House renovation: July 2022

Another moderately busy month. Philip was working on detailed design and advised us to continue looking at finishes, etc.

So we went:

• Windows: still on Rationel (Update from 2025: no regrets, was a good choice).
• Bathrooms: looked around and settled on not the fanciest Sonas. (Update from 2025: no regrets, was a good choice.)
• Kitchen: went to Timbercraft, which we previously used. Had a first sketch of a design for it. (Update from 2025: kitchen itself is grand, but read the next posts for surrounding drama.)

We also looked at the energy/insulation upgrades we planned. We needed to insulate the house and install a heat pump. There are generally three ways to approach this:

1. Pay for everything ourselves – can choose any supplier.
2. Get SEAI individual grants – work needs to be done by a registered SEAI contractor. We could get grants for wall insulation and a heat pump, but not windows.
3. "One-stop shop" – could get grants for windows too.

The one-stop shop was tempting, as it promised the largest amount of support from the government. We talked to a few one-stop shops, but none of them made it easy to accommodate their works together with general renovation/extension works. We would have had the one-stop shop work on energy upgrades, and the general contractor work on everything else. After our architect's advice, we concluded it would be a nightmare and decided to go with individual grants.