Energise South Coast helps a lot of people with older homes locally and they are usually more difficult to make energy efficient. Bear in mind heat will always try and escape to the outside. Have a look round your house and review where heat is escaping, where cold air is coming in and what can you do to stop this.

PICTURE: Vic Burton

Draught proofing any gaps around doors and windows is a quick and easy lockdown job and will make a big difference, as will thermal lined curtains.  Don’t forget the chimney! You can block unused chimneys with an old pillow or buy a chimney balloon. If you have draughts whistling though your floorboards – fill the cracks.  The best finish comes from using wooden slivers and then sanding everything down to an even finish. Alternatively, you use a specialist product such as Draughtex or mix up your own sawdust mix. Or consider getting a company to insulate under the floorboards.

Insulating your loft to 270mm will make a difference and pay itself back in bill savings in a year or two. Providing the loft is accessible then this is another one for DIY enthusiasts as a roll of insulation will only cost around £30. Alternatively, you can get a company to do it for around £400 depending on the size of your loft. 

 It is often much more difficult to get your walls insulated in an older property. If you don’t have a cavity wall then your options are either to have insulation on the inside of your wall or cladding on the outside. Both are expensive and you should speak to experts before going ahead to make sure that it is being done with the right materials for an older house. There is funding available for all the measures mentioned from the Green Home Grant, or from the Energy Company Obligation scheme if you receive benefits.

• To hear from four local residents who have succeeded in making their older homes more energy efficient register for Energise Sussex Coast’s free Zoom webinar which takes place at 6pm on Thursday 28th January https://save_energy.eventbrite.co.uk

The team at Energise Sussex Coast answer your home energy-related questions to help everyone to save money and keep warm as sustainably as possible.

Is the Green Home Grant a good deal? Colin, St Leonards

The Green Home Grant is a new government grant to provide funding towards making your home more energy efficient. The scheme – recently extended by a year and ending in March 2022 – is primarily aimed at helping people to insulate their homes or get a renewable heat system, such as solar thermal or an air source heat pump. 

To qualify for fully funded support up to £10,000 you must receive qualifying benefits such as Universal Credit. Everyone else can apply for a voucher to cover two thirds of the cost up to £5,000. In theory the Green Home Grant is a great idea and exactly what many homeowners need to help them with the cost of becoming energy efficient. In practice though, the scheme has already run into significant problems, as the industry was
not given enough time to go through the accreditation process needed to take part. For many small suppliers, the cost of accreditation and the short time line of the scheme meant local contractors haven’t signed up. 

Our clients report it is very difficult to get quotes and, on top of this, some companies stopped coming out during lockdown. Energise East Sussex is keeping fingers crossed that the scheme extension will give the incentive for more installers to come on board and increased time for people to get quotes and work done. It’s a great opportunity to transform your home’s energy efficiency. Measures such as external wall insulation and air source heat pumps which often cost around £9,000 can be done free for those eligible for a full cost grant, or £4,000 for people receiving the capped £5,000 funding (above). 

• If you’d like to talk through the Green Home Grant then please book an energy advice appointment with Energise. To submit a question or book an appointment: 01424 390062 or hello@energisesussexcoast.co.uk