Thermal Heat Surveys!

brand68

Hi Everyone
I live in a Dormer Bungalow type of house and heating the bedrooms and keeping them warm when the heating is not in use is driving me mad.. I am at the end of my tether with it and it is causing endless fall outs with my better half.
We have insulated,re-double glazed and cavity walled. Filled every visible crack or crevice to no avail and after spending hundreds of pounds on new D/glazing to no effect I am considering consulting a
thermal energy survey company to try and pinpoint where we are going wrong.
Has anybody else had to do this and what was the cost?
I hope someone out there can help me

MX5huggy

What is the insulation, type, thickness in the roof?

moonrakerz

brand68 wrote: »

keeping them warm when the heating is not in use is driving me mad..

Surely the point of having heating is to switch it on when the bedrooms are cold ? - they won't heat themselves.

All the things you mention keep heat in - they don't generate it.

brig001

You could have two problems. One could be a draught blowing between the downstairs ceilings and the upstairs floor. The other is lack of insulation in the dormer part itself. If you can get into the roof space, you could have a look at these and report back.

brand68

Thanks for your replies. The roof insulation is more than adequate I think and the bedroom can be cold even on a moderate day. I have been taking thermal readings with an ordinary thermometer and there is a difference in the readings in the front and back bedrooms. I think you may be on to something with your suggestion brig001 because I know there is a terrific draught when we have had the floorboards up for different jobs to be done. Could you give me a little more detail on your thinking brig001
Thanks

phill99

The difference between the front and back is probably due to the aspect / orientation of the house, ie one room is facing south and therefore has 'solar gain', while the other one is north facing and doesn't benefit from the suns rays.

Plus moonrakerz is right - you actually need to heat the rooms up for them to be warm.

brand68

That does seem to to say the obvious but one does not have the c/heating on 24/7 when it is not cold outside.

brig001

brand68 wrote: »

Could you give me a little more detail on your thinking brig001

It really depends on how it is constructed and how big the gaps are, but anything that will seal the upstairs floor to the downstairs ceiling will do. Small gaps can be filled with decorators caulk, bigger ones with expanding foam (don't use too much), and for big gaps, an easy way might be to use plastic covered loft insulation and tuck it in the gap so that the plastic seals and the loft insulation keeps it in place. Something like this: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9273744&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=loft+insulation&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&isSearch=true

HTH,
Brian.

ormus

the loft insulation is the biggest factor. make sure you have 270mm insulation.
its the newest standard.

grizzly1911

1.)Do you projecting out windows to square off the rooms upstairs.

Often the the flat roofs will not be well insulated if at all.

2.) Whilst you may have insulation in the flat roof, internal ceiling, the centre of the roof line, is the sloping roof itself insulated directly under the tile "felt". I know there is one close to me that has just been replaced/inserted.

3) Have you got any odd shapes in the roof, we have a small roof that projects out at 90degree to the roof line over a window. When I topped up our insulation it was very poorly layed/not layed in that bit.

4.) Don't forget a house/bungalow usually needs some form of ventilation otherwise you will end up with excess condensation damp inside - cooking/showers etc.

5.) Damp making the walls colder.

6.)Orientation which has been said before. We have a bedroom that is N/NE walled and despite cavity wall insulation and 400mm of insulation above it is still colder.

7.) Don't know age of your property but could it anything to do below floor level?

brand68

Thanks everyone for all your comments but your thoughts Brian got me thinking. I had already done some of the things you suggested the main one being putting roof insulation between the joists under the bedroom floor and this got me thinking it might be having an adverse effect so I have removed some of it and will have to wait and see now. One thing that worries me is some of the comments about damp, I have been a bit over zealos in my efforts to insulate and I may have to ventilate a bit more.
I have put more roof insulation in the flat roof space where there was insufficient insulation but I am wondering if I have compacted it to much. I even put ceiling tiles on the bedroom ceiling to double the insulation there, so you see I have tried allsorts and getting nowhere and that is why I asked about having a thermal survey done. Has anyone had or heard of anyone having one done? and what cost?