How to improve insulation

[Serenity74]

Not entirely sure this is the right place for this but seemed the best option. I bought a house just over a year ago and frankly its turned into a bit of a disaster so far but that's another story. The main issue now is the house is absolutely freezing. I don't mean its a bit cold and you have to put a jumper on, I'm talking heating going full blast all day, multiple layers and under the duvet sat on the sofa and its still cold.

I'm not sure why and therefore I'm not sure where to start with fixing the problem, or even if its worth fixing or if I'm better off selling up in the next few years.

Its a mid-terrace built in the 1930s. I moved from a similar house in the same street I was renting and it was nowhere near as cold as this one.

The biggest problem is downstairs which is essentially one big lounge / diner and kitchen which is an extension but in the 80s. There's a radiator in a bay window at the front, and another on the wall in what would be the dining part of the room and a very small one in the kitchen extension. The two bigger radiators are hot when on but if you move from standing right in front of them you can't really feel anything. The kitchen is absolutely freezing and I wonder if that is the problem. It has a sloped roof which I think has zero insulation but also no access so past pulling the roof down I'm not sure what can be done there. The walls are I believe cavity but I don't think there is any insulation. To compound the problem there's double doors from the kitchen to the lounge / diner which do nothing in terms of stopping heat escaping.

There's a couple of things I think could be an issue. The doors & windows despite being uPVC double glazing aren't the greatest and I think a fair bit of heat is escaping there. I've been round with a candle and there's no obvious draft but I suspect replacement is needed. The second issue is not so easily solved. The walls are 225mm thick solid brick and therefore cavity insulation isn't an option and looking at the price of external installation its horrifically expensive. Looking around my street I can only find one house that has had it done.

So I could potentially replace the doors & windows, add cavity insulation to the kitchen and look at doing something with the double doors to stop heat escaping, although I'm not sure what to do with them. But I guess my biggest question is how can I work out if that will work. What I want to avoid is spending another big chunk of money to find out its made no difference.

Sorry for the ramble and I'm not sure there's an obvious answer but there's a lot of experience on here so hoping to pick up some pointers. Am I looking at the right things or am I wasting more money for a problem that can't be fixed easily due to the age and design of the house?

 

[Serenity74]

A few pictures that might help. Just to point out these are off Rightmove from before I moved in and everything in the house isn't grey now!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

There's a radiator in a bay window at the front, and another on the wall in what would be the dining part of the room and a very small one in the kitchen extension.

That small kitchen radiator seems likely could be undersized, even if you do improve the insulation. What are your heating bills like?

 

[Serenity74]

That small kitchen radiator seems likely could be undersized, even if you do improve the insulation. What are your heating bills like?

Bills aren't astronomical, currently £80 a month but there's only me in the house. At some point I want to get smart controls on the radiators to have a bit more control over what time particular rooms are being heated which might drop the usage a little.

 

[Serenity74]

That small kitchen radiator seems likely could be undersized, even if you do improve the insulation. What are your heating bills like?

To be honest the kitchen is a bit of a mess. It looked nice on viewing and the survey picked nothing up, but they missed pretty much everything that was wrong with the house. Looks like new doors have been put on several times and now the hinges don't sit in place properly and a couple of the carcasses are damaged. There's also no extraction for the cooker.

The kitchen could really do with ripping out and starting again but given how much I've spent on things I wasn't expecting to spend on so far that's on the back burner at the moment. Also, I want to be certain I'm staying here for a good few years before I start ripping out kitchens and bathrooms (which also needs doing).

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bills aren't astronomical, currently £80 a month but there's only me in the house. At some point I want to get smart controls on the radiators to have a bit more control over what time particular rooms are being heated which might drop the usage a little.

So probably a cheap one off cost quick fix, with slightly increased bills, would be to install a larger, higher output radiator, if the present small one is getting hot?

I would also be wanting to take a peak in that ceiling above the kitchen, to see what if any insulation is in there - job for on of those USB snake cams.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

All the radiators may well be undersized if there's a modern condensing boiler and rads from the 70s. Find a heatloss calculator, do the sums then have a measure of the rads and see if they're anywhere near.
Roof insulation gives you the best payback, well worth a look in the kitchen roof void and see what's there.
Heavy curtains on the windows and doors will help a lot as well.
Last one, wave your candle/smoky taper around the skirting boards, see if you're getting draughts from the floor voids. Bare floorboards do look lovely but carpets keep the cold out much better

 

[Serenity74]

I've done the heatless calculation. The lounge should be fine, needs 7926 BTUs, has 9124. The kitchen, not surprisingly is nowhere near, needs 6632, has 877.

Problem is there's not really anywhere to put a bigger radiator. The current one is 30cm wide by 70cm tall. You could go taller, although a quick google suggests that might not be something that's available, but wider is a no go as there simply isn't space. Although one thing I did consider was bringing up on of the double doors to make it a regular single door, preferably that held heat in / out a bit better, which could give some scope to extend the radiator, although typically the door I'd want to brick up ideally isn't the one next to the radiator!

In terms of insulation in the roof how do you do it with no access? Presumably you've either got to take the plaster down or the roof off to get into it.

To be honest the kitchen being freezing isn't a huge issue, it was more a concern that the heat was pouring out via the kitchen.

