Why is our house always feezing??

rover25

Really at a loss as to why our house is always so cold. When we light the fire in our living room, that room will eventually heat up, but our kitchen, hall and main bedroom are like ice blocks, in particular the kitchen/dining room and main bedroom above it. We could have the oil heat on for 2 hrs and the doors and curtains all closed but you would think it wasn't even on when u go into that room. I opened the double doors last night into the dining room and you could really feel the arctic blast. I feel that we are just wasting our oil and would like to get someone in to look at the house to see what the prob is, but don't really know who to call. Forgot to say the house is about 3 yrs old, wondering how you would check if the builders had insulated it properly (if at all!) Anyone know what we should do next to make a difference?

baby-mechanic

Can you help with further info please ..

Presuming you have an oil-fired boiler, where are the radiators in the house ?

Can you feel any draughts ?

Would have thought the builders would still be liable for any building issues under their trade rules, can't think of the official name at the mo !

BTW how long have you been living there ?
Was this a problem last year ?

slummymummyof3

baby-mechanic wrote: »

Can you help with further info please ..

Presuming you have an oil-fired boiler, where are the radiators in the house ?

Can you feel any draughts ?

Would have thought the builders would still be liable for any building issues under their trade rules, can't think of the official name at the mo !

I think you mean NHBC????

amyface

You wont get anything from the NHBC - chocolate and fireguard springs to mind! - our new build didnt have any insulation in the cavity & we only found out when doing some work on the house, which was outside the 2 year period for NHBC - rang them up & no joy.

As was said earlier a bit more info will help.

But basically easy way to find out if insulated is for someone to drill into your cavity. Your council may have an approved fitter, otherwise there are deals with Energy companies and even places like Tesco and B&Q fit cavity insulation.

Also have you a loft space you can easily access and if so how much insulation is in there?

brig001

Do you know how your house is constructed?
Is it timber frame or brick/block?
Is it dry lined? Do the walls sound hollow when tapped?
Is your ground floor solid or beam and block? Look for vent bricks.

I bet that air is getting to the warm side of your insulation and common areas for this are: behind plasterboard and underneath first floor voids. Party walls can also be a problem if you are a semi or terraced.

Talk to your neighbours to see if they are having the same problems. If they are, contact the builders and the council to see if they can help. Our house used to be the same, but since we fixed it it is much better - sat here without the heating this morning and the house is still warm.

This can all be fixed, but shouldn't be this way - don't give up - it can be better.
Bri.

SailorSam

Have you seen those cameras that they have that show up colours, so that you can see where the heat loss is.
I wonder could you hire one of those and do a test ?

Bigun28

I rented a house once from a guy who had built it himself. The house was really cold in the winter despite the heating being on full. When I stood back and looked at everything, I found the roof really well insulated etc, but I noticed that he had installed the really thin quarter inch gap double glazing into wooden window frames.

Then on top of that, all of the radiators were installed on opposite walls to the large windows, creating these really cold spots near the windows. Normally a radiator is placed under a window to create a thermal barrier to reflect the heat back in to the room, but when they were elsewhere in the room, you could really feel the difference and the cold.

Cost me an absolute fortune to try and heat the place.

missprice

i have very similar problem but i do at least know why its so cold upstairs

i only have 3 rads all downstairs only one that could heat upstairs (its at bottom of stairs)
i leave airing cupboard door open so heat can get out of there
but it barely makes a 1 degree difference
i need double glazing
attic is well insulated cos we just done it earlier this year and yet its still so cold you can see your breath upstairs.
not a great way to live but i still dont have enough money to reglaze

tanith

Can't you add radiators in your bedrooms or one on the upstairs landing would improve things...

cliffski

No modern house should be cold. My house was built in 1750 and it is pretty warm, even without cavity walls.
The key is to working out what is hot, and what is cold. I suggest you get an infa-red thermometer. They are £20 on ebay, and you can point a little laser beam anywhere and it will tell you the temperature, that way it is easy to detect where the heat is going.

If you don't have foil behind radiators do it now. If you dont have loft insulation do it now. If your hot water pipes go anywhere you dont want heating and are not foam (and preferably foil) lagged, do it now. All this is cheap.
Cavity wall insulation costs more, but is worth doing. It could also be the floor, and decent underlay can help there.
Also check your central heating is working at the right pressure and efficiency. Bleed any radiators that need bleeding. All of this will save you lots of money and keep you warm