Would you buy a house with no central heating?

elliebobs

Firstly, happy new year to all posters :beer:

Secondly, as the title suggests, would you consider buying ahouse with no central heating?

We've seen a lovely little house that ticks all our boxes; great location, good price etc. The only thing is that the only source of heating is a wood burning stove in the front room.

It's a two bed end terrace with open plan downstairs. There is a fire in one of the bedrooms but not sure if it's actually usable or not.

It's fully double glazed and, from the photo's I've seen, this seems to be in pretty good shape.

There is an electric shower but a dual fuel range oven so I assume that gas is available.

Having heating installed is certainly something that we would consider but was wondering if we could get away with just having electric wall heaters instead.

Does anyone here live in a house such as this??? is central heating such a necessity these days?? How much heat do wood burning stoves belt out???

I live in the North West of England so although it can get chilly, it's probably more rainy than anything!

Thanks in advance for any advice

nearlyrich

My mum lived without central heating in the house I grew up in she couldn't be bothered with the upheaval. My DD is in the process of buying a cottage with no CH but it is on the list of things to do before she moves in unlike me she has never known an unheated house...

PasturesNew

Absolutely. It means you're free to choose the system you'd want, have it sited where you choose, choose the look/size/location of any radiators -and- know it's all brand new. I'd rather do that than live with somebody else's poor choices.

The woodburner might be sufficient in a place that size, woodburner plus a couple of electric heaters. I'd look at the plug-in water radiators and similar "simple" solutions. e.g. http://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Easy-Heat-Water-Filled-Electric-Radiator-With-24-Hour-Timer-pr-34652.html

poppysarah

How do you live now? In t-shirts? Or a jumper and extra socks when it's cold?

shortchanged_2

OP no I would not buy a house without any CH or would only consider if factoring in the cost of installing a complete system into any offer I would make.

elliebobs

poppysarah wrote: »

How do you live now? In t-shirts? Or a jumper and extra socks when it's cold?

many thanks for all those that have responded so far.

To be above poster, We tend to pop on an extra jumper if cold rather than walk around in T-shirts. I should add that we also like wild camping using in the Scottish hills so don't mind a bit of cold in the slightest; in fact I think I'm a lot healthier as a result of it!

thanks to Pastures New too; that's something that I never, stupidly, thought of. i love the old school type of radiators (only those born in the 1970's and before will prob remember them) and this way we can have those rather than ripping out perfectly seviceable uglier radiators!

any more thoughts welcome.

clutton_2

a house which is an end terrace, only gets heat from one adjoining neighbour's property, and with open plan downstairs you will lose a lot of heat to upstairs. Has it got good roof insulation and felting, and cavity wall insulation ?

But... my suggstion would be to live in the house first, and see if it is too cold. Wood burning stoves chuck out a lot of heat and you may find that sufficient...

if it is, you could install an electric towel rail in the bathroom to heat that and you could be ok

montrose5

I did move into a house without CH. We budgeted when buying the house and then installed when we moved in.Worth checking if the local council gives grants. If you can lift the floorboards fairly easily it's not as hard as you might think

G_M

Electric heaters are expensive so unless the stove is very efficient I'd suggest installing ch.

But as said above, if you buy a house without, you tend to get a better price so you can set some cash aside and put in YOUR ch system. Brand new and to your spec.

Same is true about decoration really. A well decorated house will cost more, but once the vendors take the pictures off the walls and remove the furtniture you'll realise it needs re-painting. Better to get a cheaper house and paint it to your preference from the start.

Geenie

I would certainly buy a house without central heating, so long as it's price reflected this compared to others around which have it. The first house OH and I bought had no central heating. We survived fine.

It will give you an opportunity to reflect on alternative methods to warm the place if needed, and not go for the obvious like gas, oil and even electric. You may only need certain rooms being kept warm.

The best thing for me in keeping heating costs down recently has been the menopause!;) I would recommend it to all, as I feel so hot all the time, I even had the bedroom window wide open to cool down during the recent cold snap and snow! The rest of the family particularly hubby were freezing it has to be said, but there has to be some sort of pay back for going through years of PMT, childbirth etc.

Good luck OP.

hermanmunster_3

I have stayed in places with electric wall heaters on time switches - it was fine! Also grew up in house with no central heating - apart from hacking the ice off the single glazed windows and having to have paraffin heaters in the bathroom it was fine.