By letting Reinco improve the Airtightness in your home, you could save over £800 on your energy bills.

Reinco Consultancy have helped over 1000 homes in Ireland improve on their Airtightness. Thus leading to a happier, healthier and more comfortable home. And also saving them a lot of money on future energy bills.

In a highly airtight home there are a few elements of the house which you need to manage:

• After a shower keep the bathroom / en-suite door closed. Following a shower the relative humidity in that room could be 85%. Do not open the window. Keeping the door closed traps this very moist air until the Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system can extract the moisture. The ventilation system draws air under the bathroom door.
• Purchase a relative humidity monitor (example ThermPro TP50) for less than £15. Move this around the home to monitor relative humidity. The safe band in the home is 30-60%. The increase in asthma is greatly influenced by poor indoor air quality.

• The second area of an airtight house which requires management is the kitchen hob extractor. Due to noise these may not be always be used when they should be. Either install a low decibel extractor fan (which can cost up to £2,000) or use an external fan. The regular over hob extractor from the kitchen installer plus the cost of an external fan may be £400. Many Reinco homes now use external fans with great success.

What could you be doing wrong when it comes to airtightness in the home?

One family has now been now living in their new build house for over two years. However, parts of the house are cold. The main problem has been identified as air leakage.

This couple had a Reinco Report done four years ago. The tender was based on the architect’s drawings and the Reinco Report. I was asked to inspect the house recently and did so with the aid of a thermal imaging camera.

Most details of airtightness have been ignored. The contractor clearly did not understand airtightness. The house is costing £1200 to heat whereas there are many similar sized houses being heated for £400 per year. And it is not as comfortable as it should be. The main problem are air leakage around sliding external doors and massive leakage around joist ends. Remedying these will be expensive.

There is so much you can do to educate yourself on airtightness, and improve the airtightness in your home, whether your in the middle of your self build or your already in your home for some time.

Completing a simple Airtightness report with Reinco, can save you over £800 on your energy bills. For more info, or to book your Airtightness Report with Reinco Click here.