Maud
Maud had to have a boiler fitted by an expert, but has fitted a water butt and wormery herself.
Where is your house and how old is it?
My house is in Hammersmith and was built circa 1850.
What work have you had done or what lifestyle changes have you made?
We’ve recently had a high efficiency condensing boiler installed along with thermostatic radiator valves in each room. We have a water butt that collects water from rain fall for our garden. We also have a wormery – it’s an environmentally friendly way to recycle food waste, however we do have to stop our toddler from wanting to put everything in it.
Who carried out the work?
The boiler and valves were fitted by a registered plumber in a day, which was fantastic. The water butt and wormery were purchased from a local gardening centre which we fitted easily ourselves.
Any lessons learned and advice for other Londoners?
I would recommend fitting the radiator valves immediately and consider replacing your boiler, with a high efficiency condensing boiler. A wormery makes sense if you have space in your garden and water butts are very easily fitted to a roof drainage pipe.
What has been the impact on your life?
It’s too early to gauge the reduction in energy usage and costs we’ve saved from fitting the new boiler, but it seems to warm the house very quickly and the radiator valves allow us to easily control the heat in different parts of the property; this is helpful with our conservatory which is colder than other parts of the house in winter.
The wormery’s a great way to prevent food waste and provide a useful way to fertilise our garden. The water butt has provided plenty of water for our garden.
Did you get a grant or any other financial assistance?
We didn’t get any grant for the boiler or other things. We are considering solar panels because we have a south facing roof with clear access to the sun. If we do this, we’ll consider applying for a grant under the Low Carbon Building programme.
