All language subtitles for Heat.My.Home.S01E02.1080p.RTE.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoRN_track3_[und]

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

I'm Kieran McCarthy,

and I've been working as a building
engineer for nearly 30 years.

I get asked all the time,
how do I save money on energy costs?

Well, retrofitting
is all over the news lately,

and in this series,
I'm travelling around Ireland,

checking out homes
that are getting energy upgrades.

That dark blue is the coldest.

This is typically what
I'd expect to see in an old house.

With prices only going up
and the planet under pressure,

more and more people
are saving money and energy

in their homes by taking
on the retrofit challenge.

I'll be showing you
what's actually doable

and what kind of grants
are out there to help.

From heat pumps to HVAC,

I'll break down the technical jargon

and make sense
of all the retrofit lingo

so it's easy to follow.

You're just bamboozled with all
the decisions that need to be made.

So come with me
as we retrofit Ireland

and discover how you can reduce
your energy costs.

This is Heat My Home.

Today, I'm on my way to Dublin

to meet with Ashley Cortez
and his husband, Myles Kenny,

who have been living
in this beautiful 19th century

end of terrace house,

which they bought in 2020.

They plan on carrying out
a full renovation of their home,

aiming to raise its BER rating
from a chilly E1 to a toasty A3,

with the help of an extensive
retrofit process.

Due to the age of the property,
there's a lot of work to be done,

but Myles has known this
since day one.

We've been looking for a property
for a couple of years.

Forever.

But we really fell in love
with the volume and the space

we had in this place.

We knew when we bought it,

there was a lot of work
that needed to be done.

An old building like this,

we knew it would need
renovation at some stage.

We were looking
for a bit of a project.

Not sure we were looking
for as big a project

as this actually turned out to be,

but we were looking for something
that kinda do our upper.

The heating system is fine,
it'll heat it up.

But once you turn off the heating,

that's it.

It doesn't...
We don't...

So basically, the heat needs
to be on all the time.

All the external walls
are having internal insulation.

We're changing out the gas,

boiler heating system
for a air to water heat pump.

We're also getting the attic
installation complete.

We're doing a full upgrade
of the windows and doors,

and that's pretty much
the energy upgrades.

Looking forward
to it being finished.

I'm not entirely sure
I'm looking forward to...

the middle bit
where we have to get in.

But look, it has to be done,
so let's get on with it.

To be honest, I can just
see myself sticking in

and then just, like,
get the work done, and, yeah.

As I approach the house,

I can see straight away
that it's in great condition

for a property of its age.

Maintaining the character
of a Victorian era building

can be a full-time job
and a drain on resources.

So it's great to see Myles and Ashley
have really invested in its upkeep.

What an amazing house.

She's a wonderful house.

Old house, I think built in 1860,
as far as we can see.

And I suppose the benefit
of living in the house

before you start renovating it
is that you get to understand

all the ups
and downs of the house.

It's south-facing property,

so we get a huge amount
of sunlight coming in the windows.

So if we'd launched
straight into it,

we probably wouldn't have
understood exactly

how big a feature that is
of the house.

So we're happy that we took
our time and understood the property

before we started any work.

Will you show me around and
give me an overview

of what's going to happen inside?
For sure, yes.

Come this way.
Great.

Wow.

The first thing you're drawn to is
the height of the ceiling, isn't it?

Yeah, they're huge.
They're about 13 feet.

It's great character straight away.

You're trying to keep as much charm,

but obviously bring the energy
efficiency way up. Yes. Yes.

We want to keep this look
that entrance hall as it is,

but at the same time warm it up.

Wow.

Another fabulous room
with high ceilings

and great views
over the locality as well.

What are you doing
in this room, now, tell me.

These are external walls,
so we need to dry-line.

We need to put the internal wall
insulation on all these walls.

Some older homes can lose heat
through solid walls,

making them cold, drafty,
and expensive to keep warm.

An option is
internal wall insulation,

which adds an insulating layer
to the inside of exterior walls,

helping keep warmth
in and cold out.

It's especially useful
in some period properties

where external insulation isn't
practical and may not be allowed.

It can improve energy efficiency
and reduce heating bills

without changing the home's
external appearance or character.

Tell me about the windows.

Do you hear much road noise
at the moment,

like during the week
with the existing windows?

