Cold master bedroom

[laserboy]

Help and advice required! We moved into our house some five years ago and in the process completely overhauled the heating system, new boiler radiators, tank etc etc.
I also made the point of changing the room thermostat to a Digistat 3 instead of the conventional scroll wheel version which are notoriously inaccurate!
There is no room thermostat upstairs which might be part of the problem?
When the heating is on and the rooms downstairs are 20 degrees the upstairs master bedroom stays very cold even though the radiators seem to pumping out the heat!!
I am at a loss as to the cause!,can anyone shed any light on this?
I might add the house is a detached property so that might be a factor, also the wall cavities are insulated as is the loft.
Any help needed, if only to save the missus walking out.....wearing duffle coats in the bedroom is putting serious strain on our relationship!!!

 

[RigidRaider]

What depth of insulation in the loft? Have a look at the Wickes website, they are selling 4 rolls each 8.1m2 glass wool 170mm thick for £29.97, insulation has never been cheaper.

 

[laserboy]

Yes thanks for that, I am sure its not overly insulated. If im honest its pretty thin.....
Im being thick here but would it make the room that much colder with insuffient insulation?

 

[spraggo]

There is no room thermostat upstairs which might be part of the problem?


Try running the downstairs heating at 22 degrees C, (the design temp).
Remember that the room stat downstairs will shut off the heating completely when desired temp is reached, unless you have Zone valves.
Are your upstair radiators large enough?.

spraggo

 

[iep]

Insulation makes a huge difference. People are obsessed with things like double glazing but it is your loft insulation that can make the biggest difference to your house.

We spent £40 on insulation last year to cover half the loft in our bungalow. and it has transformed that half of the house. Unfortunately, due to access issues in the roofspace, it is not possible to inslaute the other half of the house.

It does however allow an intersting comparison between insulated and uninsulated spaces.

Rooms under the insluated side of the house now warm up and stay warm even after the TRVs shut off the radiators.

In the other half of the house (despit actually having twice as many rads) the temp is never high and plummets as soon as the heating is switched off.

iep

 

[laserboy]

Thanks for the really good feedback!!, it would appear that the loft needs a major insulation!!
It would appear that is the reason!!
I think the radiators are big enough as they run the full length of the double aspect window.
The loft it is!!

 

[RigidRaider]

Wickes.

You'll be so amazed at the difference that you'll kick yourself for not having done it sooner. The whole house will feel silky warm.

 

[iep]

FYI, when I got home last nght it was 0 degrees outside and the heating had been on for one hour.

At the insulated end of the house we have 3 large rads. The temp had reached 18 degrees (this is the temp we keep the house at) and the TRVs had switched the rads off. At the uninsulated end of the house we have 7 med/large rads (with the TRVs fully open), the temp was only 17 degrees and all the rads were still working hard.

Your post got me thinking, I really do need to find a way to improve the insulation at that end of the house. This must be costing us a fortune in Gas.

Cheers,

iep

 

[Biguns]

Just in support roof insulation.
Our estate was built approx 23 yers ago. Timber frame with outer brick leaf and 6 inches of wall insulation between the inner wall and timber frame.
However I am now looking out of the widow at a bungalow at the other end of the street. This house last year had a sizable extension added, making it L shaped. On the new extension roof the snow is as thick as it was when it fell. On the older part, the snow on the roof has practically disappeared and I can see the tiles. Obviously escaped/wasted heat through insufficient loft insulation.

 

[ianniann]

No loft insulation, or even very thin layers just between the rafters, are well worth topping up. If you've already got 6" or 8" then there is little to be gained by going to whatever the recommended depth is this week (is it 10" now?). At those levels of insulation, the major heat loss is coming from even small boarded areas that may be poorly insulated and from what you might consider insignificant gaps or thermal bridges. The design of new buildings, such as the snowy extension mentioned, minimise these problems but they can be nearly impossible to elmiminate on older buildings. Adding another 4" of loft insulation on top of an already reasonable depth may make no noticeable difference.

Of course whatever your insulation, upstairs rooms are always going to be more difficult to keep warm. No loft insulation in the world can match the effect of having a room above your head already heated to virtually the same temperature.

 

[laserboy]

I must say that thinking back to last year when we had a fair bit of snow even though our insulation is not up to scratch the snow remained in place on the roof...
If our insulation was that bad the snow would surely have thawed??
Also last night I felt the bedroom walls and they were very cold to the touch!!
Again we have cavity wall insulation but it cannot be up to much if the walls are this cold....another reason why the bedroom is so bloomin cold!