Best way of identifying source/cause of cold problem on kitchen

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Hi all

Every year over the winter I have a problem where my kitchen is extremely cold. I'd say this isn't normal room cold, its basically always freezing in comparison to anywhere else and seems to be a an actual problem causing it, you can also feel cold air on your feet, seemingly coming from the direction of the external wall so it seems to be a draft getting in. I've had to buy additional electric heaters to put in the area to take the bite out of the cold over the colder months.

I finally want to try and sort it this year as we have a baby in the house and am looking for any advice on how best to identify what's causing the issue, including is there any specific thermal monitors or anything that's worth buying that might show cold spots?

My suspicion on possible causes are
1) I have a pipe chase that runs from the loft, down the inside of the external wall, to the kitchen. My loft is freezing also so could be cold air coming from here.

2) some sort of gap in the external wall. The wall is roughcast on the outside and it looks intact, there is an unused tumble dryer vent, I covered this with foam last year but it didn't help. I can't get access to the inside of the wall due to kitchen units (not sure how easy these are to dismantle?) But it's possible some of the brickwork is removed for some reason?

3) there are vent bricks to the outside below floor level, possible cold air coming through here and up through the floor?

Sorry for the long post but I'm basically just hoping for some advice on how best to identify and fix what's going on, any help much appreciated.
 
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What is the heat source ,central heating radiator ,or other ??
Is there a door to outside within the kitchen , if so what type ?
Are external walls cavity ,is cavity insulated ?
 
Ground floor plan? Wall construction, floor construction, window and door locations, vents, window types, heating type and locations of radiators etc?
External features, shade, direction of north?
 
How old is the property? has it been kicked about? ie. loft conversions, extensions?
 
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Thanks for the replies. I'll try and provide a bit more info
20201029_085357.jpg
I did a rough sketch of the kitchen, apologies for the quality, my camera is gubbed on my phone.

You can see the radiator position is terrible, its tucked under a worktop and hemmed in by tumble dryer. I spoke to a heating engineer about moving it but problem is there's no available space to put it anywhere else. While obviously putting more heat into the room would probably fix the issue I genuinely think the problem is with cold air coming in from somewhere rather than not enough heat in the room.ni can't emphasize enough *how* cold it gets, also that you can feel a draft at floor level.
20201029_101909.jpg
The house is a 1970s ex local authority, mid terrace, I think the construction is standard cavity brick walls which are roughcast externally.
I'm sure the home report when I bought the house said it had cavity wall insulation installed but I can't guarantee this.

I think the kitchen window and garden are North (ish) facing
 
Walk around with a candle, or incense stick, and see if you can identify the direction the draught is coming from and you may be able to locate it fairly accurately.
 
Walk around with a candle, or incense stick, and see if you can identify the direction the draught is coming from and you may be able to locate it fairly accurately.
Good idea.

Best done this Saturday night, and with an incarnation.
 
That radiator will be useless there! have you got room for a plinth heater?
 
That radiator will be useless there! have you got room for a plinth heater?

A small electric fan would help distribute the heat from the rad, even if only as a temporary measure.

You can confirm whether or not is has CWI by seeing if there are filled in holes on the outer leaf brickwork - the hole will be staggered at around 1 metre apart over the entire wall surface.
 
If it's anything like mine, and it's a suspended floor, there's probably massive holes in the floor behind the units where the various pipes and cables come up through the floor - you might be able to check/do some draft proofing by removing the plinths.
 

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