Yes, it's a busy street, actually.

So from the buses
and all the cars.

So it would be great to get
these windows fixed up.

This is currently a bedroom.
Is it staying a bedroom?

What's your future plan
with this room?

No, this will become
the living room.

So we'll come in the front door
and come straight into this room.

We want to get rid
of the fireplace here.

So rather than just keeping it
as an open fire itself,

we need to keep the air
tightness of a stove unit.

Yeah.

The cost of a wood burning
or pellet stove

isn't covered by grants,

but the benefit of a stove
is that it's a sealed appliance.

Typically, the air for the fire
is drawn from the outside,

so the room heat is not
being sucked in by the stove.

They are much more efficient
compared to an open fire,

with around 80%
of the heat generated

being emitted to the room.

They also reduce heat loss
in the house

because eliminating the open chimney
reduces warm air escaping.

I've had a good look
at the current setup of their home,

and I want to show Myles and Ashley
some of the trouble spots

that are causing
most of their heat loss.

What I have here is
a thermal imaging camera.

It'd be good to see
what the house is like

before beginning
all this deep range of work.

We can have another look
again afterwards.

So you have an external wall here,
and it's all freezing.

You can see by the blue there.

So it's all cold bridging,

so you're losing enough
of that heat straight out this wall.

When you go down
into the fireplace there as well,

See the way it's blue in around
the fireplace, particularly.

You've got all draughts
and everything else there.

So you've negligible air tightness
in the building,

and particularly, you're losing a lot
of your heat straight up the chimney.

I know we're dealing with that now
in the retrofit,

but you can see here
how valuable all this work will be.

I've identified some
of the heat loss trouble spots,

and now it's time to sit
with the couple

and take a look at what this major
renovation is going to cost.

Myles and Ashley have gone
for a One Stop Shop provider

who will not only carry out
all of the works,

but will also help
with the grant application.

Right. Time to look
at the thorny issue

of the figures for all this work.

Altogether, all these works
are coming into 134,000 euros.

You've grants of 21,500
coming off that,

so your end result is still
an eye-watering 112,500 euros.

It's shocking,
but it has to be done.

So we're looking forward to this.

You're looking forward to having it
all done, I suppose, really,

and enjoying the better quality
of the living environment,

I guess, is it?
Indeed.

People initially look at this and go,

How long before I get a payback
in terms of lower energy bills?

That kind of thing.
But I wouldn't discount the value

of just better quality living space
and living environment.

I think that's something
you really enjoy in the old house

to maintain all the character
that we spoke of, particularly, one,

window reveals and ceiling roses
and doorways and whatever,

but to have a much nicer
living environment inside

and lower energy bills as well.

When you are retrofitting
an old building like this,

it's all about balance.

You have to consider all the new
features you'll be adding,

all the new insulation,
some air tightness membranes,

but you have to consider
the old building,

all the old beautiful features.

And of course,
these old buildings need to breathe,

so you can't make them too air tight,

but you can dramatically
improve these buildings

in terms of energy efficiency
and good quality living environment.

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

Before the two contractors arrive
to start on the full renovation,

Myles and Ashley have to do
some of their own demolition work,

and time is short.

Yeah, our deadline
is tomorrow morning.

The contractor is on site
tomorrow morning,

so we still have a bit of demo work
that we agreed to do up front,

so included
the floor coverings, carpets,

removal of all
the existing wardrobes,

removal of the existing kitchen.

So we're pretty much there
other than one wardrobe,

and we have a floor covering
we need to take up in this room.

So it could be a late night tonight
before we get wrapped up

and ready for the contractor
to start work in the morning.

♪ ♪

The lads have made
their demolition deadline

so the contractor
can get to work straight away.

And first up is the internal
wall insulation.

Myles has popped in to see
how it's all coming along so far.

Yeah, it looks good.

It looks like it's quite
a quick process.

Once the stud is put up

then the actual application
of the mineral wool

seems to be quite quick.
So I have no complaints.

The fact that we're
a three house terrace

to put an external insulation wrap
around the house,

you're gonna change a look
at the three house terrace.

Plus we have the volume
in this house

that you can afford
to lose the 120 mil

that the internal
installation requires.

So it was a better job.

The internal installation
is going up at a steady pace,

so it's not long
before the window contractors

can begin the next step
of the retrofit.

