F-rated home to near Passivhaus Standard: CB6

Wed 15 Sep 2021, 7:00pm – 8:00pm

This was a breath-taking online tour by Rachel and Jake, who have achieved so much in their thorough retrofit, with beautiful results. See video and slides of their tour below.

Meet your hosts, Rachel and Jake: Rachel and Jake decided to undertake a whole house retrofit of their 1960s EPC F-rated home in October 2020. Before they began the work they had some level of understanding of Passivhaus standards. Both of their backgrounds involved working for construction companies so they were well-placed to do much of the work themselves. This is a very recent retrofit as the work was only completed this year, so it is a great opportunity to hear about their fresh experience of this largely DIY whole-house retrofit.

Rachel says: “We knew money would be tight and hoped we could earn the money as we went, saving through DIY or with help from family and friends. Jake has been able to do a great deal of the build himself, including hand cutting the roof, for the first time ever!”

Key features of this home:

Triple glazing, well insulated throughout including cavity walls with U value of 0.8.
5kW air source heat pump.
Underfloor heating.
Joule Cylinder for hot water.
Airtight membrane alongside mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system (MVHR).
5.1kW solar PV.

Download the case study