Kilkenny bungalow gets home energy upgrade

Background

Margaret, from County Kilkenny, and her husband decided to upgrade their 40-year-old bungalow. “The house was never warm,” Margaret explained.

In 2023, she contacted a few One Stop Shops before deciding on Leetherm. She found that they were the best value at the time.

Leetherm visited the house and carried out a home energy assessment to see what the house needed. They recommended the works needed to improve the house’s BER and its comfort.

Leetherm took care of the SEAI grants application, “which was great”, said Margaret. The advantage of working with a One Stop Shop is that they will manage the grant process from start to finish. The grant amount is deducted from the cost of works upfront. 

The project

The works commenced in September, and Leetherm installed the solar panels first. They replaced the windows and doors after that. 

Margaret and her husband chose to remain in their home for the few months and said it was “pretty non-invasive”. Leetherm said they could work around them, which homeowners don’t always realise.

Leetherm recommended an air-to-water heat pump to replace the oil boiler. They also replaced the radiators and hot water cylinder.

The final step was installing the attic and external wall insulation.

Results

“Leetherm are quite professional with their approach and pretty good at communicating what they're doing and when they're doing it”, Margaret said.

The insulation was not completed yet when we met Margaret. She still said “It’s fantastic when you come home and it is so warm inside. The house was never warm. Now you come into a house that's heated all over and it's just absolutely amazing.” 

Margaret explained that they are most looking forward to lower energy bills and no more refills of oil. “Coming in the door and knowing that your house is going to be nice and cosy and then if you're bringing friends in and they notice the house is nice and warm. I'm looking forward to all of that for the next few years.”