Things that worked or didn't work last winter

Primrose

A word of advice to anybody owning their own home. Check with your local council if they are offering special discounted or free grants at the moment for insulation for have your house cavity wall insulated, or your loft insulation topped up to today's standard of 10". Our local council is doing a £99 loft insulation or cavity wall insulation offer, first come, first served, which would otherwise cost around £390 for each. Some people on benefits or over 70 may get it done free of charge. Government grants are being made available for this initiative, and it's worth doing because these two areas are probably two of the most effective ways of keeping your home warm and helping to reduce fuel costs.

kimbo26

has anyone got the foil radiator panels....do they work. have been looking online and they cost about £40 is it worth it?

Barneysmom

I think they do work kimbo26, but most people will make their own using a large piece of cardboard with kitchen foil covering it.

I did use the clear film on the windows in my old house as it was single glazed. Although this house has dg I still will put the bubble wrap in some of the upstairs rooms.

I'll got to Dunelm soon and get a load of cheap dark fabric to make and extra lining for the curtains (the lazy way by hemming top 'n' bottom and hanging with net curtain wire). not fussed too much about the colour as nobody will see it.

I had my hot water bottle last night, it was so cold.

kimbo26

yeah i have seen i could make my own, just didn't know if they would work as well

rosalie-lavender

kimbo26 wrote: »

has anyone got the foil radiator panels....do they work. have been looking online and they cost about £40 is it worth it?

I put a foil radiator panel in my daughters room because it is so cold in there as it is over the garage. Combined with thermal linings behind her curtains her room is noticeably warmer.

The ones I bought came in panels that are made of plastic and they stick to the wall with double sided tape. I did consider putting them behind other radiators but they worked out expensive and unless you take the radiator off the wall are fiddly to fit. Luckily my daughter's radiator has quite a large gap behind it but some of our other radiators are closer to the wall. They came is sections that you cut to fit and piece together until you have covered the area you want.

The other thing I found is you have to be careful to make sure it doesn't show at the sides of the radiators.

Uniscots97

BargainGalore wrote: »

I am toying with sticking bubble wrap to garage door for integral garage as we use it for storage

Have you seen the plastic curtain strips they have to separate the warehouse from the shop floor in a supermarket? A former colleague of mine used their integral garage for storage as well, they found they were losing a lot of heat through it to the point the bedroom above was always cold and the floor freezing. I suggested the plastic curtain strips. They actually got vinyl from freecycle (or buy a off cut from a carpet store) and suspended it from the garage ceiling. They also tiled the garage ceiling with polystyrene tiles. This really held the heat and stopped the rest of the house getting so cold.

carlislelass

Barneysmom wrote: »

I think they do work kimbo26, but most people will make their own using a large piece of cardboard with kitchen foil covering it.

I did use the clear film on the windows in my old house as it was single glazed. Although this house has dg I still will put the bubble wrap in some of the upstairs rooms.

I'll got to Dunelm soon and get a load of cheap dark fabric to make and extra lining for the curtains (the lazy way by hemming top 'n' bottom and hanging with net curtain wire). not fussed too much about the colour as nobody will see it.

I had my hot water bottle last night, it was so cold.

I was using bedsocks last night...never done that before in September

janb5

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Well we managed to survive the winter and with £200 credit on our dual fuel.
We live in an old,late 1800s house,solid walls so no cavity insulation but we do have realy thick loft insulation and all windows and external doors are double glazed.
The rooms are rather large with high ceilings so it's hard to heat anyway,but we had a very easy winter realy.
I bought an electric mattress cover as although we do heat our bedroom and air our bed,the bed always felt so cold,it almost felt damp.Hot water bottles did'nt seem to help but this has been the best purchase ever.Would'nt want to do without this now and so cheap to run.
I also bought a heated sofa throw,fantastic too,as it meant I could turn the heating off so much earlier when just sitting around.Also some little fleece throws for whenever we needed them.Thermal underwear,draught excluders,fleece dressing gown and socks all helped.
The other extra I had to buy was a dehumidifyer,we had a bit of condensation in the kitchen,first time since we moved here.It was a bit of an outlay but I'm glad I got one as I'm shocked at the amount of water it collects.You can't expect anything else though with the cold temperatures we've had though,can you realy.
All in all a good result,but to be honest one of the things that kept me going was coming on here in those cold days and being able to have a good natter with like minded people.I thank you all

Hi- where did you get your heated sofa throw= what a good idea.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

janb5 wrote: »

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Well we managed to survive the winter and with £200 credit on our dual fuel.
We live in an old,late 1800s house,solid walls so no cavity insulation but we do have realy thick loft insulation and all windows and external doors are double glazed.
The rooms are rather large with high ceilings so it's hard to heat anyway,but we had a very easy winter realy.
I bought an electric mattress cover as although we do heat our bedroom and air our bed,the bed always felt so cold,it almost felt damp.Hot water bottles did'nt seem to help but this has been the best purchase ever.Would'nt want to do without this now and so cheap to run.
I also bought a heated sofa throw,fantastic too,as it meant I could turn the heating off so much earlier when just sitting around.Also some little fleece throws for whenever we needed them.Thermal underwear,draught excluders,fleece dressing gown and socks all helped.
The other extra I had to buy was a dehumidifyer,we had a bit of condensation in the kitchen,first time since we moved here.It was a bit of an outlay but I'm glad I got one as I'm shocked at the amount of water it collects.You can't expect anything else though with the cold temperatures we've had though,can you realy.
All in all a good result,but to be honest one of the things that kept me going was coming on here in those cold days and being able to have a good natter with like minded people.I thank you all

Hi- where did you get your heated sofa throw= what a good idea.

I got mine from Argos and have since bought another from John Lewis for the other sofa.
I think they are available in most big stores or online.
They were realy good at keeping the chill off last winter and cost very little to run.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

kimbo26 wrote: »

has anyone got the foil radiator panels....do they work. have been looking online and they cost about £40 is it worth it?

I got the vented foil panels and I think they realy do work.
I would consider them money well spent to be honest.