help needed cold house, problems

[lee2009]

moved to new council house 3 months, have been having serrious issues with high volume of really cold air circulating around, which is wiping out any heat provided off rads.

1. on inspection it appears doubling glazing units were simply thrown in few years ago, on removing pc trim around inside of windows there was gaps and at time of fitting no foam and or insulation was fitted around where the windows were fitted into the opening, council came out removed every trim on window and foam sprayed the gaps, and replaced trims, this i belive has made no difference waht so ever and the cold air is still present.

2. we have air vents in every bedrrom, letting in a high amount of cold air, these are due to be blocked off next week.

if the when the air bricks are sealed and the cold air is still present it looks like im going to have to get building contol out to produce a report on to what is allowing this cold air into the house.

this house is so cold its unbelivable and we aint even had a bad winter yet, the house is cavity insulated and last week we had loft toped up to current insulation depths.


i belive that the main problem is the double glazing units they will be approx 7 years old, and do not belive they were fitted currectly, the outsides have not been sealed, as i say they have foam filled the insides, the council admit that this should of been done when they were fitted but cant explain why they were simply thorwn in, and plastic trim used to hide the gaps on this inside with no insulation fitted before the trims were put back on, the cold air around the windows is unaceptable, all the windows shut and no gaps (paper test) are present.

any idears why this house is so cold?

 

[Mrdjc]

What are your walls made of.
Was it empty before you moved in.
Where is this house situated (Freestanding on top of hill facing north with little trees or shelter around) etc.

If you block the vents you will probably get issues with damp and mould next.

What floorspace is this property, what are you using to heat it.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Err you can forget the idea of BC coming out to do you a report this has nothing to do with them.

Blocking your air vents may well result in condensation so be wary of blocking them permanently in the first instance, the forum is full of threads where this has happened.

Is this a house you own or rent off the council?

How do you know the walls have been insulated?

If the windows are now sealed around their perimeters with foam then they sound sealed to me. Is there no mastic seal on the outside?

 

[lee2009]

house is rented, house is made of bricks, also recent new roof was empty for only few weeks.

plenty of sourounding shelter ie houses, rear of house faces west front faces east.

i know the walls have been insulated because you can see the drill holes, also had this confirmed by council and insualtion guys.

mastic seal on outside, dont know whats behinde the mastic.

even after the foam on the inside had dried you could still feel the cold air!

its rented.

council also say the air vents are needed any more, also windows have air vents that you can open and close, only the kitchen window gets condensation when cooking/using dryer, but we open the window and switch on the extractor fan in kitchen (brand new xpleair)

using glow worm 30cxi combi, just had a double panel rad fitted in one of the bed rooms as it was impoosible to heat this room up with the 2 windows and big air vent in that room

 

[lee2009]

so who would i pay to come out and produce a report into his opionion into what is causing this cold problem.

haveing moved from our previous council house with wooded windows, built at same time roughly and same construction methods, the old house the air would make the blinds move around the windows but that house was never as cold as this one.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Ah OK if the windows have trickle vents you should theoretically be OK. See what difference blocking the air bricks makes, everything said between now and then though is conjecture.

 

[Mrdjc]

I think in this case it would pay off to get the man with his thermal imaging camera to come and do a report of your house and figure out where the hot and cold spots are to determine where the heat is escaping.

With sealed windows, cavity wall insulation and a new roof with loft insulation I really can't see where it would be going!

 

[lee2009]

yes i probably need to wait until them wall vents are sealed, the downstairs is warm enough but upsatirs is different matter, the amount of could air thts upsatirs and the ampunt of cold air that falls down the stairs is unbelivable.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Some houses are just crap, poorly built with poor materials, there will probably be air leakage around the whole house, plug sockets, under skirting's, through light switches, through rad pipe penetrations the list is endless. You could try your environmental health department, they may be interested if they consider there are health issues, what are your neighbours houses like?

Like everything else, cavity wall insulation can be poorly installed btw.

Is the CH working correctly?

 

[lee2009]

hi wil need to checkw ith neighbous, don like dooing it though.

water on boiler reads 75 degrees, we used 65 quids of gas in 15 days trying to heat this house, i cant stand the heat and do not like to be hot, but this house is crazy, when laying in bed its as if the bed room window is opened the amount of cold air is bad, im not exadarating either - the vents are the main culperates.

the rads are all single panels apart from new one in one of the bed rooms, council have been great so far and are dooing everything they can, i belive that if the house is still cold after the vents are sealed then they are going to fit double panel rads to every room for us.

the problem is defo coming from upstairs, they have been and removed bath panel also and filled any gaps around the pipe work.

its the windows and vents that are causing the problems, thanks for your help mate.

 

[WabbitPoo]

You keep mentioning the gaps round the windows, but you said they've been filled and the seals re-fitted...

Have you tried going around the house with a candle (lit!) to detect draughts?

Are your radiators all hot (top to bottom)?

 

[mointainwalker]

i belive that if the house is still cold after the vents are sealed then they are going to fit double panel rads to every room for us.

Which will give you more heat but directly linked to your gas bill.

 

[foamit]

Have you checked the loft hatch?

are the rad's balanced ok?
Ask the council to get a plumber in to balance the rads if you can't do it yourselve.

If you now have trickle vents on all windows try sealing up vents with with cardboard.

 

[autopoiesis]

Have you looked into getting thermal imaging of the house done?

IIRC from when mine was done, it requires a difference of at least 15C between interior and exterior temps to get good results - now's a good time to do it.

Speak to your local council, maybe - or search this forum for leads?

Good luck.