Cheap Effective (Rental) Home Improvements

davethecat

Hi there,

I've been following various winter prep threads but would appreciate some help in prioritising what I should do first with a very limited budget to improve my rented house.

A little bit of background: Currently live in a old drafty Victorian house - had hoped to move before winter but high rent & deposit requirements have scuppered our plans.

Would I be able to use space blankets / shower curtains as door curtains? I have a proper one at the front door - but could do with a cover in the kitchen - would a fleece suffice or would it get damp & mouldy.

I've also seen about bubble wrap on windows - do you stick straight to the glass or attach it to the frame?

The front panel of our radiators seem to be full of sludge, the back panel seem very hot so should I wrap some cardboard in space blanket & put behind them to reflect back or is this a tail?

As mentioned, funds are tight & our landlord is a bit pants so I can't do much or expect them to do anything extra either.

Thanks again in advance for any help, I'm off to light some Insense to track down these blinking drafts!

x

Northern_Lassy

Oh love, you have my sympathy, this was me last year...A horribly cold, draughty, inefficient rented house with a skinflint landlord who did all he could to avoid improving the place at all (left us without hot water for 6 weeks!) I covered cardboard with tinfoil to reflect the heat from the radiators, but I think lining the curtains with fleece blankets from ikea (pinned with safety pins) and a thick door curtain and sausage draught excluders were more effective in reducing heat loss.
Our lovely LL gave us 9 weeks notice in March this year as he wanted to sell the house quickly to go to Australia with his lady friend, we were lucky and managed to buy somewhere (by the skin of our teeth due to very weird mortgage market) his house is still unsold, how is that for karma?! Best of luck to you, fingers crossed for a mild winter x

Butterfly_Brain

It sounds like your radiators could do with being bled.
We have old duvets under the bottom sheet on all the beds which keeps us all toasty at night.
Ikea do cheap fleece blankets that you could use to make Door Curtains from (I pin the fleeces to all the curtains in the house in the winter)
Make draught excluder's for the doors and window sills
Do not tape anything to window frames, because it is really hard to remove any residue (I speak from experience ) even though we now have double glazed units we still have fleece lined curtains.
Bubble wrap just stays on the window without any help from tape

Justamum

davethecat wrote: »

our landlord is a bit pants

Aren't they all? Quite happy to take your money, but reluctant to actually spend any of it on THEIR OWN PROPERTY! :mad:

We've lived in the same draughty house for over 4 years now - we're hoping that DH's inheritance will come through and will hopefully be enough to buy a house outright, but we're not holding our breath with the South African legal system

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

It sounds like your radiators could do with being bled.

Bleeding's worth a try and is easy to do, but if they're old it's probably more than bleeding, and more likely an entire flushing out of the system. Ours could do with that, but as it costs a few hundred pounds apparently I doubt our landlord will spend the cash

davethecat

My partner bleeds the rads as part of his chores, which iniatially helped but even with regular bleeding doesn't do the trick. A plumber has popped round to put some cleaner in the system & has emptied some dirt etc previously but hasn't really helped. I think new rads are needed really.

Its only September but I'm already worried - fingers crossed that a rubbish summer makes for a mild winter!

Thank you for all the advice & kind words too.

babyshoes

Justamum wrote: »

Aren't they all? Quite happy to take your money, but reluctant to actually spend any of it on THEIR OWN PROPERTY! :mad:

Ours isn't! :j

He isn't great about regular cosmetic maintenance (eg our walls could do with repainting), but if something needs fixing, he won't moan about sorting it out. We have been here 9 years for a reason, and part of it is that it is just so easy to deal with him. For example, our washing machine ate itself earlier this week so we called him that evening to tell him what had happened. We offered to organise a new one and take the cost of the replacement off our next rent payment, which is something we have done before when things needed replacing / fixing. He happily agreed because it means he doesn't have to spend his time and energy on it, plus we are happy as we can choose something that suits us. He gave us a budget well above the cost of a cheap basic washing machine, so we now have a washer/drier for those damp days when the clothes just don't get dry on an airer in the lounge - no garden here, or space for a separate drier! We have been lusting after one for a while, but couldn't justify the cost when we had a perfectly functional machine included in our rent. Planning to continue hanging most things in the lounge, and only use the drier on occasion when needed.

He is also relaxed about simple changes like shelves, picture hooks etc, and has even allowed us to have pets. Any bigger changes we run past him, but as long as they are sensible we know he will agree. He trusts us not to wreck the place, we don't bug him unless there is something important and he hasn't put the rent up in years - but if he did, we would bug him about the small cosmetic stuff which needs doing. All round win, I think!

In terms of improvements, we found that draughty windows were massively improved with a strip of stick-on foamy stuff from Wilkos. You stick it round the inside of the frame and it makes a better seal.

I haven't tried the foil behind the radiators trick myself, but think it is worth a go - the potential energy savings probably outweigh the cost of a value roll of foil and some cardboard which you can get for free!

If you find that food goes mouldy quickly in your kitchen, and/or you suffer from damp, it may be worth using pound shop shower curtains for the kitchen initially to see if they help with draughts before you invest in fleeces. Tape pennies/nuts/bolts/lead weights etc to the hem if it blows around too much.

