Learn how to efficiently heat your home - and keep the heat in

KORE is set to host a Community Retrofit Event this month

“Put another jumper on” is a phrase most of us have heard, or said, at some point.

You mention putting the heating on and, almost on cue, comes the reply. Another jumper. A blanket. Close the door. The heating was only on!

When the bill arrives, though, it raises a real question: are we spending too much generating heat without thinking about how well our homes hold onto it?

Think of your home like the winter jacket you reach for on a cold morning. If that jacket was full of holes, you could add another jumper or a scarf, but you’d still have the same problem: the jacket is letting the heat escape.

“Our buildings can be much the same,” says Marketing Operations Manager, KORE Retrofit Caoimhe Mackey.

“Before investing in a new heating system or heat pump, it makes sense to ask whether the building itself is ready for it. Why put a heat pump into a home that’s poorly insulated and struggling to retain the heat it produces?”

This is the thinking behind a fabric-first approach: make the building work better first, then consider how best to heat it.

Every building has a story

Homeowners, landlords, businesses and developers all face a version of the same question: how do you make a building warmer, more energy efficient and fit for the future without a guessing game of costs, grants and technologies?

For many, “retrofit” still means insulation or a new heating system. In reality, a well-planned energy upgrade considers the building as a whole and how insulation, windows and doors, ventilation, heating and renewable technologies work together.

A stone farmhouse behaves nothing like a 1970s bungalow. An apartment above a shop presents different challenges again. The starting point is the same: understand the building before deciding what it needs.

Keeping the heat in

Every house has that one room. The bedroom that never quite warms up. The hallway with the draught that finds your ankles the second November arrives. The living room that’s cosy at 9pm and cold again by 10:30pm.

“These aren’t just small annoyances to shrug off with another jumper. They can be signs that your home isn’t performing as efficiently as it could,” Ms Mackey advises.

“Better insulation, alongside properly considered airtightness and ventilation, can help a home retain warmth for longer, meaning the heating isn’t fighting a losing battle every evening.”

However retrofit isn’t only about saving energy. It is also about adding comfort and value to your property. A warmer, more comfortable and energy-efficient home can be a better place to live today, while improving its quality and appeal for the future.

“The question isn’t simply how we generate more heat, but where is the heat we’re already paying for going, and how do we stop unnecessarily losing it?

“The same applies beyond the family home. For landlords, businesses and developers, improving energy performance can help modernise properties, bring vacant buildings back into use and create long-term value.”

Where to start?

“This is usually where it stalls,” Ms Mackey says.

“Your neighbour got a heat pump and swears by it. Someone in work installed solar panels. You know the attic hasn’t been touched since the house was built, but you’re not sure what it actually needs.

“We should sort the house out turns into a tangle of grants and half-understood technologies and gets parked for another winter,” she says.

Which improvement comes first? What supports could be available? And who do you trust to tell you what your building actually needs?

These are exactly the questions KORE Retrofit works with property owners to answer.

Based in Kilnaleck, County Cavan, KORE has decades of experience in insulation and energy efficiency. Through KORE Retrofit, that expertise helps property owners understand their building, identify appropriate measures and consider how different improvements can work together.

Managing Director at KORE Retrofit Dr Barry McCarron says the conversation around energy “needs to move beyond technology alone”.

“Heat pumps, solar panels and renewable energy all have an important role to play, but the foundation of every successful retrofit is the building itself. If we make our buildings perform better, everything else becomes more effective, more affordable and more sustainable,” he says.

So, what’s the next step?

Whether it’s a family home that never stays warm, an empty floor above a premises, a vacant property you’re considering renovating or a business that’s costing too much to heat, knowing what to do next can be the hardest part.

Sometimes, it starts by looking at the problem differently.

Think back to that familiar exchange:

“Can we put the heating on?”

“Put another jumper on!”

Maybe a better question is: where is all that heat going?

Sometimes the answer isn’t another jumper. It’s giving the building a better jacket.

For anyone wondering what that could mean for their own property, KORE Retrofit is hosting a Community Retrofit Event at the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Tuesday, September 22, from 6-8pm.

The evening will bring together a panel of industry experts to help homeowners, landlords, business owners and developers understand the opportunities available through retrofit, from energy upgrades and available supports to vacant properties, above-the-shop spaces and commercial buildings.

It’s an opportunity to hear from the experts, ask questions about your own project and discover how retrofit could bring greater energy efficiency, comfort and value to your property.

Retrofit Sales & Project Manager, KORE Retrofit Leighanne Fay Crowe says the community event “marks an important milestone” for KORE; “not only as a chance to share our expertise and connect directly with local homeowners, but as the first in a series of events we plan to bring to communities across the country.

“We’re especially delighted to be launching it here in our hometown. Cavan has been at the heart of our journey from day one, and it’s fitting that we’re starting this next chapter where our story began.

“Supporting local communities to understand the benefits of retrofit and take their first steps towards a more comfortable, sustainable home is exactly what Kore Retrofit is all about.”

To sign up for the Community Retrofit Event at the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Tuesday, September 22, from 6-8pm, click here.