Insulating an old home with uneven walls & original features

Ah can see now ... Looks like it's corballed up inside the curved bit roof to the main chimney ?

Would need to know how the main stack is structurally supported from the first floor up but it doesn't look that tricky to me. I'm sure an SE could find a way to take that out completely if you need the drive space.

Would imagine it's then straight forward enough to send a log burner flu straight up the main stack.
 
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I have a 3 stoston rey Victorian semi with 5 external walls. My logic with just doing the top two floors centred around putting a cap of insulation over the property to keep most of the heat in, the radiators on the top two floors rarely come on, the ones downstairs work a harder as there is more heat loss in those rooms.

I did it all myself, removing all plaster from the relevant rooms, battening the walls with 50mm timber, 50mm celotex between, joints taped in aluminium tape and 12.5mm plasterboard on top.

I can't remember exactly what it cost but you could work out costs for yourself easily enough, factor in 1 x skip for each room and battens at 600mm centres vertically.

You can do this work a room at a time and spread the cost. Do the top floor first.


I assume this is internal insulation you did and not externally??

If I just did one or two rooms from the whole house, would this cause any condensation problems because some walls are warmer than others? Also how do I get around the problem of insulating the fireplace if I still want to be able to use it?
 
Ah can see now ... Looks like it's corballed up inside the curved bit roof to the main chimney ?

Would need to know how the main stack is structurally supported from the first floor up but it doesn't look that tricky to me. I'm sure an SE could find a way to take that out completely if you need the drive space.

Would imagine it's then straight forward enough to send a log burner flu straight up the main stack.

What is an SE?
Also what do you mean by how stack is supported?

Assuming I decided against taking it out how would you go about insulating the fireplace without risking the insulation burning?
 
Your downstairs rooms in the pics do not offer much in insulation opportunities, owing to you fabulous original features there. I would not touch the external or internal walls downstairs from an insulation POV as a result. The only improvement I would consider in this respect would be if the walls were in need of re-plastering, I would use a thermally efficient plaster (such as a lime plaster designed for this situation), but the gain would be small, so only worth it if you are re-plastering anyway.

Assuming your floors downstairs are floorboards, you should insulate under them. I am planning to do this in our 1900s house using thermofleece (made from sheep's wool). Also, get a carpet with a decent tog rating. This assumes you can get underneath and attach netting under the joists.

Windows: They might already be double glazed, so will probably not worth replacing. Although even if they are single glazed, you're unlikely to see the investment back in fuel savings until the units fail. You can get a gain from fitting acrylic panels inside the windows, fixing with magnetic tape or catches.

Also, do not underestimate the benefit of decent curtains. Those in the pics look thin, and badly fitted. Thick curtains with thermal lining, and not hanging over radiators would be a benefit you will feel.

Upstairs, I would consider lining a wall with internal insulation, and/or replace the render outside with a more thermally efficient one. A neighbour has done his house with kingspan mounted on metal frames inside. While it has provided excellent performance, it runs the risk of moisture build up.

It cannot be emphasised enough that you must consider the risk of moisture when installing these sort of things. Check where the due point will be, and learn as much as you can on the subject before embarking on any major works.

The roof is a no brainer on insulation: Kingspan, with the gaps filled with expanding foam, but again ensure you have sufficient gap between it and the roof.

Get a new boiler, and rads, but consider the following:
The position of the rads - do they need to the under the windows?
Further savings can be made with a weather compensator rather than a thermostat for the boiler control.
Consider additional sources of heat: Solar thermal, heat source pump (I've seen adverts for hybrid systems with heat source pumps and boilers, so worth investigating), wood burner (if you have a source of wood).

An additional benefit is in things like pictures, book cases full of books, and wall hangings. When these things are on external walls, they all offer small thermal improvements to your house. So don't be shy in putting up plenty of paintings, and collecting books, and even better - get a wall hanging.
 
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Are you relying on the figures given in the epc? If you are, you will be pleasantly surprised how wildly inaccurate they are.
 
Don't take the performance certificate too seriously. I bought a largish, 4-bed Victorian end terrace and the certificate gave it F (28), estimated heating £1629 per year. It has a combi boiler and central heating. No fires. The alcoves beside the chimney breasts have 50mm celotex in them, and the windows are double glazed, but that's about it. Solid stone walls, damp cellar, no floor insulation (there's a powerful draught in the cellar that comes in around the gas pipe). There's about 30mm of knackered insulation in the loft, and a very leaky, glazed loft hatch. Original slate roof -no felt.

In fact it only costs me £5 per day to heat in the dead of winter. Heck, it costs me less per year to heat than the estimated 'potential' on the performance certificate for Pete's sake!

