May 21, 2019
Renovate and win …
In the summer, everyone has the chance to renovate their home, while upgrading their energy class.
After a particularly difficult winter, where the cost of oil left a lot of heat and turned the majority of consumers to alternative forms of heating, the coming of summer gives a “golden” opportunity for planning ahead of next season.
The summer season is the prime time for the constant tweaks that everyone makes at home, but is also suitable for … bigger ones, which will upgrade the home and will also lead to a reduction in the annual expenses of the family. Ideas for painting, insulation and general energy shielding of each house can prove decisive in combating everyday problems in the home, but also economic ones with great benefits.
Energy colors as … thermal insulation.
One of the most common tasks that everyone does at home when the period of sunshine begins is painting, both indoors and outdoors. In this process, in the past few years, cool energy paints, which also function as a strong thermal insulation, have a significant role to play, providing a significant limitation on the exchange of heat between home and the environment, but without taking up enough room and increasing the thickness of the walls . Their use is now mandatory for the issuance of new building permits for newly built buildings.
These are products created by the admixture of common colors with additional materials and have the advantage that they can act as insulating surface materials that prevent the entry of solar radiation in the living quarters in the summer and the heating output in the winter . Their use is automatically translated into an energy saving that can exceed even 30%, giving even greater improvement in the U Value. It has been calculated that energy paints can reduce the electricity of the air conditioners used during the summer, even by 65%. The cost of these heat-insulating paints is between 10 and 15 euros per liter.
The “secret” lies in the frames.
Replacing an old heavy door, with a light but durable door, as well as changing the windows of a double-glazed house, are small jobs with great benefits, as they can reduce thermal losses by even 40%, and to offer fuel savings of up to 25%.
The options in the window frames are many and cost a lot, but in general for a house of 100 sq.m. with a door, a window and four balcony doors, it is estimated that 2 to 3 thousand euros are needed to change the window frames.
The problem of the basement .
The renovation of the house should not only concern the exterior and interior of the house but also the basement as one of the biggest problems faced by the insulation is that of the heat escaping through the floor. A badly thermally insulated basement has been estimated to account for a 15-20% loss of heating, with the solution being particularly simple.
Few hours of work (even personal) and some suitable insulating plates are able to provide a casing that will ensure the stay of heat only in the places where it is welcomed. With regard to the cost of insulating panels, for an area of 50 m². they need about 1100 to 1300 euros.
Heat insulation of shell.
Proper heat insulation of a building while reducing energy consumption reduces the cost of space heating and cooling. A lossless building has much less heating and cooling needs, as it keeps the temperature inside the building.
By the term insulation of a building’s shell, we mean the insulation of the roof, the perimeter walls, the ground floor, if any, of the underground spaces. The rooftop is usually responsible for the bigger heat losses in a building. The best option in this case is the insulation of the terrace and then the planting that gives us a very good result, both aesthetically and insulatingly. In any case, the roof must be insulated, on the one hand, in order not to lose heat and on the other to protect the slabs. The insulation of a building is done in three ways: either with extruded polystyrene, or with expanded polystyrene, or with fibrous materials such as stone wool and glass fiber. There are also ecological, natural materials such as cork and cellulose. In Greece, precious polystyrene is mainly used because of the building materials chosen mainly for building, such as concrete and bricks. The insulation is best placed on the outer side of the shell to protect the shell itself from the weather. The perimeter walls can be insulated either during the construction of the building or afterwards. They are externally coated with heat-insulating materials that are then engraved.
The most important advantages in insulating the perimeter walls are that no thermal bridges are created at the points where the concrete meets the concrete elements. This protects the walls from moisture, increases the life of the walls and reduces the effect of the thermal island, as no heat accumulates on the surface of the wall, which will be released into the environment during the night. Finally, an increase in the square of the interior is achieved, as if it is insulated during the construction of the building, the wall does not need to receive a double row of bricks but a single.
“Sunscreen” for the house.
With the temperature in our country reaching every summer at very high levels, creating a permanent need for protection from the sun, proper shading of the house is considered imperative.
According to a relevant European study, solar protection systems have the ability to provide a significant reduction in temperature within a home, which may exceed 5 degrees Celsius. At the same time, energy is saved in the order of 10 to 15%, while the energy demand of cooling and heating air conditioners is reduced by almost half, which in turn has its own impact on the reduction of electricity consumption, which in total may also drop to 40% due to the use of external shading systems.
Sun protection systems are divided into two categories, mobile and fixed. Fixed shades in most applications are some extension of the slab, vertical and horizontal projections, as well as the horizontal concrete precast or metal at the height of the window.
The movable shades are some additional sunscreen devices made of lightweight materials (metal, aluminum, plastic, wood), which, with the appropriate mechanisms (manual or automated), can rotate following the sun’s trajectory. In addition, sun protection in the building can also provide outdoor green areas, both with direct shading that can be achieved by trees, as well as with lower vegetation, which, due to the green color, significantly reduces the sunlight entering the ground while at the same time also improve the conditions for natural ventilation.
Regarding the value of a shading system, it is reported that a complete 6 × 3 meter stretch system is currently estimated at 500 to 700 euro.
Subsidy from Home Savings.
The need for energy upgrading a building and reducing pollutant emissions to minimize the burden on the environment we live in is a priority at pan-European – and not only – level. Thermal insulation, which provides a healthy and comfortable living environment, reducing the cost of space heating and cooling, is one of the most important energy jobs that can be delivered to a home and is therefore also included in the relevant funding foreseen for that is why. In particular, the Home Savings program subsidizes, among other things, the installation of thermal insulation in a dwelling, which includes the insulation of the walls, the roof, as well as the underground and the ground floor, if any. In fact, the program also subsidizes the installation of internal thermal insulation, where it is not possible to place external ones, such as listed buildings or traditional settlements.
