Help with making our house more efficient?

JRHartley_2

Hi all, any help appreciated.

We have a terrrace, built 1902. It's the most inefficient house in the world. We have no cavity walls, a great big gap underneath the lounge floor etc. We already have a decent amount of insulation in the loft, but the loft only covers the back third of the building (consider it like a loft conversion).

Our combined gas and elec bills are £202 a month, which is a bit more than I'd like. So, a few questions:

1. There is currently a large uninsulated space under our lounge, is this worth insulating and does anyone know what sort would be best?
2. I'm considering some sort of zone system for the heating - the kitchen is converted outhouses and is always cold, I'd wager we spend a lot heating that in the evening when it never actually gets warm - has anyone got any experience with these? Any recommend anything?
3. Any other ideas? Anyone manage to make their chilly turn of the century terrace into a toastie well insulated house?

Thanks in advance.

Jon
(PS - sorry if this is in the wrong place)

macman

Double glazing and draughtproofing?

good_advice

I take it, you have a cellar? sounds like you have a leaky old house.
What about coal fire? wood burner?

dogshome

Sounds as though your ground floor consists of brick pillars that support joists, on top of which are laid 1/2" floor boards - This type of flooring depends on a through draft under the floor from vents built into the outside walls, to protect the joists and underside of the floor boards from rot - but what you can do is insulate over the top of the floorboards to cut draughts and heat loss

JRHartley_2

Thanks all.

We have double glazing throughout but draught proofing is sorely lacking, that should be easy to tackle though so will get on to that. Thanks for the point about the floor, we have quite large rooms so am thinking the next time we do the plaster board (shouldn't be too long in some places!) we should get the insulating stuff.

A coal fire / log burner is definately an option, although i thought it would be expensive, would it recoup the costs (bear in mind our chimney has probably not been used for 10 years - I presume this would need some maintenance?)

Thanks all
Jon

Ken68

I have a similar floor, JRH..insulated it using a plastic net nailed into the joists with rockwool on top,then floorboards back. Difficult job but do-able. Gave me a chance to clean out the tongue and groove and tighten up. Then new carpet with top quality underlay. Cloud something.

rogerblack

Fundamentally, you're screwed.



More seriously.
Things like double glazing, and draughtproofing, and insulating the attic is of course worthwhile.
But heat loss basically depends on area.

The windows, and an attic that covers a third of the house are perhaps totalling a tenth of the total surface area.
Clearly, this isn't going to have an effect on 9/10ths of your bill.

If you want a warm, well insulated house, you basically have to insulate it!

Unfortunately, this will mean major works.
You need at least 10cm of good foam insulation to hit current standards, and that's close to what you want to get (and may be mandatory due to building regs).
Or 20cm of fibreglass.
There are many ways that this can be done, and what's appropriate and possible depends on the property.
External cladding may be a good option in some cases, and can if done well enhance the property.
Insulating the inside of the structure can also be done, but it'll mean at least a few centimeters less space inside.
Doing it right could slash bills to a third or less.

Howver, this is not a trivial thing to do, and doing it wrong can lead to condensation in the structure.

There is of course the solution for a tenner.
A nice wooly jumper!

Richie-from-the-Boro

JRHartley wrote: »

Thanks all.

We have double glazing throughout but draught proofing is sorely lacking, that should be easy to tackle though so will get on to that. Thanks for the point about the floor, we have quite large rooms so am thinking the next time we do the plaster board (shouldn't be too long in some places!) we should get the insulating stuff.

A coal fire / log burner is definately an option, although i thought it would be expensive, would it recoup the costs (bear in mind our chimney has probably not been used for 10 years - I presume this would need some maintenance?)

Thanks all
Jon

Chimney - A chimney with an effective restrictor where no outside air vents into the room would lose 1kWh per 24 hours of heat, however a chimney without an effective restrictor where outside air does vent into the room would lose 8kWh per 24 hours of heat. You will be rewarded with comfort & £ if you completely block the chimney or do away with it altogether.

Cellar - Make a false ceiling in the cellar with cheepo OSB2 and fill it with cellulose / rock wool / denim fibre / whatever. Try to make it 6" deep. Don't use polystyrene foam. Pay attention to any little inevitable gaps left and fill them too. Do not block airbricks. You will be rewarded with comfort & £.

If you use any kind of foam be very very careful, nasty choking death from that stuff.

markharding557

http://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/saarpor-graphite-insulating-lining-paper-single.html
This can be used on interior walls