Some thoughts on mandatory ceiling insulation

The ceiling of my house was inspected this morning as part of the ACT Government's new requirement for all rental properties to have ceiling insulation.

(if you follow me on twitter, this is a rehash of my thread on this. Sorry-not-sorry for cross-posting)

For background: my house is what's known as a "guvvie", built by the government in the 1950s to provide cheap quick housing for an expanding population. The kitchen has been renovated since then, and ducted heating/cooling installed to replace a wood-heater but that's about it.

The picture above is what it looks like in the ceiling at the moment. Loose fill insulation, very unevenly distributed (quote from the inspector: "it looks like someone just stood at the top of a ladder and chucked handfuls of it around"). That silver thing is the heating duct.

You can also see some questionable electrical work that I'm trying hard to not think about. And rodent damage (and poo). At various times there've been rats and a possum living up there.

The happy news is the inspector reckons it almost certainly does not meet the minimum R value set by the ACT government. Still TBC, but looks like we'll be getting new insulation.

However, it's not that simple. The old insulation has to be taken out, the wiring has to be tidied up, the gaps where creatures get in have to be blocked off, and he recommended pest control as well.

Plus there are things that have to be done elsewhere in the house to keep it safe. For example, there are old (circa 1990s) downlights in the kitchen which have to be replaced. And our switchboard is still the original one (with a couple of new breakers in it), so it will need to be replaced as well.

Because the pitch of the roof is quite shallow, the workers will need to take roof tiles off in a few places to install the insulation in a work-safe way. This means they need to install safety rails before they can start work. And, they can't work if it's raining.

Some thoughts:

1. The ACT Government is going to a huge amount of trouble to make sure these installations are done safely. The Pink Batts programs still weighs heavy. This will mean it costs more. Advocates for greater building efficiency need to get a better handle on the cost of safely installing insulation, and build that into cost considerations.
2. Old houses need a huge amount of work to make them safe, warm and healthy. Maybe it would be fruitful to focus policy on this, rather than ratcheting up the building code for new homes by another star? Just a thought...
3. Given how much our electricity bill is in winter, I am surprised to find there is insulation there at all. I've done my best to seal up door and window gaps, but we are still losing a lot of heat.
4. There are lessons here for electrification advocates to heed as well. If you want to electrify home heating, you need to insulate first so that you don't oversize the new heater. And there will be many ceilings out there that look like mine and need work to make them safe.

I'm still very pleased as a renter, a citizen, and an advocate that the ACT Government is taking this step. It isn't going to be easy or cheap as people think in homes like mine (and there are lots of homes like mine). But that's not a reason to not do it. Everyone deserves to live in a home that is affordable and warm.