All the same, I do plan to put a bit more insulation in the loft, as this makes by far the biggest difference. It should make the place really quite toasty. But then, I wear a collared shirt and jumper. Whereas people these days seem to expect to be able to walk about in shorts in February, and then complain about energy costs...
 
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Here's that house .... White one was externally insulated and rendered over.
 

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The upper storey is rendered already. External insulation on the upper storey and a render over the top will not change the external appearance.
 
Firstly thank you to all of you for your helpful replies.

@wobs - As mentioned earlier, I have no issues with insulating the floor in the downstairs rooms as I have full access to the ground floor via the cellar. All the large windows are already double-glazed, however this house a lot of smaller windows on it's sides to let plenty of light in which are not glazed, so maybe worth doing? Our main time spent will be in the 2 living rooms and kitchen so surely they should be the priority due to more energy use? Also you mentioned about moisture, but what is due point?

@ajstoneservices & @Gerrydelasel - Yes the epc could be a much higher estimated, but the vendor has confirmed he spends £250pm on gas/elec.

@FRAN1870 - Thanks very much for the picture.

@Himaginn - upper storey would be safe to insulate, but as you can see from the pictures, the bottom-half is difficult to insulate.
 
@FRAN1870 - Was this an end or mid terrace? Don't forget mine is a detached house with 4 external walls, which means a lot more heat loss.

@HawkEye244 - Sounds like a brilliant job you did, but I'm not sure if I could do this as I'd need to do internal. Also with a fireplace that I'll be using, how would I protect the insulation from catching on fire? Have a look at the first picture of the external red house....can you see how the fireplace chimney is protruding out of the wall like an arch? How can you insulate this?

@Brigadier - I've already got plans to do these because in my opinion, majority of the heat loss is being lost from the 4 external walls and a large amount from the reception rooms floors as the cellar ceiling has zero insulation

Haha no I meant external walls as in the internal side of the external wall. I don't think the insulation will be close enough to the radiation of the heat to be any problem, it's on the walls and not in front.. if it were a problem you would have the plastered walls near the fireplace with burn marks... it never gets that hot.
 
@FRAN1870 - Was this an end or mid terrace? Don't forget mine is a detached house with 4 external walls, which means a lot more heat loss.

@HawkEye244 - Sounds like a brilliant job you did, but I'm not sure if I could do this as I'd need to do internal. Also with a fireplace that I'll be using, how would I protect the insulation from catching on fire? Have a look at the first picture of the external red house....can you see how the fireplace chimney is protruding out of the wall like an arch? How can you insulate this?

@Brigadier - I've already got plans to do these because in my opinion, majority of the heat loss is being lost from the 4 external walls and a large amount from the reception rooms floors as the cellar ceiling has zero insulation

Haha no I meant external walls as in the internal side of the external wall. I don't think the insulation will be close enough to the radiation of the heat to be any problem, it's on the walls and not in front.. if it were a problem you would have the plastered walls near the fireplace with burn marks... it never gets that hot.


Haha that's brilliant. Now two questions:-

1. How do I insulate that red curved wall within the fireplace?
2. Normally it's easy to screw heavy duty shelves onto brick walls, but how would I be able to put up heavy duty shelves with insulated/plasterboarded walls?
 
Hey guys, where have you all disappeared to??

Just wanted to know tge answers for the above questions please.
 
Firstly thank you to all of you for your helpful replies.

@wobs - As mentioned earlier, I have no issues with insulating the floor in the downstairs rooms as I have full access to the ground floor via the cellar. All the large windows are already double-glazed, however this house a lot of smaller windows on it's sides to let plenty of light in which are not glazed, so maybe worth doing? Our main time spent will be in the 2 living rooms and kitchen so surely they should be the priority due to more energy use? Also you mentioned about moisture, but what is due point?
Pretty much any window will not be worth replacing for financial reasons unless it is need of replacing due to disrepair. Those look in good condition, and frankly, very nice.
I would leave them. What I do notice though is that they have no curtains.

So as I said earlier, secondary glazing such as acrylic, and thick curtains would help, and be cheap.

The living room and kitchen are often large rooms, so would be worth working on, but energy efficiency should make financial sense.

Due point:
You have moisture in the air, and when the temperature changes, it can drop out and collect on a surface (eg. on a toilet cistern). The due point in a wall is where this can occur, and if you get the insulation wrong, and you wall needs to breath, you run the risk of having moisture drop out of the air within the wall.
http://www.marmox.co.uk/uploads/catalogue_gallery/47/datasheets/Interstitial.Condensation.pdf
https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/2013/04/22/how-to-insulate-old-homes/
 
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