ Solar PV - €2,100
✔ Windows & doors - €4,600
✔ Project management - €1,600

👉 Total Amount of Grants Martin Get - €24,800

Net cost of upgrades will be paid back in 14 years and enjoying A Rated Warmer home, lower bills from day one.

What the Homeowner enjoying now