Many of us grew up in traditional homes designed using old building technologies in Ireland. Today it’s now possible to create living spaces that are exceptionally well insulated such that natural sunlight is enough to keep your home warm and comfortable all year round. Passive heating can massively reduce your energy costs and transform your living experience. And while it may not always be easy to achieve full passive heating in an older home, you may be able to reap much of the benefits in a new home extension.

How Passive Heating Works

Passive heating is firstly about patching up the ‘leaks’ in your home. That is, identifying areas where heat can escape. Once this is achieved, you can then look at natural heating such as solar gain as a source of free heat energy. To ‘plug those leaks’,  the first step is to insulate. Attic insulation comes first since heat rises and this is followed by insulating the walls. Most homes in Ireland today have some degree of insulation in the attic. Some have wall insulation to some extent. However, it’s amazing how much heat can still escape from seemingly tiny gaps.

The next step in plugging those leaks is to improve airtightness.  Your design and build team will install an airtight membrane throughout the building. Using testing equipment, they will identify areas where heat can still escape through walls, windows, doors and attic spaces. They will then plug that up so that your home becomes draught-proof. Cold chills can become a thing of the past.

Direct Gain

If you have south-facing windows in your home, you may get all the heat you need during the day. For example, with an open-plan living space and large windows built with modern materials (such as highly insulated triple glazed windows), your highly insulated, airtight home will store up that natural heat. And you may only need a very small amount of heating in the evenings to keep things comfortable.

BER Ratings

A Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificate helps to classify your home’s energy efficiency. It rates a home from an A1 Rating to a G rating. A G-rated home has virtually no insulation aside from its bare walls and roof. An A-rated home can be quite difficult to achieve through a renovation as you are working with a pre-existing structure. It’s much easier to achieve an A rating with a house built from scratch using all the modern technologies and materials. However, anything above a B2 rating is excellent and will feel extremely comfortable even in the worst of our Irish weather. Despite the challenge, we have achieved an A-rating on many renovations.

As you probably know, we’re big fans of the open plan design here at Sigma Homes. An open layout has such a massive impact on light, sound and the atmosphere of a home. Here are some of the reasons why we believe this layout is often the best choice for your main living areas.

Togetherness

One of the things we’re all sorely missing in this digital age is the sense of family. The open plan layout allows a greater sense of presence. While mam or dad is busy making dinner, the kids can watch their favourite show. Open plan means everyone is not segmented away into different rooms, and this can also allow for a bit more flexibility if you have young children.

Bright Light

Ireland is known for constant rain and heavy cloud cover. Sunlight is something many of us are deficient in, so the more we can allow into our lives the better for our health and mood. An open-plan layout bathes your home in natural light. This is a huge mood booster which can also help to passively heat your home.

The Pros of an Open Layout: Having People Over

If you like to have get-togethers with your extended family or enjoy hosting parties for friends, the open plan concept can be a godsend. It allows everyone to be together comfortably.
While typically we design open-plan homes to have a visual sense of separation between the different spaces and their functions, you can fuse them together with just a few tweaks. For example, you can combine the living room and kitchen seating to ensure everyone feels like they’re together and people don’t have their backs facing each other. For larger get-togethers and parties, it can also be nice to have little nooks in the open-plan layout for people to break off into smaller chats. Everyone can chat away while you prepare snacks and meals for attendees. It all feels very seamless and natural.

Finding the balance in open plan living

Suppose privacy and alone-time are essential for you, or you are sound-sensitive. In that case, you may prefer to have separate spaces for everyone for noisier activities such as watching their favourite tv show or cooking. The open plan concept can still be adapted to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, while still enabling a greater sense of connectivity in other areas that suit you.

It can happen that your family grows faster than you ever bargained for!  Thankfully, whether it’s a traditional bungalow or a terraced townhouse, there’s a lot that can be done to reimagine your living space. Even a relatively newer home may need expansion as your family grows. A home extension brings with it more storage space and an opportunity to build your home around your good habits — so you can do more of the things you love. An open-plan home can mean more connection with the family, and a visceral sense of expansiveness which, combined with modern architectural knowledge, can improve your mood and wellbeing.

When Your Family Grows – Open Up Your Space

With a traditional house, we often have heavy blockwork cutting out all the sunlight from entering your home. By adding in modern features you can create a greater sense of space and let more light into your home. We can replace that old blockwork with steel frames. These enable exciting new possibilities to your home. With greater support, you can have much larger windows and sliding doors that give your home a connection with the outside. With modern glass technologies, the glass will help naturally heat your home during the day and keep it well insulated in the evening and night.

Home extensions

If you have the surrounding space available, you may want to build a two-story extension. For many families, this can often double their living space. Of course, the larger the extension the bigger the project. We start with what you need and wish for your dream home and then we support that vision with plenty of technical thinking. The most important thing is to have solid foundations. We unfortunately work in an industry where many providers are prone to taking half measures and shortcuts, knowing that the cracks won’t show in their work till many years after they’ve upped and left. We always make sure to go deep in everything we do. We help you re-create a space that will last a lifetime. We go over and above expectations to ensure that you remain delighted with your home for decades to come. That’s why we provide aftercare for our newly built renovations, redesigns and extensions. And we’re so confident in our work that we provide a ten year warranty for all new builds.

The Retrofit Grant can be a great aid if you’re a homeowner looking to perform key upgrades to your living space. The grant will cover up to 35% of key features that will improve the energy efficiency of your home. The grant covers all the key measures you’d want to ensure you maximise your home’s energy efficiency and comfort. This includes improvements such as external wall and attic insulation, solar panel installations, energy-efficient boiler upgrades, as well as windows and doors. The response to this new grant was phenomenal, and additional funding is to be expected to be announced later in the year. If you are planning a home remodel, the Retrofit Grant can be a big boon for your plans, enabling greater possibilities for your home design. 

How the Building Energy Rating System Works

The Building Energy Rating (BER), is a simplified way to gauge your home’s energy efficiency. It ranges from A-G, with G being the lowest rating (and common among older homes that lack insulation of any kind). On the very upper-end of the scale, you have homes that score excellently for passive heating and airtightness. These are typically brand new homes since reaching this level is often very difficult, as it can also require installing an airtight membrane throughout the structure. When retrofitting an older house, the industry-standard goal is usually aiming towards a B2 rating, which is still very energy efficient. We have managed to achieve an A3 and above for some of our retrofits.

How We Manage the Build — Including the Retrofit Grant

It’s essential that a retrofit is considered carefully. Improving energy efficiency is very important, and we can help you achieve this through a grant. But it’s also essential that the new design enhances your space and is designed around your lifestyle. Whether you’re doing a whole-house retrofit, an extension or kitchen renovation, it’s not just about sticking something new in. It’s important that the new works well with the old. Done right, the result is an incredible design, with beautiful finishes, bright, open spaces, and a complete absence of the dreaded cold draught. 

Our team can manage all aspects of your retrofit or renovation, including grant applications and planning permission. We are not just builders. Having realised the issues that plague the Irish building industry, we built a team that works together to create dream homes on time and on budget. As a result, Sigma is a top-performing one-stop-shop that designs flawless homes. 

To learn more about our services, you can contact us or request a callback.