We have discovered in our previous articles that making your home more sustainable results in enormous profits in three areas:
- You create more living comfort.
- You receive lower monthly repayments.
- You increase the value of your house.
But how can you make your home more sustainable and what are the steps you can take?
To provide clarity on this, we have called in an expert. Rob Nijhuis (www.trustanbouw.nl) has a construction company that caters for large and middle sized renovations. Sustainability plays a major role in their work, which is why we are interested in their advice.
Rob Nijhuis – Trustan bouw
Every house can become sustainable
Rob Nijhuis: ‘Good news! Every home offers sustainability options. Only some are easier than others. Therefore not every approach is financially interesting. First, you have to put on a good winter coat in the home, meaning insulating the entire hull. Then you can think about how you are going to heat your home. Your housing wishes are also important. In addition to the following: whether you can, and want to adjust it? For example, long showers do not work well with a heat pump. It is therefore important that you or your lifestyle make some adjustments. If you do not want to change that, we can also consider other options.”
Renovating homes from different time periods
Rob Nijhuis: ‘The period when your house was built determines your possibilities among other things. A typical 30’s home has other options than, for example, a typical ‘60’s home.
Therefore, I advise beginning with a structured step-by-step plan. With this, you can process different scenarios. We do this in collaboration with our specialised energy coach. During this scenario analysis the following points will be discussed:
Is there a crawl space? If so, then you can insulate the floor from below. Is there none? Then we will search for other possibilities.
Do you have single glazed glass? Then we install HR++ glass to the facades. This can often be done in the existing frames (especially relevant for ‘30’s homes). There are also more options for the type of windows, depending on your budget. Right now, to give an example, vacuum glass is good to use. This insulates better than HR++. Needless to say, you also have to pay attention to the crack sealing.
Do you have a cavity wall? Then you can isolate it. The extent of this depends on the width of the cavity. Also, it depends on whether there is no construction waste left in the cavity. 30’s homes generally have a clean but narrow cavity. Just after the war, contractors had to build more homes quickly, and you can see that the work they delivered was less clean. They just left the trash in the cavity.
Is there no cavity wall? Then you can place a retaining wall on the inside. Keep in mind that you also have to adjust the window sills and mouldings at the window. A permit is required to insulate the façade on the outside.
Considering roof insulation? This is the easiest from the inside to insulate. Outside is also possible. This depends on certain factors, for example, on the quality of the roof tiles and the connection with the neighbours and gutters.
What does sustainability cost and what else should i look out for?
Rob Nijhuis: ‘Throughout the years, various (sometimes temporary) products and building types have been used to construct homes. With our step-by-step plan and the scenario analysis, it quickly becomes clear what possibilities there are, what there aren’t, and for what price.
It is good to know that 30’s homes are generally easier to plan out than 60’s homes. At present, there is a major shortage of installations (heat pumps, solar panels, modern central heating systems, etc). This can cause delays and higher costs. In some cases, the installations amount to 30% to 40% of the total budget, In short: to gain a good insight into what the best scenario for you is, you must first do some research and plan out the various options.’
What Klår can do for you!
We will gladly help you with insights about sustainability. With our network and the money that you need. Because you don’t have to pay out of your own pocket for investments that improve sustainability. You can get a loan for it.
Depending on the amount of money you need, you can look at increasing your current mortgage. Does that seem too expensive? There are options, for example, if you will incur many costs for taking out the mortgage, some lenders also offer ‘sustainability loans’. This is done in a form of personal credit.
In short: we can help you. Are you interested? Do you have questions? We are happy to help and there is nothing that you can’t ask for!
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