Personal HIPS experiences - please let us know.

[Nemesis]

Oh, I'm not banging on or moaning, I just think that it's a sledgehammer to crack a nut if the sum of it all is loft insulation.

There may be better ways of achieving that.

I wonder how much energy goes into loft insulation manufacture, all those factories having to be built, etc etc...

As EH also said - there is much which could be recommended which is damaging.

I do think the way we sell homes requires reform also, but I was not convinced HIPS was the way ahead either.

PS I wonder if a study has been carried out to show how many homes have no insulation?

 

[Pford75]

Good question re those without insulation and agree it would be worthwile to find out. The grants available at my LA level are on a sliding scale (ie. more grant available if you have less insulation)..having just had quotes for the loft, the contractor advised that he is busy full time quoting in Norfolk and almost all of his visits are to people without insulation...agree this is hardly definitive research..but seems to indicate that there are some out there.

I feel that the biggest missed opportunity with HIPS was the move to binding offers and eliminating gazumping.....have to agree that the current halfway house is a disaster....but I'd rather the gov't had implemented the whole thing, than nothing at all

 

[Nemesis]

News updates:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/04/npacks104.xml

and, importantly for period property owners:

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2785422.ece

 

[Flyfisher]

From the timesonline article:

Briggs embarked on a £40,000 energy-saving programme . . . Thanks to all this eco-kit, Briggs’s energy bill is now £800 a month . . . . So far, so green.


Priceless :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Nemesis]

I gather that's half what it used to be.

Thanks to all this eco-kit, Briggs’s energy bill is now £800 a month – half what he was paying before. He also makes £100 a quarter by selling his excess electricity back to the National Grid.

 

[Flyfisher]

So, a parliamentary select committee finally states more-or-less what everyone except the government has said all along. But a week is indeed a long time in politics so this shambles will probably be safely consigned to the history bin, and even if some uncooperative hacks do manage to ressurect the story, our new supreme leader can simply blame his predecessor. :roll:
Full Story

 

[Penners]

even if some uncooperative hacks do manage to ressurect the story, our new supreme leader can simply blame his predecessor.

What a cunning idea. I'm surprised that no politician has ever thought of it before.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Well, as a 'house buyer' over the next few months I have no intention of concerning myself with the HIP. In fact, I read somewhere that very few buyers have asked to see them.

A standard survey will produce quite enough information and raise the usual 'confusing and irritating' conflicts without the Government wasting around £7k per head to provide a crash course training scheme for HIP inspectors.

Speed up the legal process?- I think not, no self respecting Solicitor will rely on information from another source, they'll still carry out their enquiries at their own sweet pace.

 

[chuckey]

At the end of the year I intend to buy a dilapidated bungalow, I shall read the HIP, and chuckle before I ignore it. In fact if the HIP is not damming, I will move on because it will mean that some one has "got at" the house. The house I will be selling has most of the added insulation features possible to add to a victorian house. What ever the HIP says about the house, I shall not be dropping the price.
P.S. I fancy that I have heard (R4 ?), that energy saving light bulbs count on the HIP. The people who sold us this victorian pile, did not leave any light bulbs at all, both of them teachers, children off hand, poor dears!
Frank

 

[Penners]

energy saving light bulbs count on the HIP. The people who sold us this victorian pile, did not leave any light bulbs at all

Given the price of energy saving lightbulbs, if we ever move you can bet your electricity bill that we'll be taking ours with us, too! :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

Here's a pertinent post I found on the Green Building Forum

Hi everyone,

I've been away from here for a bit. Joined at the end of last year ready for when we bought a big renovation project. Unfortunately the purchase fell through (HIP's really worked for us). Anyway, we have found another house and it looks like this one should complete next month. A very different type of project and I'll start posting again when we get started.

Just thought I'd comment on the HER we have just received from the vendors solicitors. I've stopped laughing and picked myself up off the floor. Here is the relevant extract from the letter back to our solicitors.

" ..... With regard the HER, there is nothing here which is of any concern or to be honest of any real interest. I am afraid I am very sceptical as to the validity of the information contained in these reports. It is clear from reading this HER that very little effort actually went into data collection to ensure calculations were accurate or even realistic. Indeed one recommendation made is potentially detrimental to the long term ‘health’ of the property. How can a ‘professional assessor’ calculate heat loss without even being aware of whether there is insulation in the loft space, let alone whether the property has underfloor heating or radiators? Did the assessor actually visit the house? There is no comment as to the actual presence of, type and depth of any insulation in situ, each of which will have different properties. There are many omissions and everything is based on assumption, rather than observation and investigation and is could almost have been written without leaving the office. It is nothing but a badly modified pro forma. The lack of information is quite appalling. Please excuse the rant, it serves no purpose. But with a qualified Energy Assessor and a qualified Building Surveyor in the immediate family and with 18 years experience in property development behind me I find it concerning that the general public are being asked to rely on these ‘expert comments’. Most lay people would accept these recommendations in good faith and be none the wiser.....".

To those of you in the industry who are doing a thorough job and are now seething having read this - it is not directed at you.

I am aware of the economics of the industry, but if these reports are to be compiled and promoted to help energy efficiency they should be done property or not at all. The cowboys who are: a) printing off some generic energy calculation, b) using a pro forma without adapting it to the house in question, c) printing out a menu of suggested improvements without any thought as to what is suitable, realistic or practical for the property in question and d) don't even properly survey the property to acertain the information which should be in the report - they should be drummed out of the industry.

Just thought I would share my latest depressing HIPS experience with you - sorry about that. Still, with any luck this purchase will go though and I can get on with extending our new home.

Cheers

Jeff

 

[Penners]

The pity of it is that I'm not that slightest bit surprised.

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3108834&c=2&encCode=000000000147e170

Mixed response on Hips – survey
14 March 2008

Six out of ten homebuyers in home information pack (Hip) trial areas did not see a Hip last year, according to government research.

Of the 40% who did receive a pack, half of those only saw it after they had already made an offer on a property, and less than a third planned to carry out energy performance certificate recommendations.

Nevertheless nearly 75% of sellers interviewed by pollster Ipsos Mori in Hip trial locations said they were satisfied with the packs.

Housing minister Caroline Flint said the Department for Communities & Local Government would be reminding estate agents of their responsibility to provide packs.

 

[Penners]

An update on the energy assessment policy.

Apparently, the energy assessment always assumes that the construction of a house is to the specification that was required by the building regs at the time the house was constructed. No account is taken of later upgrades to the energy performance of the building unless that upgrade is clearly apparent to the inspector.

So, if (like me) you've got an 18th century timberframe structure, no allowance would be made for the rockwool inserted in the cavity between the inner and outer linings. The assumption would be that the structure is as required by building regs in the 18th century.

Don't laugh...

:roll:

 

[Nemesis]

You have to laugh. Or you'd cry. Long and hard.

What a farce.

 

[MdB]

Problems with HIPS and cob houses
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7385784.stm

 

[Nemesis]

Dear me!

What a waste of time and cash this is!

He has been advised to describe cob houses as sandstone - the nearest likeness to cob available on the form.

However, sandstone walls are at least a third less thick than cob walls.

Some round here are three feet thick...

 

[Nemesis]

The latest in this unending saga:

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article3938957.ece

 

[biffvernon]

http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=69326#69326 is an account of some Energy Performance Certificate experience.

 

[Nemesis]

Haven't we read that one before?

Seems to have spent a vast sum though to reduce bills by not a great deal.

And replacing things which possibly didn't need replacing maybe wasn't as 'green' as he thinks either!