Planning your upgrades
The order you upgrade in affects your comfort, your bills and which SEAI grants you can claim. Here is the order that works for most Irish homes, and why.
Quick answer: For most homes: 1. insulate the attic and walls, 2. replace old windows and doors, 3. change the heating (usually to a heat pump), then 4. add solar. The order matters for grants too: the windows grant needs good attic and wall insulation, and the heat pump grant needs low heat loss, so insulating first opens the bigger grants.
Source review · SEAI.ie · Sources and review
| Step 1 | Attic and wall insulation: the cheapest to finish after the grant · attic · walls |
|---|---|
| Step 2 | Windows and doors: needs good attic and wall insulation to qualify · guide |
| Step 3 | Heating: a heat pump once heat loss is low enough, or better controls · heat pump |
| Step 4 | Solar PV and solar water heating · solar |
| All at once | A One Stop Shop plans and manages a whole-home upgrade; the standard route targets B · guide |
A house loses 20 to 30% of its heat through the roof, and a lot more through uninsulated walls. Insulation cuts that loss for good, costs relatively little after the grant, and makes every later upgrade work better.
It also unlocks grants. The windows and doors grant needs your attic and walls rated Good or Very Good (or a low enough heat loss after the work). The heat pump grant needs a Heat Loss Indicator of 2.3 or lower in homes built before 2007, or a technical assessment. Insulating first is usually what gets a home over those lines.
Attic insulation (up to €2,000, or €2,500 for first-time buyers) and cavity wall insulation (up to €1,800) often cost little more than the grant. Internal or external wall insulation is a bigger job with bigger grants. Wall options.
Up to €4,000 for windows and €800 per door. Worth it when the glazing is old, and you can do it in the same project as the insulation. Windows guide.
A heat pump gets up to €14,500 once the home holds its heat. If a heat pump isn’t right yet, €700 for heating controls helps your current system.
Solar PV (up to €1,800) lowers your electricity bill, which pairs well with a heat pump. Solar water heating gets €1,200.
Explore each upgrade on the 3D home, then use this guide to plan the order.
Check my grantsDoing the work in stages still needs a cash plan: check what is payable before each grant arrives.
Your home in 3D
Select an upgrade on our 3D home to compare grant options, conditions and typical costs. When you are ready, choose the work you want and request a quote from one registered contractor who covers your county. The figures are guidance; your contractor checks the work and SEAI decides grant eligibility.
Usually attic and wall insulation. They are the cheapest to finish after the grant, they cut heat loss quickly, and they help you qualify for the windows and heat pump grants.
Insulation first in most homes. A heat pump needs a home with low heat loss to run efficiently, and the grant needs a Heat Loss Indicator of 2.3 or lower (or a technical assessment) in homes built before 2007.
Your home needs good attic and wall insulation, but you can do the insulation in the same project as the windows and doors.
It can be. One project means one set of paperwork and the grants paid together, and a One Stop Shop can manage it. Doing it step by step spreads the cost.
Yes. Explore insulation, windows and doors, heat pumps and solar panels on our 3D home, with grant options, conditions and typical costs beside each upgrade. Use this guide to discuss the order with your assessor or contractor before committing to work.
The full source review remains . The Traditional Homes Pilot route and its BER exception were checked on . Staged-work payment planning was checked against SEAI’s individual-grant support guidance on . Other information retains its earlier review date.