The bigger problem is the lounge. Where I sit is about as far away from the kitchen as possible, on the photos it would be on the left hand side of the sofa next to the door. I feel there's a draft coming from somewhere but can't work out where. I will defiantly be trying the candle around the skirting tonight. Have also ordered a B&D TLD 100, hopefully that's easy to use and might show where there's a sudden temperature drop.

 

[JP_]

It has a sloped roof which I think has zero insulation but also no access so past pulling the roof down I'm not sure what can be done there.

My gut feeling is that this has to be the first place to look. Terraced homes have the advantage of warmth and therefore insulation from neighbours, so if the houses next door are not empty, those walls should be OK.

So the first thing has to be to investigate this possible zero insulation roof space above the kitchen, which will draw heat away from the rest of the open plan downstairs.

This is why I don't like open plan living - too impractical when it comes to heating. You can get it cosy and warm, then somebody opens the backdoor at the same time as somebody comes in the front, and whoosh!, house full of cold air.

Sort the roof insulation first. Then if still cold, draft proof. Then if still cold, look at floor insulation (I assume none as 1930s, like mine was - but with the extra flooring on top probably not a big factor), and if that fails, bigger radiators somewhere ...

 

[JP_]

another thing - does the loft have good insulation? Because in a cold 1930s house, warmth from the lounge could also escape up the stairs and through the roof.
The radiator does look a bit small too ... I have curved radiators in my 1930s bays, which I think must be longer. And in the bay itself you will probably lose a lot of heat as so much glass and no insulation in the walls - thick curtains can help keep the heat in the room rather than getting lost through the windows.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The kitchen, not surprisingly is nowhere near, needs 6632, has 877.

Problem is there's not really anywhere to put a bigger radiator. The current one is 30cm wide by 70cm tall. You could go taller, although a quick google suggests that might not be something that's available, but wider is a no go as there simply isn't space. Although one thing I did consider was bringing up on of the double doors to make it a regular single door, preferably that held heat in / out a bit better, which could give some scope to extend the radiator, although typically the door I'd want to brick up ideally isn't the one next to the radiator!

A Myson kick board heater would fit in the dead space under a kitchen unit. They are a small unit, which has a large heat capacity, using a thermostatic fan to blow the warmth into the room.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

This is why I don't like open plan living - too impractical when it comes to heating. You can get it cosy and warm, then somebody opens the backdoor at the same time as somebody comes in the front, and whoosh!, house full of cold air.

Yes, bad enough when one door is opened, when it's cold. We have an inner and outer side door, never normally a need to have both open at the same time, our normal entry point is via that door which acts like an air lock to retain heat. Both front and outer side doors, face the prevailing wind.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Plus 1 for investigating loft insulation- or even check the rad size in the hallway (does the upstairs landing have a radiator)? If you do find you're getting a cold draught coming down the stairs, check loft hatch, check for pipe gaps in the ceiling in the airing cupboard (combi installers aren't good at patching and filling redundant pipe holes) as well as loft insulation

 

[Serenity74]

Think I'll have to look into insulating the kitchen. Hopefully not too expensive or involve major work to access the space. Might also get a quote for putting some insulation in the kitchen walls which are cavity walls but I'm sure not filled.

This is why I don't like open plan living - too impractical when it comes to heating. You can get it cosy and warm, then somebody opens the backdoor at the same time as somebody comes in the front, and whoosh!, house full of cold air.

I'm thinking of trying to change the kitchen to a single door to make it more of a separate room and hopefully stop heat escaping from the lounge but I'm not sure if it will look weird.

another thing - does the loft have good insulation? Because in a cold 1930s house, warmth from the lounge could also escape up the stairs and through the roof.

Loft is insulated but only about 15cm. There's some rolls of thicker insulation at my Dads which I plan to put down, possibly just over the top as I guess you can't have too much. He messed up his measurements when he did his loft so had loads leftover!

check the rad size in the hallway (does the upstairs landing have a radiator)?

The hallway and bathroom are the hottest places in the house! They both have radiators without a TRV. The thermostat is about halfway down the stairs so I have to ramp up the temperature on that to get the rest of the house even vaguely warm. At the moment its on 24 but my lounge is 19. This is part of the issue I think, the lounge doesn't feel like its 19, its bloody freezing yet at my parents when I checked their lounge it was 18 with their thermostat on 13 and their lounge was nice and warm.

Heavy curtains on the windows and doors will help a lot as well.
Bare floorboards do look lovely but carpets keep the cold out much better

Curtains and carpets are definitely in the plan. The flooring at the moment is at the end of its life and the blinds were a cheap option to get something in place. I've got a very old dog so I'm thinking of leaving off on laying carpets while he's still around. And of course there's the issue of paying for everything. My budget for any decorating went out the window with everything else that needed doing urgently.

 

[Serenity74]

Part of what I'm trying to work out is a) how much money I'm going to have to spend to sort this and b) if I'm likely to start spending money but not see any benefit without spending a small fortune on external insulation given the front of the house is solid brick not cavity. For example I don't particularly want to pay out for insulation in the roof, filling cavity walls and better windows & doors to still be sat here freezing!

To be honest I deliberately purchased what was supposed to be a turnkey property due to how bad I am at DIY. A year later I'm over £14K in and wondering if I should be spending more or looking at moving in a few years. But I guess that's a discussion for another thread.