SEAI Individual Energy Upgrade grants – attic insulation installation guidance

Demand for home energy upgrades is extremely high, with homeowners looking to make their homes more energy efficient and benefit from reduced energy bills and increased home comfort, as well as reducing their carbon footprint.

SEAI offers a range of home energy upgrade options, with significant Government grants to support homeowners with their home energy upgrade journey. One option is the Individual Home Energy Upgrade grant route, which is ideal for homeowners who wish to upgrade their homes in stages, to suit their budget. With this grant route, the homeowner manages their own project by selecting a registered SEAI contractor from SEAI’s database of over 1,000 contractors. This is a very popular “a la carte” approach to upgrading your home, with over €400 million having been paid out to date by SEAI.

Contractors will find that being registered with SEAI drives leads to their companies and is beneficial for business. Ireland needs to scale up the installation of energy efficiency works to achieve climate action goals, and producing compliant works is a smart way to increase output and improve the bottom line. For homeowners to avail of SEAI grant aided works, they must select contractors who are registered with SEAI. Below you’ll find some useful links for contractors who are interested in registering or who are already registered for SEAI grant aided works.

How to Register
www.seai.ie/register-with-seai/
Contractors Registration Form: www.seai.ie/forms/Contractors-Registration-Form.pdf
Contact Email: info@betterenergyhomes.ie

Need for high compliance rates
Increased Government grants, combined with rising energy costs, has led to a dramatic increase in applications for SEAI home energy upgrade grants. With this increase in volume, comes a greater need for high compliance rates from SEAI registered contractors, who are carrying out works on SEAI’s home energy upgrade grant programmes. This article aims to provide registered contractors and merchants with a few key tips when stocking products and installing home energy upgrades, in order to achieve a high standard of work and ensure compliance with all necessary standards and specifications of the SEAI grant programmes.

The focus of this information is on the installation of Roof Insulation. Currently, there are 683 contractors registered with SEAI for roof/attic insulation grant-aided works. The article will highlight some of the main reoccurring non-compliances with this energy upgrade and provide advice on the methodology and products required to insulate an attic to the standards and specifications required under SEAI’s home energy grant programmes.

To ensure compliant attic insulation works, a number of requirements must be met including assessing the attic, installing insulation, ensuring adequate ventilation, insulating all pipework, water tank, attic hatch and covering recessed ceiling lighting. The details of all requirements for insulating an attic can be found in SEAI’s Quality Assurance and Disciplinary Procedures (QADP) document. www.seai.ie/publications/Quality-Assurance-System-and-Disciplinary-Procedure-New.pdf

Pipe Insulation

The main reoccurring non-compliances found on SEAI grant-aided attic insulation jobs relates to pipe insulation. The two main areas of non-compliance when it comes to pipe insulation in attic insulation works are:

1. Not installing insulation to scheme standard
2. Incorrect type of insulation installed on pipes.

All pipework should be insulated in unheated areas of the roof space (using approved materials) when installing attic insulation. If pipework is not sufficiently robust to withstand the installation of insulation, the pipework should be replaced. The following images display examples of incorrect installation and correct installation.

When it comes to the thickness of insulation on the pipe, the insulation thickness must comply with standards and specifications of SEAI’s Home Energy Upgrade grant programmes and S.R. 54 Code of Practice for the Energy Efficient Retrofit of Dwellings.

Incorrect Pipework Insulation Installation.

Correct Pipework Insulation Installation.

Recommended thickness of pipe insulation.

As a rule of thumb for installers, it is important to remember that the thickness of the insulation must be greater than the pipe diameter.

Top Tip from SEAI for the Trade
It’s important for builders’ merchants, hardware & DIY stores as well as manufacturers and suppliers to manufacture/stock the correct thickness of pipe insulation in order for SEAI registered contractors to avail of the correct material which will meet SEAI Home Energy Upgrade grant programme compliance standards.

RONAN SYNNOTT
Civil Engineer with SEAI.

This Business Support article featured in the March/April 2023 issue of The Hardware Journal.