Expert: You should consider building renovation before the balcony is demolished

It is important to look after the building throughout its life cycle to keep the house in good condition. The total life cycle of the building is considered to be 50 years. The life cycle of a building begins with a significant investment – a house is built. In addition, while the maintenance costs of the building are relatively low in the first 25 years, the technical condition of the building deteriorates and maintenance costs increase with the use of the building.

When the 25-year limit is reached, it is necessary to invest funds to fix defects, replace worn-out elements, restore engineering systems that provide more economical management and give the building a renewed look, and provide convenience and create higher quality. from the living environment.

Investments in the middle stage of a building’s life cycle extend the overall life cycle of the home and provide suitable conditions for living.

All around us, we see that people don’t always want to dive into these stages of home maintenance because they believe that when they live in an apartment they just need to keep their apartment, perhaps the stairwell, tidy. We see the condition of buildings deteriorating, and in some cases even critically deteriorating, without considering the measures to be taken to maintain the entire building.

Insulation of apartment buildings started in Latvia 14 years ago, but statistical data are not encouraging. If homes are insulated just as slowly, it will take about 100 years to insulate energy-inefficient apartments – that is, about 11,000 apartments need to be insulated.

During these years, approximately 1,600 buildings, or only 14% of the required volume, were renovated with government support.

Indeed, the data is grim. At the current rate of renewal, they show that meeting the European Union’s climate neutral goals by 2050 is questionable. In order to achieve common goals, the renewal rate of multi-apartment buildings should be increased many times over. If it continued as before, the targets set would not be achieved even in 2100. The previous period was really very dormant in the renovation of buildings – several hurdles had to be overcome both to start the process of improving the energy efficiency of buildings and to try to reach an agreement among residents. external barriers – to perform all procedural actions to get support, organize construction work. Some overcame these barriers, for others they were insurmountable.

The increase in tariffs observed last year is a vivid example of the dependence on imported energy sources as well as the impact of energy-inefficient solutions on the heating bill. For example, in an insulated building, before the tariff increase (in Riga), the seasonal heating cost of a 50 m2 apartment could have been around 200 euros, in an uninsulated building 400 euros. When the tariff is tripled, the cost of heating in an insulated apartment will increase to 600 Euros per year, and to 1200 Euros per year in an uninsulated apartment. Accordingly, the cost increase in an insulated apartment is 400 euros, in an uninsulated apartment – 800 euros per year.

Such a rapid increase in thermal energy and electricity tariffs has caused many to consider changing their habits and increasing the energy efficiency of the building to reduce their heating bills.

In the establishment of state and local government support programs, efforts are made to reduce the burden of administrative procedures as much as possible, to create various support tools for both the preparation of technical documentation and the construction process.

One of the major obstacles to making a decision to increase the energy efficiency of a building is the cost of construction. It should be understood that in conditions where many people are simultaneously interested in starting renovations of buildings, the cost of construction increases – the price of the service increases as demand increases. However, this is also a hurdle that can be overcome if various alternatives are carefully considered during the design process – problems not related to increased energy efficiency (repair of defects, renovation/replacement of rainwater drainage system, refurbishment/replacement of roofing, refurbishment of façade, etc.) , what are the costs of measures to improve energy efficiency, evaluation of different levels of energy efficiency – more ambitious and less ambitious. These costs must be offset by projected savings in energy consumption – there will be little or no energy savings in existing renovations, whereas increased energy efficiency will result in savings in energy consumption and associated costs. Thus, it is possible to find the most suitable scenario to increase the energy efficiency of the building by investing more resources in the planning process.

It’s really important to understand that running a building doesn’t just mean living in it and paying the electricity bills.

It is in the interest of the flat owners to take care of the longevity of the building. Failure to complete ongoing building renovations in a timely manner can significantly increase the investment in defect prevention.

By completing the renovation by increasing the energy efficiency of the building, it allows to reduce electricity bills, increase comfort, improve the appearance of the building, increase the value of the real estate and create a more pleasant living environment. approaching jointly determined climate neutrality targets. Therefore, I invite apartment owners to be active in the management of their properties – to recognize and take action on the various support mechanisms offered by the state and municipalities!

The article was created in cooperation with the association “Taureņa effekts” “I want to live effectively!” information campaign. inside.

Information campaign “I want to live effectively!” It is implemented with the financial support of the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund. The aim of the campaign is to increase public understanding by explaining the effectiveness and necessity of building renovation and to solve building energy efficiency issues in accordance with the co-financing opportunities offered by the state.