But the characteristics
of the new windows

have the team facing
into a challenging day.

The new windows are to come
in one piece and they're huge.

They're like 400 kilos to get
some of those larger windows in.

And some of the larger windows
are on the top and on the landing.

So to get the windows in,

you need to go up
and there's a return on the stairs.

There's now the straight stairs.

But hopefully, they'll get them in
and installed without concerns.

Check out. Stop, stop, stop.

Lads, slowly.

More up and up.

Okay, one, two, three.

There are double glazed
6 over 6 sash windows.

Specifically went for double glazed

because we want
to maintain the solar gain

from the south-facing
orientation of the building.

So if we use triple glaze,
we don't get that solar gain.

So we kept it to double glaze,

which gives us the value we need
to achieve aerating properly,

but we don't lose the solar gain.

With all hands on deck,

the crew managed to get the windows
upstairs and into position.

But there's a problem.

Is that the same
all the way across?

Yeah.
Is it rotting that side as well?

It's a little better,
but this side's really bad.

We had to inspect them all,

and I thought we were given the
green light on every one of them.

It looks like that one is
not in as good as nick.

Again, it's one of those things
that you find

in a 170-year-old house.

There's always gonna be some
element that's not 100% correct.

So once it's in and set,

we'll probably look
to reinforce that corner

before we complete
the final insulation.

Today, I'm back in Dublin
to catch up with Ashley Cortez

and his husband, Myles Kenny,

who are in the middle
of a full renovation

of their Victorian-era
end of terrace house.

Alongside the renovation,

they're carrying out a full retrofit

to bring the house
into the 21st century.

Since I last visited,

they've had a huge amount
of work done,

but they've also had to handle
a big challenge on the glazing front.

Hey, Kieran. Good to see you.
Hi. How are you?

Come on in.
Thank you very much.

Huge changes already.

Yes, indeed.

You might...

Quite very different
from when last time you saw it.

Isn't it just?
Yeah.

We have a great view of the windows
now with a beautiful day outside.

How did the windows
installation go?

It's quite an ordeal because
they're installed as a single unit.

It's not like you bring in a frame

and then separate window pieces,
it's one unit.

There's a lot of weight in them.

But one particular window, there
was a slight issue with the header.

We ended up having to replace that

because it was a timber,
the original ones.

So we ended up having
to replace that one.

And all the rest of them were fine?

All the rest of them were
perfectly fine. Very good.

As general building work continues
around the place,

the contractors are preparing to
install the new heating arrangement

which will replace the old oil boiler

with an up to date
air to water heating system.

This is the outdoor unit, Rory?

Yeah, that's part one of part two.

So the indoor unit is inside there,
the cylinder, and the pump as well.

So that's not too far away
from the heat pump.

There's only a short run to it.

Which is always good for efficiency.
Exactly.

Our intent was
to plant up this area.

Is there anything that cannot...

Is there a clearance that must
be left in front of the heat pump

or can I plant right up to it?

That's a good question.

So you do want to leave a gap
all the way around the heat pump.

So it needs airflow
coming through it.

And there have
been problems in the past

where people wanted to put fences
and things like that

in front of them
to block out the view.

We advise not to do that.

So at least 350 mill is what you
want to be leaving around it.

And probably a half a meter
on the front of it

because a lot of cold air
comes out of that.

It's fine for planting and things
like that in front of it.

You won't sit in front of it
because it will be cool.

But other than that, it's as is.

As you see, you try
and leave it like that.

So a couple of Arctic plants
in front of it should be fine?

Yeah, exactly.

As the work continues
on this domestic project in Dublin 8,

I'm curious to see how retrofitting

can be implemented
on an industrial scale.

At the West Park Gym in Tallaght,
they're making huge energy savings

thanks to a wide a range
of measures they've put in place.

Facilities Manager Kevin Doyle
has been leading that transformation.

Kevin, when did energy efficiency
first become a big priority

at your health club?

So I suppose
about five or six years ago,

we decided to really
start looking at energy.

We had a couple of different
consultants come in

and do some energy balance studies,

and that led us in the direction

of different energy saving
initiatives that we decided to do.

I'm looking forward
to seeing what you've done.

Will you show me inside?
Yeah, absolutely. Let's go. Great.

Looking forward to showing you.

