Gov subsidy for insulation

[Kea]

We had a builder round today to look at a few odds and ends in our new house. He suggested that we insulate under our floors and in the roof and said we should be able to get the government subsidy to do it. I'm sceptical as I've never managed to get a subsidy for anything. But as we've just moved in and like to be warm it does seem like a good idea.

Has anyone managed this and was it worth the paperwork? If you were willing to share the costs of the work too I'd be very grateful.

[lin]

Hi Kea

There is a grant available for insulating/clean heating - http://www.energywise.govt.nz/fundin...-clean-heating. We had this done last year, roof space and underfloor - if you have access/'crawl space' under the house, you have to do both roof & underfloor, AFAIK. Was a one page form to fill in and give to the "insulaters" - pretty straightforward and they did the grant request.

I think the salesperson told us if we were doing an extension, then we wouldn't be eligible for the grant, but I can't recall the details on this as we haven't done anything else to the house.

[Super_BQ]

We need more details about your house and the specific construction and age. In the buildings trade you'll find any person is willing to sell anything to any person regardless if they need it or not.

Applying for the EECA credit isn't so straight forward. There are specifics that cross into other areas of trade to meet some compliance. I'll give you an example (which isn't exact towards an insulation install but is relevant to how EECA operates).

My cousin's new house had a hot water solar panel system installed and although the installer had done the installation of the plumbing, controller, and mounting on the roof to code, it didn't mean EECA would give him the credit. To our surprise, the requirement by EECA is that where the hot water cylinder was located, there must be 2 electrical power points free for use to each electrical element in the hot water cylinder (virtually all solar ready hot water tanks have 2 element ports) and for some illogical reason, there has to be future proof allowance to use both elements, despite in a solar panel setup, the elements aren't switched on all the time. So a total of 3 power points had to be there (3rd one for the solar hot water pump / controller). No warning or advice was given to my cousin at the time when the electrical wiring was done to the house during construction. It was just something random that the solar panel guy asked to be done at the end of his installation. So the works of installing 1 area of trade had crossed over to another area of trade.

IMO, this requirement could be viewed as of no benefit to the customer. Meaning, while an old house is getting such solar panel setup, he/she may not be aware of another expensive cost to upgrade for extra power point outlets where the hot water cylinder is located. When the solar job is finished, the home owner will realise another expense of ie. $1000 by the electrician. I wouldn't be surprised for many folks that they would fore go the EECA credit because the cost to meet the requirement exceeds the cost of the credit. Again, all is done to building code but EECA has their own separate requirement.

Now I can't think of such a hookup in the area of installing insulation. But i'm sure someone can share some light. I do know that it's impossible to upgrade the insulation in an old house (which never had insulation in the 1st place) to meet the standard of a newly built house today. Some aspects of old house contruction required the walls to be vented (ie. bottom plate of the timber wall framing had holes intentionally drilled to allow for moisture to escape - a requirement by building code at the time - but at the same time, we rarely see such houses experience leaky house syndrome).

[ralf-nz]

In the buildings trade you'll find any person is willing to sell anything to any person regardless if they need it or not.

Pardon?

I do know that it's impossible to upgrade the insulation in an old house (which never had insulation in the 1st place) to meet the standard of a newly built house today. Some aspects of old house contruction required the walls to be vented (ie. bottom plate of the timber wall framing had holes intentionally drilled to allow for moisture to escape - a requirement by building code at the time - but at the same time, we rarely see such houses experience leaky house syndrome).

Close the existing house completely of, i.e. prevent any ventilation in existing floor, façades and ceiling to attic. Treat this as the inner wythe of this house and erect a second one around that as applicable! Apply insulation to the inner wythe, leave a gap between inner and outer wythe, leave ventilation slots (or sim.) in the outer one.
This of course is not possible with each house but with most of the old ones.

