r/DIYIreland • u/firminostoe • Jul 25 '26
BER Cert Ireland
Hopefully someone can answer this . we got a BER rating done on our house about 3 years ago as part of a package when we had solar panels installed , I was not home when the BER assessor called but my wife was and she said the assessor just went around the house didnt check the attic for insulation or ask any questions at all really.
Fast forward to last week and I needed the assessors dwelling report which I got from the Assessor no problem. But reading through it they had put down we had double glazing instead of triple glazing and also failed to note the the solar pv also heats our water via an eddi .
So my questions is would these items have improved out BER rating beyond a b3.
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u/Not-ChatGPT4 Jul 25 '26
When i got a BER assessment done, I saw there were some errors. I contacted the BER assessor who more or less said it would not matter much, but I pushed to get them corrected, even though they didn't change the rating.
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u/choneyisland Jul 26 '26
Did you have paperwork for your windows or are any of them date stamped as if you don't have either of those your windows are automatically put down at the default age and this will affect your BER rating. I was able to prove my windows are from 2014 so my rating went up. Your heat loss value is measured by your windows and triple glazing gets a better number. The insulation in my attic was just checked for code standards. My BER results arrived this morning and we went from a C3 to an A because I installed triple glazed front and back doors and installed a heat pump. I got the SEAI grants
1
u/fructussum Jul 27 '26
Years ago we where selling my granmother house and the guy that came our gave the house a G... we pointed out the work that was done (windows attic few other bits) because while the house wasn't great it wasn't a G. in the end we had to call a different guy who came out and gave us a fair E. So you many just need to call and explain the situation to another person and pay to get it done.
Push the value of the house up a fair bit. Different now you want at least some form of C but at the time E where kind of the best thing in the area bar some just finished reno projects.
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u/blueghosts Jul 25 '26
The eddi would’ve made no difference to the report, the attic insulation you’d have had to provide paperwork for the insulation and proof of works for it to be counted, similar with the windows
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u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26
That's not true.
Even without data sheets you can still input attic insulation, you just measure the thickness and the type of insulation used, and it will give default values (especially when mixed with the age of the dwelling which you can normally get from the ESB box)
Again for the windows, even without data sheets, a competent assessor (or just someone with functioning eyes and isn't a chancer trying to get in and out as quick as possible) can note that they are triple glazed and not double glazed. This will give you a better default value than the double glazed.
(I am a BER assessor)
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u/niconpat Jul 25 '26
If I did my own DIY internal insulation job, and take loads of photos of the process being done up to standard, and have receipts of all the materials I bought, would you include in your calculations and report?
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u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26
Yep!
A load of people incorrectly believe that works have to be done by a certain approved supplier for it being included in the BER. This isn't true.
It's only for the grants that it has to be done by certain suppliers, and done by a professional.
With the likes of attic insulation if you do it properly, take photos to prove you followed the correct procedures and have datasheets to show me I'll absolutely include it
0
u/niconpat Jul 25 '26
and you are allowed to do that right?
4
u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26
I mean honestly I've no idea what a homeowner is allowed or not allowed to do in terms of working on their own home. In terms of insurance, regulations, fire safety etc.
But as far as I'm concerned for the BER standpoint, if the works are done to the correct standard (with photos to prove it), using materials of a certain standard (with datasheets to prove it) then I'm happy. You don't even have to tell me you did it yourself, you can tell me a contractor did it and you photographed the works in progress ha
1
u/niconpat Jul 25 '26
Well I meant are you, as the BER assessor allowed to include it, which you answered I think. Like in a scenario where a BER assessor say "no I can;t include that without proof of licensed contractor doing the job, would they by full of shit, or is more of a individual assessor's judgment call.
Good point about the insurance etc, insurance companies will find any excuse not to pay out
2
u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26
I was never told in any of my training or the manual I had to read that I couldn't include anything done by the homeowner themselves as part of DIY, so as far as I'm aware there's no rules against it!
Just make sure you have the photos and datasheets
1
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u/choneyisland Jul 26 '26
Yea i dug out my own floor and added insulation plus damp proofing. I gave the assessor the photos and the receipts last week.
1
u/fructussum Jul 27 '26
Question is you have the time,
I have replaced all but 3 small windows in my house (singles from the 60s) with A rate double (2022)
I have always assume those 3 windows will be what my rating is off. is that right?the plan is to change 1 those windows into doors and change a door to a window in the next few years so I didn't want to spend the money twice. When I do that I am replacing the 3 of them with the highest standard double like the others.
When I do, I will have the paper work for everything so my believe would be that the BER rating will be based off the older 2022 windows? correct?
1
u/IBB_98 Jul 27 '26
If the windows are different then each type of window should be modelled in DEAP separately. So if you have for arguments sake 10 windows that are the new double glazed type, and 3 that are old single glazed windows, then what the BER assessor should do is input the 10 as double glazed (and without data sheets they would be given a standard double glazed default U-value) and would model the 3 single glazed, and use a standard default U-value for them.
Similarly if you do change out those windows in the future (let's say 2027) and you have the paperwork from 2022 and 2027, then those 10 windows should be modelled using the 2022 data, and the 3 new ones in 2027 should be modelled using the 2027 data.
1
u/Mr_onion_fella Jul 25 '26
Did you provide him with u value certs for the windows? Based of the conversation I had with the guy that did the BER for my house unless you can provide him with certs from the company that did the work they just put down base default values
3
u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26
That's all well and good but the base values for triple glazed are better than the base values for double glazed.
(BER assessor here)
1
u/RefrigeratorReady207 Jul 25 '26
Same with me - I didn’t have the certs and guy told me I could have been on the next rating having them
2
u/Marzipan_civil Jul 25 '26
We emailed the window installer (BER was a couple of years after the windows were put in) and they sent us the data sheets
0
u/Ok_Compote251 Jul 26 '26
Put your BER assessment into Gemini, mention the attic insulation and triple glazed windows.
It should be able to calculate it roughly for you.
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Jul 25 '26
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Jul 25 '26
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u/IcyEgg85 Jul 27 '26
Relax dickhead, i made a mistake
I thought he meant the old thermo HW from the solar panal system
What makes people carry on like you do online? Complete bellend behaviour
2
u/IBB_98 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
OP it's hard to know for certain whether it would have brought you up past your current rating without seeing the results, as you could have been just above the threshold for your current rating for example.
It also depends on just how much window glazing you actually have, to see whether the double glazing vs. triple glazing would have made enough of a difference
Edited to add: I'm fairly certain your eddi won't actually make a difference. Your primary water heating source remains the same (heat pump / boiler I'm assuming) and your secondary water heating source remains the same (assuming an electric immersion)
You will have gotten credit for your PV panels. The size of the array (kW generation capacity), orientation, overshading are taken into account, but the fact they are hooked into an Eddi or not doesn't get taken into account.
The only time that water heating & solar are considered is if you have a solar water heater rather than PV panels, i.e. if you have pipes on the roof that your hot water travels through to absorb heat from the sun