Right, Kevin,
there's an awful lot of plant here.

What's happening here?

This is the hub
where everything happens.

Some very innovative things.

We have a chiller unit.

Our gym needs an area that needs
to stay really cold, our gym floor,

and our pool area needs
to stay really warm.

So this would feed cool air
to all our air handling units.

And normally the waste product,
the by-product is heat,

and that's normally just put out,
so it's exhaust.

But we actually use that now
to heat our pool pool air.

Pool air needs to be a degree
above the temperature of the water

to stop any heat evaporation.

Your pool, how efficient is this?
Tell me how this works.

So this pool is
a stainless steel pool.

It's like a giant kitchen sink.

It's one of the few pools
in the country like that.

Five years ago,
we put in air to water heat pumps,

and the water is heated
with heat pumps.

Originally, we would have had
four gas boilers in place,

so we were able
to get rid of all of those

and put in the two big heat pumps.

So this being insulated
on heat pumps,

it's about as efficient
as it would get.

The pool would be one
of the biggest costs

in a leisure centre like this?
Yeah, by far.

The pool was the low-hanging fruit

to try and get some energy-saving
initiative in place.

So between the heat pumps
and the chiller,

we feel we've taken it
as far as we can,

but it's so much cheaper
than it was before.

So speaking of costs
and cost savings,

what impact have you seen
from these energy saving measures?

A lot of the energy saving measures
we put in place

had a payback
of about four or five years.

And this is on plant
that's guaranteed for 20 years.

So basically, at the end
of a four or five year period,

it was literally making us
free energy at that stage.

As regards percentage-wise,

our electricity came down
in around about 40%.

Now, Recently,
since we put the solar in,

there's times through the year
where we're 100% efficient.

So we're chipping
at that all the time,

and hopefully
we'll have major savings.

What's great about
this fitness centre

is they didn't complicate things.

They looked at where energy is
being used, made smart upgrades,

and it's really paid off.

It shows that energy savings

aren't just for factories
and tech companies.

With the right approach,
even a busy leisure centre

can make big savings,

and that's something
a lot of small businesses

could take inspiration from.

Back in Dublin 8, the retrofit works
are accelerating to a finish

on Myles & Ashley's mid-19th century
end-of-terrace home.

Today, it's time to install
one of the final pieces,

helping to ensure a solid thermal
seal around the whole house.

We've insulated
all the external walls,

so now we need to make sure
that the roof is equally insulated.

For a house to go from an E1
to an A3 rating,

the attic needs to have 300
millimetres of insulation

packed into the floor.

Site manager Rory

is taking Myles through
the steps involved in the process.

You already had some insulation,

so sometime in the lifespan
of the house,

somebody decided
to put insulation in the house.

So there's about 100
millimetres there.

So we're gonna leave that in place.

It's still performing.
There's no reason to take it out

or dispose of it.
Okay.

And what we're gonna do
is we're putting in

an extra 200 mil of this stuff,
which is Earthwool.

Excellent insulation properties.

We're gonna roll that across
the existing insulation up there.

We're also going to insulate
any pipework that's up there

because in the wintertime, that
attic is gonna be freezing cold.

It's gonna be keeping
all the heat into the house.

We don't want
any of the pipes to freeze

because if they freeze,
they expand and they burst.

So there's little things
like that precaution that we take.

And then the very last thing is

we're gonna provide
enough ventilation

because now that we've sealed the
attic and made it really air tight,

we still want the timbers
up there to breathe,

so we're gonna put in vents.

This house, and when it was built,

it wasn't designed to have
proper roof ventilation.

So we just need to make sure that
we're providing enough ventilation

in this very old structure

that it's gonna last
and stand the test of time.

While work continues
on the attic insulation,

attention is also focused on another
way to keep this house nice and warm,

the old front door is for the chop.

All the windows are in a couple
of weeks now at this stage,

and the door was the last portion.

So we've ripped out the existing
door and door frame.

It looked like
it was like an original door,

but the actual door itself
wasn't in good shape.

Probably one of the very last step
that's actually kind of a messy job.

So once the door gets in,
we patch it all up, seal it all up,

then we can start clean it down
and get into the final fix.

Almost seven months ago,

Myles and Ashley's mid-19th century
end-of-terrace house

was invaded by an army of builders

in a campaign to increase
its chilly E1 BER rating

up to a toasty A3.