[Super_BQ]

ralf - go to a home trade shows. Plenty of sales people selling to anyone. You get guys that try to sell wool or polyester insulation vs those selling pink fiberglass insulation. Each to their own and will try their best to convince their product is the best. In the case with my cousin's hot water solar system, at the time when they just finished the install, the owner was VERY keen to get one of his systems into our house. I told him that our roof line is not facing north but more so, NW or NE but he insisted that "it doesn't matter". He also mentioned that with a hot water heat pump system, they have troubles getting water super hot and the efficiency drops off fast trying to heat the last 10C. A similar argument can be said that solar tubes on the roof only gets you hot water when it's sunny. "each to their own".

Close the existing house completely of, i.e. prevent any ventilation in existing floor, façades and ceiling to attic. Treat this as the inner wythe of this house and erect a second one around that as applicable! Apply insulation to the inner wythe, leave a gap between inner and outer wythe, leave ventilation slots (or sim.) in the outer one.
This of course is not possible with each house but with most of the old ones.

surely, I think it will be cheaper to knock the house down and build new.

The real reason why EECA is giving credits out for works like insulation is that on old existing houses, the upgrades don't add as much to the resale value of the house compared to doing nothing.

[auskiwi]

We had this done to our 1940's Titirangi house in 2007 - they came out and insulated everything and we never had to pay a penny. I can't even remember how we applied but I recall it involved one very simple phone call and maybe a straight-forward application form?

[ralf-nz]

In any trade and profession you will find the people actually doing to the job - and sales people alas...

surely, I think it will be cheaper to knock the house down and build new.

I addressed the technical site of this being an engineer, not the financial as not being an accountant

[James 1077]

surely, I think it will be cheaper to knock the house down and build new.

Perhaps; but then you lose a good looking and well designed old house and end up building some hideous monstrosity with brick cladding and far too much glass in its place!

[Kim39]

To be eligible for the 33% (up to $1300) EECA grant:
Your house has to have been built prior to 2000 and you must use one of EECA's supported products.

[Kea]

We need more details about your house and the specific construction and age. In the buildings trade you'll find any person is willing to sell anything to any person regardless if they need it or not.

Applying for the EECA credit isn't so straight forward. There are specifics that cross into other areas of trade to meet some compliance. I'll give you an example (which isn't exact towards an insulation install but is relevant to how EECA operates).

My cousin's new house had a hot water solar panel system installed and although the installer had done the installation of the plumbing, controller, and mounting on the roof to code, it didn't mean EECA would give him the credit. To our surprise, the requirement by EECA is that where the hot water cylinder was located, there must be 2 electrical power points free for use to each electrical element in the hot water cylinder (virtually all solar ready hot water tanks have 2 element ports) and for some illogical reason, there has to be future proof allowance to use both elements, despite in a solar panel setup, the elements aren't switched on all the time. So a total of 3 power points had to be there (3rd one for the solar hot water pump / controller). No warning or advice was given to my cousin at the time when the electrical wiring was done to the house during construction. It was just something random that the solar panel guy asked to be done at the end of his installation. So the works of installing 1 area of trade had crossed over to another area of trade.

IMO, this requirement could be viewed as of no benefit to the customer. Meaning, while an old house is getting such solar panel setup, he/she may not be aware of another expensive cost to upgrade for extra power point outlets where the hot water cylinder is located. When the solar job is finished, the home owner will realise another expense of ie. $1000 by the electrician. I wouldn't be surprised for many folks that they would fore go the EECA credit because the cost to meet the requirement exceeds the cost of the credit. Again, all is done to building code but EECA has their own separate requirement.

Now I can't think of such a hookup in the area of installing insulation. But i'm sure someone can share some light. I do know that it's impossible to upgrade the insulation in an old house (which never had insulation in the 1st place) to meet the standard of a newly built house today. Some aspects of old house contruction required the walls to be vented (ie. bottom plate of the timber wall framing had holes intentionally drilled to allow for moisture to escape - a requirement by building code at the time - but at the same time, we rarely see such houses experience leaky house syndrome).

We bought a 1950's weatherboard. If it has stood up for 60 years that is a start! Our building report suggested increasing the insulation in the roof and underneath part of the house so it is possible. I did ask the builder for a quote but he told me I'd get a better deal if I went to a big supplier and got the subsidy.