Terrace property, hosted by Sam

I bought my first house in January 2024. It was a bit of a “doer upper”. I knew when we bought it (via auction!) that I wanted to do as much as I could to make the house green and sustainable as we did our refurbishments. The gas boiler at the house we bought was faulty and very old. Also, everything in the house needed redecorating! This made it the perfect time to look at what the options were for heating the house with a sustainable solution. We put new insulation in the loft and did some underfloor insulation. We were able to put new radiators in alongside decorating and get the system in and tested and working before we moved in. It probably took about 3 months from start to finish but this includes a wait for an electricity connection and for a particular brand of hot water cylinder that we wanted. We could probably have done things more quickly - we weren't really in a hurry to work faster as we were still decorating.

To work well you have to have a heat pump on pretty much all the time. This felt bit odd at first- who has the heating on in their house overnight?? But I have to say it's actually really lovely. We turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees overnight and we never wake up to a cold house. If we are away for a period there is a holiday mode you can put the system on to. But other than that the house is always warm. It feels like a really luxurious way to live – especially when I am working from home.