Retrofitting older homes will save money and add value

YOU don’t need to tear the heart out of a Victorian terrace or a Georgian cottage to make it warm, efficient and saleable.

Retrofitting older homes is no longer a fringe pursuit but a mainstream expectation and doing it right can save money, improve comfort and keep your property’s value strong when buyers ask pointed questions about energy ratings and running costs.

Bringing an older house up to modern comfort without ruining what makes it special is perfectly doable but you need to take it in the right order and use the right people.

The short version: start with fabric (stopping heat leaking out), fix ventilation as you go, then tackle low-carbon heating and, if you must, tech at the end. Grants exist, rules exist, and because this is Britain there are exceptions for listed buildings.

Here’s the honest, practical route that homeowners are actually taking:

Begin with what you can’t see. Loft insulation still does the most work for the least money. Topping up to around 270mm is the current norm. The Energy Saving Trust puts typical installed costs for a semi-detached property at the £750 to £900 mark and confirms you can add to what you’ve already got rather than ripping it out.

Savings aren’t life-changing on today’s tariffs but they’re steady and immediate and most homes can take more insulation than they currently have.

Draught-proofing is next but don’t confuse it with blocking every hole you can find. The aim is controlled ventilation. Plug the random leaks around doors, windows, floorboards and letterboxes while keeping dedicated vents clear so the house can breathe.

The Energy Saving Trust still pegs typical annual bill savings from proper draught-proofing at around £85 in Great Britain — worth having — and you’ll feel the comfort difference at once. If your house has working chimneys you don’t use, a removable chimney draught excluder is a cheap win you can take out when you light the fire.

A critical warning that keeps tripping up sellers. Be very cautious about spray-foam insulation in lofts. RICS guidance and parliamentary briefings have flagged mortgage and insurance problems where foam has been sprayed on to the underside of roof coverings, especially without a proper ventilation strategy and independent assessment. Removal can cost thousands and stall a sale. If a past owner has done it, get an independent surveyor with specific experience to advise before you list the property.

If your walls are cavity-built (many post-Twenties houses are) and not already filled, cavity insulation is usually the next cheapest heat-loss fix. For solid-walled cottages and terraces, internal or external wall insulation is possible but brings planning, moisture and detailing risks. If badly done, it traps damp.

The government and Ofgem now lean hard on quality control: publicly backed schemes should be delivered to the PAS 2035/2030 retrofit standard, with a named co-ordinator who designs the whole package for your specific house rather than selling you a one-size-fits-all measure. Ask for PAS 2035 compliance and walk away if you can’t get it.

Money off helps. The Great British Insulation Scheme runs to March 2026 and funds basic measures (think lofts and cavities) for the least efficient homes and some council-tax bands.

Separately, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme gives a straight £7,500 grant towards an air-source or ground-source heat pump, or £5,000 for a biomass boiler, where appropriate. Installers claim lots — read the neutral pages and check the numbers yourself.

What about listed homes and conservation areas? Historic England’s updated guidance is friendlier than it used to be. Draught-proofing, secondary glazing and loft insulation (not spray foam) are usually acceptable and often don’t need listed building consent if they’re reversible and don’t alter the character. Always check locally but it’s no longer a flat “no”.

Secondary glazing is particularly powerful because it kills draughts as well as conduction losses and modern slim systems are discreet. If you’re eyeing internal wall insulation in a Georgian or Victorian room with cornices, panelling or lime plaster, expect stricter scrutiny and a case-by-case decision.

When the fabric is right, you can talk heating. Heat pumps work best in well-insulated, well-draught-managed homes with decent radiators or underfloor loops. With the £7,500 grant and zero per cent VAT on supply and install, they pencil out more often than you’d think, particularly for oil-heated rural homes. But they’re not magic boxes. A poor radiators-and-controls design will leave you lukewarm and cross. Get heat-loss calculations in writing and specify flow temperatures and emitter sizing at the design stage, not after installation.

Henley-area practicalities matter. Much of our stock is pre-1919 “solid wall” and sits in conservation areas along the Thames and up into the Chiltern foothills. That means moisture-open materials (lime-based plasters, breathable insulation) often suit better than impermeable products. It also means you should expect to coordinate measures |— insulate the loft, yes but don’t forget background ventilation or trickle vents. Draught-proof the sash windows but keep a path for fresh air in kitchens and bathrooms so you don’t swap heat loss for condensation.

A good local route is to start with an impartial whole-house plan.

Cosy Homes Oxfordshire is an example of a county-backed “one-stop” service that produces a tailored sequence of works and manages vetted contractors. Its whole-house planning ethos mirrors PAS 2035 and is designed specifically for our kind of housing.

Climate resilience is now part of retrofit, not an optional extra. Two issues bite here: flood and summer overheating. The Environment Agency’s Flood Map for Planning was overhauled this year using the NaFRA2 dataset. Check your plot before you spend, because air bricks, floor insulation and landscaping choices look very different in flood zones two and three.

If you’re at risk, include non-return valves on drainage, raised services, water-resistant floor finishes and sacrificial plaster in the plan. If you’re not, you still want shading, cross-ventilation and better roof/loft ventilation to handle hotter summers.

Because this is the real world, a final word on quality. Government and regulators have started ejecting poor performers from schemes after botched jobs and damp complaints, which tells you two things: one, the oversight’s tightening; two, you still need to choose carefully. Insist on written designs, product data sheets, moisture strategies for any internal insulation, and a clear handover pack. If someone offers to “do the loft this weekend for cash” or wants to spray foam your rafters, thank them politely and close the door.

For those wanting to get started, the most useful checklist is simple: Energy Saving Trust for the basics, Ofgem and GOV.UK for eligibility checks on the Great British Insulation Scheme and Boiler Upgrade Scheme, Historic England for listed-friendly measures, the Environment Agency flood map for risk sense-checks and Cosy Homes Oxfordshire for whole-house plans.

Done in the right order, you end up with a home that’s warmer, quieter, cheaper to run and, crucially, saleable in a market where efficiency and resilience are now part of the conversation.