ᐅ Understanding Heating Costs for a Single-Family Home of 200 m²

Hello!

As part of our plans to carry out a single-family home construction project within the next 1-2 years, my in-laws have offered to sell us their house.

My wife and I have already weighed the various pros and cons quite well. However, what concerns me a bit are the heating costs, which I can’t really assess because I simply lack points of comparison.

Maybe you can help me with that.

Here are the details:

Single-family house built in 1985 using solid construction, with 200m2 (2,150 sq ft) of living space spread over 2 floors.
Exterior walls: 24cm (9.5 inches) Poroton clay blocks + 4cm (1.5 inches) insulation (no further details in the building permit/planning permission) + 11.5cm (4.5 inches) facing brick.
Roof insulation: glass wool + vapor barrier (no further details).

The house has a full basement (unheated) with 30cm (12 inches) concrete exterior walls.

I have looked at the gas bills from recent years. On average, the consumption was 40,650 kWh over the last 10 years. The heating system is a gas-fired central heating system (about 15 years old). Hot water is included in that.

The offer my in-laws made us is really tempting. Renovations wouldn’t be necessary for now either, as the house is in impeccable condition (my wife and I currently live there together with my in-laws).

What do you think about this consumption? How would you assess it?

Best regards

You probably won’t get a more precise assessment than the current invoice available here in the forum.

Hi,

40,000 kWh is indeed quite a lot.

My house (187 sqm (2,013 sq ft) living space) was built in 1982, and the heating system was replaced in 2008. It is a gas condensing boiler with solar support for hot water and heating.

Consumption is around 20,000 kWh...

Regards

booger schrieb:
You probably won’t get a more accurate assessment than the current statement here in the forum.

I understand, I’m mainly looking for comparison values...

@E.Curb

How are the exterior walls of your house constructed?

Because with a similar living area and year of construction, having double the energy consumption is quite significant.
What also puzzles me is that the consumption hasn’t changed since my wife and I started living on the first floor. My wife had lived on the first floor before (her parents live on the ground floor), but not all rooms were finished and heated.
Wouldn't the consumption have had to increase from that point on?

Does anyone perhaps have an idea where the high consumption might be coming from, or who could be hired to investigate the cause?

Best regards

Basically, buildings cannot be compared solely based on their energy consumption. I just wanted to give you a rough reference point.

You might want to contact an energy consultant. They should be able to investigate the underlying causes.

a) They are currently heating for two households, including hot water.
b) The desired room temperature makes quite a difference. Maybe try heating less sometimes.