Thanks to interior insulation,
a heat pump, double-glazed windows,

and a new energy-efficient
front door,

they have transformed it
without losing much of its character.

Today, I'm back to see
the results for myself.

Wow, look at the house.

I'm lost for words.

Yeah, it's coming together,
or it has come together.

It took a while to get to here,
but it's been worth it, long run.

Actually, how are you
at the end of this long journey?

Delighted that it's nearly over.

What's been the toughest
part so far?

I suppose it's a lot of us staying
up late at night, and I'm working,

and you're doing all the work.

So, um, yeah...

Well, look,
you've really set the scene.

Will you show me inside? Of course.
Great. Lead the way.

The place looks amazing.

The incredible front door
is the first thing you notice.

It's such a lovely,
heavy front door as well.

Of course, it's
an energy-efficient front door.

A bit of time in deciding
the design of the door.

As I said, we need
to be energy-efficient,

but the shape of it
is a little bit different

from your standard door
you would get.

There's a huge
transformation in this room.

You have that gorgeous new window

that really sets off the room,
doesn't it?

Yeah, this was
a bedroom originally,

so we wanted to bring it back in
to make it a reception room

or a living room again, and
it really stands out as that room.

And these walls here,
like this wall over here

and over here, all have that 100 mil
of internal wall insulation.

But I'm not feeling
any lack of space in this room.

How did you feel when you realised
you were losing 100 mil on this wall

and 100 mil on this wall?

Did that take much getting used to?

No, I don't think in the whole
scheme of things you really miss it.

We always knew it was plenty
of volume in this room anyway.

So if this house couldn't take
100 mil, then nobody would.

(all laugh)

So there's a massive
transformation in this room.

The last time I was here,
it was still under construction.

But one thing I'm noticing
is these amazing tall radiators.

So they're all connected
to your air to water system.

Yeah, the heating system allows us
to set up different zones.

So individually,

we can set what temperature
we want in each of the rooms,

what time the heat pump
will turn on or off the heating.

So it's fantastic.
Yeah, absolutely no issue.

A lot of people think you have
to have under floor heating

with an air to water system,
but in your situation,

you fit these
statement feature radiators,

which will do the same thing.

The transformation is stunning.

Myles and Ashley's home
will have no problem

nailing the target of an A3 rating.

On my first visit,
my thermal imaging camera

was setting off
all kinds of cold colours.

It'll be interesting
to see the readings

now all the work is done.

I know you had a fireplace here,
and you've covered all that,

and you've brought insulation
over all this wall.

It'll be good to just check it

to make sure there's no
cold bridging anyway.

So I mean, dramatic improvement
straight away, isn't it?

That looks good.
Greens and yellows.

I mean, this is exactly
what you want to see,

because you can get a cold bridging

when you're covering over
some existing features.

But I mean, this is a dramatic
improvement, isn't it?

Yeah. Oh, it's great to see that all
the installations are all working.

So, yeah.
That's a good relief, right?

Very, very happy.

It's open house in Dublin 8.

Myles and Ashley's
friends and family

are here to give this warm home

the once over and hopefully
the seal of approval.

You like it?
Beautiful, like it!

Oh, we love it.

We'll move into I'm ready tomorrow.

The house is fantastic.

It brings a really nice atmosphere.

Yeah, that's true.
Oh, wow.

This is gorgeous.

Really cosy, really gorgeous.

And I'm very jealous
it's finished to such a high degree.

There's a big impact
with the new windows.

You wouldn't know you're
on a busy road here in any way.

Myles and Ashley, congratulations
on your beautiful home.

You've done an amazing job.

Your house is amazingly
energy-efficient,

but also beautiful to look at,
so well done.

(cheering)

We came to this project as both
an energy and a upgrade project,

not just one or the other.

So now that we have combined both,

the quality of the house is very
different from when we started.

Very happy, but really
hands-on to Myles.

He really did all of it.
So proud of him.

Aw!
Yeah.

Retrofitting a house of this age
was always going to be

a monumental task, but Myles
and Ashley have pulled it off.

Their home is now warm,
efficient, and ready for the future.

This project proves
that even our oldest homes

can be upgraded
to modern energy standards

without losing too much character.

Subtitles: RTÉ 2025