New build 5yrs old - should it be this cold?

brig001

Do you have neighbours who have houses built by the same people at the same time? If so, talk to them to see if their houses are cold, and if anyone has been able to fix it.

Without knowing the construction, it is difficult to tell, but here are some guesses based on things we found in our 1996 build:
If the walls are plasterboard, the blockwork behind it may not be properly pointed. Unscrewing a socket front will let you check this (with the power off), you may even feel a draught there.
Anything that goes through the inner wall (assuming brick/block cavity wall) should be sealed. Our first floor joists weren't, making the downstairs ceiling/upstairs floor cold. We could feel a slight draught under the upstairs skirting boards, and the edges of the carpets got dirty.
We have a integral garage with insufficient insulation between that and the bedroom above.
The blockwork between the garage and the house was not properly pointed making it draughty under the stairs.
We had two extractor fans upstairs - bathroom and en suite - and neither had decent shutters to keep out the wind when not in use.
We were 10 square metres of loft insulation short as the builders couldn't be bothered to do the corners.
The loft hatch was not airtight.

The list goes on, but hopefully something might ring true with yours.

Good luck,
Brian.
PS. PM me if you would like a full list and photos etc.

SuzieSue

brig001 wrote: »

Do you have neighbours who have houses built by the same people at the same time? If so, talk to them to see if their houses are cold, and if anyone has been able to fix it.

Without knowing the construction, it is difficult to tell, but here are some guesses based on things we found in our 1996 build:
If the walls are plasterboard, the blockwork behind it may not be properly pointed. Unscrewing a socket front will let you check this (with the power off), you may even feel a draught there.
Anything that goes through the inner wall (assuming brick/block cavity wall) should be sealed. Our first floor joists weren't, making the downstairs ceiling/upstairs floor cold. We could feel a slight draught under the upstairs skirting boards, and the edges of the carpets got dirty.
We have a integral garage with insufficient insulation between that and the bedroom above.
The blockwork between the garage and the house was not properly pointed making it draughty under the stairs.
We had two extractor fans upstairs - bathroom and en suite - and neither had decent shutters to keep out the wind when not in use.
We were 10 square metres of loft insulation short as the builders couldn't be bothered to do the corners.
The loft hatch was not airtight.

The list goes on, but hopefully something might ring true with yours.

Good luck,
Brian.
PS. PM me if you would like a full list and photos etc.

Sounds like a well built house! Who built it?

brig001

SuzieSue wrote: »

Sounds like a well built house! Who built it?

The now defunct Fairclough Homes.
Having looked at building sites recently, I don't think it is unique. I haven't seen cavity wall insulation or plasterboard fitted correctly on any of the ones I looked at. I dare say they do get fitted correctly on some sites, but I would bet it is the exception rather than the rule.

Brian.

ian103

i'd check the radiator sizes in each room. if they're not big enough the house will never be warm enough. we had a bovis home and we had some rooms that were really warm and others that we cold even with the heating on. we eventually found the main problem - the builder had fitted all the radiators in the wrong rooms. after a very pointed discussion i found out from google how to size the radiators, calculated the size and bovis sent a plumber and any undersize radiators were replaced, it also transpired after we had sold the house that bovis had forgotten to install the cavity wall insulation on the first phase.

Lorian

Lots of things to think about. I have a house that is just a decade old, but it still took me all of my spare time in two winters to get the place to have decent insulation.

Take a tape measure in to the loft, being careful to walk only on joists and not on ceiling or pipes or wires check:

a) The thichkness of the insulation from the top you can see to the ceiling boards.
b) Check if it's well laid. by a quick glance you can tell something if at least one layer is laid at 90 degress angle to the layer below, and it's nicely finished to the eaves (but there should be an air gap).
c) check they lagged any exposed pipes.

Take a look at the windows. Are there any gaps around the outsides letting in draights?

Are the double glazing trickle vents all open (do you get condendation at all?)

Check under door threshold and window sill from the outside to ensure there are no gaps.

Bleed any air out of all your radiators

Check the central heating boiler water temperature (not your room thermostat) is on winter setting (radiator water is hotter)

There's lots more when you've done that ;-)