To make cheap draught excluders for the doors, butcher an old pair of trousers and stuff the legs with anything bulky you have, from the bag of lonely socks at the back of the cupboard (everyone has one of those, right?) to carrier bags. If your sewing skills are not up to sealing the ends, I have seen an elastic band solution to the problem. Ugly but functional!!!:rotfl:

If you get a draught from the key hole, either put a magnet over it or if it is non-ferrous stick blu-tack/masking tape over it. Just be careful not to bung it up, in case you need to lock/unlock it sometime in the future!:)

Our chimney in the bedroom had a draught, so we put bin bags of lightly crumpled newspaper up it to stop the wind coming whistling down it on stormy nights. Have seen tips about using manky old pillows for the same job. Sure you can be creative with what you have to hand! Even just putting something in front of the fireplace would help - maybe cut a piece of hard board to shape, create a stand for it and paint it to match / complement your colour scheme. It is what my in-laws have for when their fireplace is out of use in the summer. Theirs has a nice picture painted on it, so it is pretty much a piece of art.

We found our coldest winters have been when the flat downstairs was empty - the heating was obviously off or on the bare minimum, and the insulation between our floor and their ceiling is pretty much nill! Don't know the most recent tenants who moved in earlier this year - they at least seem to be fairly quiet, unlike the last lot. :eek: Hoping they like to wear shorts when home in winter so we will get a load of their heat for free!

If you don't have loft insulation and are on certain benefits, you may be able to get it installed for free or very cheaply via a government scheme, even in rented accomodation. I guess you'd have to get the LL's permission, but as is a free improvement I don't know why they'd refuse.

Also, look round the outside of your property for shoddily done drainage pipe holes, or other unexpected gaps in the walls - our drainage pipe for the washing machine had a large hole around it in the brickwork which caused freezing draughts round your toes in the kitchen. We filled the excess space with expanding foam a couple of summers ago, which worked well - if a bit messy looking. It also should be easy enough to remove if work ever needs doing there, as it can be cut with a knife, I believe.

davethecat

Another set of fantastic ideas - thank you! I don't mind "having a go" as long as I know it's worth it. Have had a toddle round poundland & spotted a few bits to collect when my chappy is off.

So far on my to do list;

* Put spare summer duvet under sheet on our bed
* Same as above using cellular blanket under babies sheet
* Cover up attic hatch.
* Russle up 2 x small curtains for kitchen & bathroom windows. (will use double up'd shower curtains iniatially as we are 2hrs away from nearest ikea)
* Bubble wrap skylight above front door & drop curtain so reaches floor rather than flap about (it's a 90x90 but I've put it to the ceiling & it gapes off floor)
* Line lounge curtains with spare calico tab tops.
* Give radiator foil backs a go.

As an aside, is there a reason why fleece is suggested as a liner? I've found some cotton curtains - would they be ok as a liner or is fleece best?

We've suggested loft insulation (im on last month of maternity so happy to apply etc) but apparently they've not a clue what's up there & they've owned property for 10years plus. They didn't seem keen on the upheaval.


Thanks again - making the list & mulling your suggestions over has made me feel a little more proactive. Our new student neighbours have moved in tonight so hopefully they will snap & put the heating on first & we can "pinch" some

Miss_Havisham

you can buy "spring tension" curtain rods in Wilkos that stay in place in a window or door frame so you can hang a curtain without having to drill the walls.

if you have damp in some rooms you can get stuff in the pound shops that is supposed to absorb moisture - I've no idea if it works but might be worth a pound to find out.

I'm a great fan of a hot water bottle in bed - cheap but very cosy in mid-winter when the bedroom is sooo cold that your breathe condenses on the window. Put it in the bottom of your bed before you clean your teeth etc and when you get into bed you'll have a hot spot near your feet (bliss).

SpikyHedgehog

I know you said LL is a bit pants about stuff, but I take it you've had gas stuff checked (if applicable) ? Remember, gas boilers, fires, etc must be checked each year.

Not that a certificate saying they're safe means they actually work well... But at least you know they're not dangerous to use.

Fleece is brilliant for lining because it's light - to get the same amount of warmth from cotton, the liner would be really heavy - dries quickly when washed & doesn't need hemming. It's fairly easy to get hold of & comes as blankets in nice cheap bits to fit many windows. In DS2's room, I've put fleece between 2 curtains as he had 2 matching pairs, & it's better than last year when I'd doubled up the 2 pairs. In the sitting room, I've not finished the curtains yet, so hang a fleece blanket over the net wire each night.

babyshoes

Spiky Hedgehog has clearly explained why fleece is commonly used - but if cotton is what you have or can get very cheaply, then go for it - it will still help!
The more layers the better really - you can always add a third, fleecy layer at a later stage.

philtgilly

I've just moved into an old,cold,tenement in Glasgow.Being a wee Southern Softie,I'm terrified of the coming winter already ! Any more tips would be greatly appreciated. Particularly for windows,we've got big sash ones. How does the foil exactly work ? How do you put it up ? Can you do anything to the outside of windows ? We're a bit hampered as we only rent ? Many thanks