EPC Help and guidance
Note that this is not the Elmhurst manual or the conventions! Both are available using the links above
Age Banding
Accurately ageing a house is essential to obtaining an accurate EPC document. Failure to do so will ensure that an audit will fail. Listed below are the only age bands that you need to be aware of. Anything Pre 1900 is all put in the same age band (pre 1900).
List of age bands
A: Pre 1900
B: 1900 - 1929
C: 1939 - 1949
D: 1950 - 1966
E: 1967 - 1975
F: 1976 - 1982
G: 1983 - 1990
H: 1991 - 1995
I: 1996 - 2002
J: 2003 - 2006
K: 2007 Onwards
1837 – 1901 (Victorian)
Over-ornamental features around doors and windows
Large chimneys with several pots (may have been removed)
Solid brick construction sometimes rendered (thickness of about 220mm)
No DPC installed
Brick decorations between floors
No car parking facilities (normally loads of cars in the street)
Old outbuildings (used for an outside toilet)
Servants’ quarters in basement or attic
Basements for coal
1901 – 1914 (Edwardian — ended with WW1)
Solid front door with fan light above
Decorative supports for window sills
Tiled floor to the porch
230mm thick walls
Glazed doors are common
Sash windows with large panes (one pane up and under the meeting rail)
1920s
Council / social housing came about
70ft rule governed the minimum distance between houses
South-facing gardens
Whole streets developed at once
More consistent in style
Gothic arches and gables
Larger panes of glass (due to development in glass manufacture)
Tiled floors in porch areas
Large property size
Large gardens
Increased use of bay windows
1930 – 1949
Roof extends forward over the bay window
Hipped roofs are common
Formal entrance with a half-round opening to the porch
Metal casement windows
Bay windows with horizontal banding
Cavity brick walls (about 250mm thick)
Tall chimneys
Extensive roofs
Access for a car usually in a separate garage
Front door set back slightly
System-built walls — concrete panels (due to lack of post-war labour)
Steel frames (often visible in the roof space)
DPC installed
1950s
Flat-roofed porches on metal posts
Concrete roof tiles
No walled front gardens
Metal casement windows
Bungalows became popular
Plain brick walls (from mass production of London bricks)
Council house buildings with traditional brick construction (about 250mm+ thick)
Blocks of council flats
Bay windows less common
Chimneys still present on most properties
Most properties have a driveway or garage
Window openings increase in size and tend to be wider than tall
1960s
Dormers became popular
Integral parking
Kitchen / diner and open-plan living rooms
Development of tower blocks and flats
Cladding of timber or tile in parts of the property
Concrete roofs; slate rarely used
Flat or low-pitched roofs
Open-plan rooms: lounge / dining room
Reduction in chimneys (solid fuels rarely used)
Plastic guttering (replaced asbestos)
Large window areas due to low oil prices
Building regulations introduced
1970s
Oil crisis saw oil suppliers treble prices
Focus on energy efficiency — wall insulation, far smaller windows, double glazing
Increase in housing density (rise in land prices)
High walls and fences for privacy
Off-plot parking and carports
Lack of chimneys or roof vents (gas central heating dominant)
Increased ridge vents
Cavity walls about 260mm+ thick
Pre-fabricated trussed rafter roofs widely used
Flat, mono-pitch and shallow-pitch roofs became popular
Use of timber and steel frame common
1980s
Cul-de-sacs with tightly packed houses common
Chimneys return for gas flame-effect fires
Brown double-glazing wooden frames often with curved window heads
Dark woods and bricks
Reduction of asbestos in external materials
Cavity walls about 270mm+ thick
Complex roof shapes, occasional dormers
Lines of different coloured bricks outlining windows and doors
1990s
Cavity walls about 270–300mm thick
Shared drives for several houses
Narrow gaps between properties
Studies, utility rooms, cloakrooms and en-suites more common
Extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms
Allocated parking, driveways or garages
Houses closely packed — large-volume estates
Mix of past styles (bays, pillars, porches, cladding, etc.)
Trickle vents at windows
Often two garage spaces for larger houses
2000s to present
Three-storey buildings
Smaller gardens
Timber-frame construction
Cavity wall thickness 300mm+
Heating
Fireplace
An open fire place means open to the chimney meaning that if you were to light a fire, smoke would exit through the chimney. A closed fireplace is sealed off from the chimney by a damper. Note that boarding, pillows, or any other temporary blockage does not make the fireplace a closed fireplace. In order for the fireplace to considered as closed it must have a built in damper that can be open and closed as the users discretion.
Inglenook fireplace
A standard (more modern) fireplace sits in front of a wall. An Inglenook is made of brick and sits in a recess containing a fireplace. These types of fireplace are often very spacious allowing the storage of logs etc.
When is a fireplace secondary heating
If it is capable of supporting fuel then it is considered a heating source. The surveyor will need to determine if it is the primary or secondary heating source.
Two Boilers present
99% of the time there is only one boiler present in each property and this is entered as main heating one. There is an option when entering main system one that asks what percentage of the dwelling is heating by this boiler. Because there is always only one boiler this option is never changed and therefore always stays at 100%. In the event of two boilers it will need to be established what (roughly) percentage of the dwelling each boiler heats. If it is calculated that main heating (boiler) one heats 70% of the dwelling then obviously main heating two (boiler) would be entered as heating 30% of the dwelling. Note that there may be two boiler because one does the space heating whilst the other does the water heating. This will need to checked in order to be entirely sure what each boiler does.
Auto ignition boiler?
No window = Auto ignition
If I can see a flame (or window) then it is permanent pilot
Permanent pilot
If there is a visible flame through a small window then it is a permanent pilot. This means that the flame is on all the time (very bad). There will be a removable cover that is used as access in order to reignite the flame if it goes out.
Open Flue
This is open to the room and takes oxygen from the room in order for the combustion process to happen. Also known as conventional flue boilers, these can be a back boiler, wall mounted or free standing. Open flue boilers are less efficient and in certain situations dangerous. An open flue boiler must sacrifice some efficiency in order to vent unwanted products of combustion from the house. By allowing flue gases to retain high temperature, the natural force of rising hot air creates chimney draft, which contain water vapour, carbon dioxide and oxides on nitrogen (all products of combustion). At the same time, air from the room is drawn into the burner to maintain combustion. In most cases it will be the heated air. If there is insufficient air for the combustion process , poisonous carbon monoxide will be produced at the burner. When there is down draft in the chimney this poisonous gas will be carried into the room. If there is an open flue the room must be ventilated in some way usually with an air brick.