Help me insulate my 1890s detached house!

[boxrick]

I purchased my first house a few months ago and it is a detached property built in the 1890s. The property itself is a double brick wall with no cavity and a layer of something over the outside (pebble dash or something like that!) with a standard sloping roof from that time.

The property seems to have a few issues with it. The first being that it gets very cold very fast and I also seem to be having issues with damp in some rooms, which I currently suspect is a mix of condensation and leaky gutters ( which I am getting checked out shortly ) it also had some silly damp proof course in the last 10 years which is the type where they inject a chemical into your brick.

The house is double glazed half of my ground floor is concrete the other is floorboards. Finally the bottom of the loft is insulated.

In short I need to insulate my property to the best of my ability. I plan to redecorate each room in the house to my taste so will be taking each room bare at some point.

Can anyone make suggestions of how I can help against condensation?

How would I go about keeping my property warm considering the age and all the things explained above?

 

[merlin50]

heating, simples

 

[JohnD]

Condensation - see the Building section of our Wiki (see above)

Insulation:
You have no cavity so can't do cavity wall insulation. Start by increasing the loft insulation. The current standard is 250mm which is ten inches. Do not push insulation into the eaves and block ventilation, or you will get condensation and rot in the loft if the roof is felted, or you get it felted in future. You can protect pipes from freezing by flopping the insulation quilt over then so that they think they are inside the heated part of the house. Apply Regulation pipe insulation (which is stiff plastic foam as thick as your arm) to all exposed pipes, paying special attention to joints, valves and elbows which lagging often misses. You can get a fibreglass insulating jacket to go round any water tanks.

The wooden floor is probably cold and draughty. If you have room to climb under it, put loft insulation between all the floor joists. Staple garden netting to the joists to hold it in place. At the moment loft insulation is at subsidised prices in most DIY sheds so you can get it below cost. this may not last for ever. While you are under there, look for traces of damp or rot; insulate any pipes with the Regulation sleeves, and clear the cobwebs, dirt and rubble out of all the air bricks. If you do not have crawl space, you will be surprised how easy it is to lift some or all of the old floorboards, which will be square-edged not tongued and grooved.

Clean any gaps you find, and block draughts with scraps of mineral wool or with Expanding Foam. However do not block ventilation which prevents damp and rot.

Examine the house for draughts. They will usually be around all the doors and windows. Block them withe draughtstrip available at any DIY shed. The plastic foam is very cheap but does not last long. Velvet pile is very good but expensive. Draughtstrip stick best on paintwork which is fresh, but old paint can be thoroughly cleaned and dried first. If you are going to redecorate, use a cheap one as it will have to come off to repaint.

Consider the external walls. it is possible to apply insulation and plasterboard internally, at considerable cost, or to apply insulation boards and render over, at very considerable cost.

Consider secondary glazing. For a cheap but effective fix, you can tape clear plastic sheet to the window frames. it does not show much if you have net curtains.

New plastic windows will reduce the value of your house, and are so expensive that the energy they save will not repay their cost in 50 years.

Examine all fireplaces. They will allow a big draught if they are open. Do not seal them completely. Allow an airbrick at least at bottom or top. If they are not ventilated they will get condensation causing permanent sooty stains on the walls.

An old detached house with solid walls is expensive to heat, no question. If you are short of money, in cold weather keep (say) one bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen warm constantly, and stay out of the cold rooms. Use thermostatic Radiator valves for controlled heat and economy, as well as the room thermostat which is essential. Ventilate to prevent condensation. Never drape wet washing about the house. Wet brickwork will be very cold as it is worse at insulating than dry brickwork.

Walk round the outside of the house and look for raised paths or flowerbeds against the walls, or signs of dripping gutters, which will all make the walls wet Look for any sign of an old slate dampcourse which may be present in a 100-year old house but may have been bridged.

Obviously insulate all hot water pipes and the cylinder, if you have one.

 

[boxrick]

Cheers for the reply very much appreciated!

Here are some images if it helps any more recommendations:

Under Floorboards

Outside

Loft

 

[JohnD]

I see the loft is felted, so it will get condensation unless you retain good eaves ventilation.

None of the timber looks 100 years old.

how much crawl space under the ground floor?

no pics of airbricks or where a DPC might be.

I can't understand what the "outside" pictures are.

 

[Jungle Jim]

If you are still looking to solve your problems I can suggest a remedy for one part of them. My 1880's house had terrible damp and condensation problems and was very cold. The walls are single skin, render on the outside, plaster inside. I watched some builders renovate next door and they put up what looked like bubble wrap and plastered over it.

I found a local builder/expert in damp proofing and got him to survey my place and install the same stuff with brilliant results. It involved stripping the walls back to brick, nailing this stuff up with special big-headed nails then re-plastering afterwards. I lost an inch or so from the room dimensions but well worth it. It's been in 2 years, I have no damp walls anymore and the place is significantly warmer. Even with last Decembers Arctic conditions I had no problems. I can't remember what it is called but describing it as bubble wrap under the plaster was good enough for my builder.

Something else that will help is to remove the condensation at source. In the bathroom I have installed a humidity-controlled extraction fan that comes on automatically when the room starts to steam up. That has cut down on condensation tremendously. I would have one in the kitchen too but I have no outside wall on which to fit it.

 

[wavetrain]

'Help me insulate my 1890s detached house!'

You poor thing you! I have looked at your photos and you have a house like millions of others of similar construction in this country, indeed it is just like mine. If I switch off my heating it gets cold too this time of year.

The Government and other parties has a wealth of information available to help people reduce their heating costs by improving the insualtion vaue of their homes, I suggest you look at their advice rather than asking for a bespoke soloution here.

This forum is to help active DIYers in their projects who have first helped themselves by doing some research.