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Heating the home and keeping it warm.

I have a house in the UK which was built in 1857. It is a three storey mid-terrace with a cellar, but the bathroom and kitchen are a single storey extension at the rear and so not joined on to any other house.

The house is heated with gas central heating which is powered by a combi boiler. Every main room including the cellar has a radiator. The house is fully double glazed

It is pretty cold in the winter at the back of the house (dining room, kitchen and bathroom which face north or east.) The bathroom has three external walls and two windows (one north-facing, one east-facing). The dining room window faces north, the kitchen window east. The kitchen also has a velux window in the roof as it is dark otherwise.

The living room (which faces south) is warm enough, so are the two bedrooms on the middle floor,(one north facing, one south facing) but the top floor bedroom in the roof is freezing in the winter and roasting in the summer.

I know insulation would help. We can't have cavity wall insulation (no cavity in the walls!....too old). The roof space above the kitchen is insulated, but not the main roof as there is an (original) bedroom in the loft space and there is no access. This room has two velux roof windows (one north-facing, one south-facing).

My questions are: Would a condensing boiler be better and are there any grants to get one?

The radiators are eight years old and single-skinned, would it be economical to replace these with double skinned ones and would it make it much warmer?

Can we have the main roof insulated even though there is no loft space? Are there any grants for this?

Any other suggestions? It costs a fortune to heat in the winter!

We have a very limited budget as we are retired, and anyway I want to do it the money saving way!:T
(AKA HRH_MUngo)
Member #10 of £2 savers club
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton

Comments

  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forgot to say, my son lives in the house, with two other young men. He is on Jobseekers' Allowance....I don't know whether this would make any differnce to any grants etc.
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
  • plumb1_2
    plumb1_2 Posts: 4,643 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    A thankyou is payment enough .
  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Thanks Plumb...we will probably qualify if we lived in England as my husand is on Incapacty Benefit.

    Do you know if JSA qualifies?

    If not, we'll wait two and a half years until my husband is 60.....he can return to the UK and then be eligible...

    ...unless anyone has any other suggestions???
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
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