Heating Childrens Bedrooms - Help

pinkparrott

Hi not really sure where to put this , but we have just moved and my childrens rooms in this new house are really cold. Its an old mid terrace and they are in the top attic style rooms.

The celing area in the rooms are 1/2 with a loft area above and 1/2 straight roof above.
They each have a radiator in , but last night even after the heating had been on for 4 hours the temperature was 15 degrees and this morning it was 12 !

My little boy is just 4 and had a duvet and a blanket and he seems ok, but i'm worried about my little girl she's 18 months and sleeps in a sleeping bag.

I can't afford to have the heating on all night.

Whats the safest comfortable temperature a bedroom should be do you think?

and I've had some calls about the insulation grants available , will insultaing the loft make much difference given it only covers 1/2 the rooms.

I've had a quote for £200 ?

any ideas.

spiro

I dont think 12 is too cold. Before the days of CH (not that long ago) if the weather was bad we woke up to ice on the INSIDE of the windows. There is also a nursery up north in the UK were the children are outside all day whatever the weather (rain, wind, sun) and so far they have proven to less suceptibule to colds etc.

Insulating the bit of the roof you can will help. The other thing to consider is the sloping part of the ceiling. You may want to have a second layer fitted on the inside but this will mean some redecoration and will reduce the room size slightly.

dunloadin

I have a house with two attic rooms as well....the thing to do is check if the radiators need bleeding.

As they are the radiators at the highest point in the central heating system the air that accumulates will end up in these radiators, once bled they will work a lot better. Feel the radiators, if they are not heating up as well as they should be then a quick bleed to release the air and get them full of water should do the trick. If you don't have a key to do this you should be able to pick one up at any DIY shop for a few pennies.

Expect to bleed them regulary, and keep an eye on the system pressure.

NeverInDebt

If its a attic room I bet that the insulation is pretty well poor hence why its so cold even with rads on

You wouldn't need heating on all night and actually I think its worse having on at night a thick quilt should suffice

Might be best if you can to get that ceilng/walls lined with insulation it wont be cheap

Hadrian

I've always thought that in millions of years of evolution the human body hasn't in the last 30 years got used to going from 20c in house to zero outside in a matter of seconds without something 'going wrong'. Having said that years ago bedrooms were supposed to be pretty chilly, I remember well frost inside the window. Oh my God! that lino!!!! We survived so did my kids to no effect other than they both demand 25c when they visit, they don't get it! Get loft insulation AND wall stuff, that cut my gas/elec down by 35%, so E-On tells me. I would say min 15c for bed rooms and 19/20c for living rooms. Thermostsat off at 9pm as heat stays around till sleep time. A couple of pullovers plus good meals. Make sure you are/are not qualified for a grant for the walls and loft. Even if you aren't, do the loft to 250mm, no less. As the prev letter said, years ago, me included, we had one coal fire in our large house. Bedroom was like an icebox etc etc, but we survived. Kids are remarkably resilient, don't worry too much but keep the main rooms above say 17c and for economy never above 22c. Also rooms should never go below, in the morning, 15c, they never do in my house. While I think about it, get 1cm thick polystyrene sheeting (mine came from Argos with a big wall mirror which since I bought it has saved the cost!) and put that at the back of the rads especially the ones which have an outside wall behind. Good luck, I think after 50 years or so I have cracked it.

daveyjp

12 degrees is no problem for sleeping in - a child's room should be no more than 18 degrees for comfort. Just ensure the bedding for the older one is of decent quality.

Our daughter has a Moreno Wool duvet and it is very warm, but she did a couple of winters in sleeping bags in her bedroom which gets to about 12 degrees - she still always gets 12 hours sleep!

frannyann

LOL at the 'in my day' comments, I was exactly the same!! Used to have hours of fun chipping the ice off the inside of my bedroom window in our council house in Eltham as a kid, no CH just one coal fire in the living room!!

Snippa

All this in my day is making me chuckle. I was waking up to thick sheets of ice on the insides of my windows a few weeks ago in my last flat. It was a rented place: no CH, and windows that didn't close properly. Right through the coldest December/January since records began. So glad to be out of there, and still waiting to get the sodding deposit back!

Anyway, the kids should be fine at 12 degrees. Make sure they have decent duvets and blankets on top. Also how about those cuddly toys you can heat up in the microwave? If you do want to heat the room, you can also get portable heaters. I had one of them in my room and that seemed to heat it up quite fast.

Fire_Fox

Insulate the ceiling areas as best you can, insulate the children themselves withe thermal pyjamas and insulate their beds with decent duvets and they will be fine at 12C.

albyota

Windows.... you ad windows.....luxury!!!!, when I were a lad, Mam used ta chuck wun o' me brothers ont fire, dont burn fur long tho, even t' ot watter bottles wer cold :eek:

Sorry.....couldn't resist