Keeping warm in an old listed house with high ceilings and single glazing?

hereigoagain22

Hi ladies and gents

I thought you guys in here were the best people to ask!

Now I'm getting my hopes up as I haven't even seen this house yet and there are other people interested too plus I have to pass a credit check (eeek) but I'm just thinking/planning ahead!

I have the chance of viewing a beautiful, big house on the edge of town which is perfect for me and my 2 kids. It's just been renovated but the landlord is limited with what he can do as the house is "listed". It has no double glazing, very high ceilings and an open plan design plus a big 3 room basement and loft which I imagine makes it colder. Otherwise it has lounge, 3 bedrooms, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.

It says the house has electric heating but I don't know if it's central heating or storage heaters as I can't see any radiators in the pics. I can see some fireplaces (no fire or chimney though) and am guessing it would just be electric fires in there.

The rent is 525pcm which is excellent round here for the size of house - I'd be looking at £600 - £650 for something similar in size. And it accepts Housing Benefit which I need and it's now near impossible to find landlords who accept Housing Benefit.

EVeryone I've mentioned this house too has been trying to put me off saying that it'd be far too cold for me and the kids and I wouldn't be able to afford to heat it. But I already have my heart set on it!!

What do you OS ladies think? I have an 8 month old baby and a 2.5 year old toddler. We're out of the house from 8am-1pm Mon - Fri anyway. People survived somehow before we had electricity and heating didn't they? So it must be do-able somehow.

I thought warmer bedcovers, woolly jumpers, heavy curtains and blinds etc.

I don't want to post the link (incase someone local steals my dream house haha) but if anybody would like a closer look at the description and pics I'm happy to PM!

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

"It has no double glazing, very high ceilings and an open plan design".

I could tolerate one of those three things but all of them in combination would fill me with absolute dread. You're going to beggar yourself trying to keep it warm in winter, with super-expensive electric heating.

Don't do it! The rent is £100 a month cheaper for a reason. And the reason is that the heating bills will be treble that difference.

CaramelLatteKiss

I live in a Georgian building with super high ceilings and huge windows with single glazing. Not as glam as it sounds, I have a studio flat in said building! I don't struggle to heat mine, but the flat is about the size of a shoebox!

What's over the windows? I've got shutters and they do wonders to keep the heat in. I literally can't keep the place warm if the shutters are open. Good, heavy curtains will make the same difference, and don't be fussy about closing them in the day. If it's cold, close up.

Seakay

possibly window quilts would help

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4324181

My sister has stairs which come out of her lounge so she got big curtains (ebay or charity shop) and attached them from hooks she placed arount the ceiling and stairframe so that the heat from her living room didn't all escape upstairs in the evening when she had it on.

Use hot water bottles, wheat bags, bedsocks etc and don't heat the bedrooms if possible or maintain the minimum suggested for your baby and don't heat them at all except during waking hours when being used. Bedrooms are for sleeping in only - get changed downstairs if necessary and then rush up and under the covers!

Dress for the season, even if you end up wearing more in your house than out ( often take off a jumper when I put on a coat to go out shopping!)

Use beanies, fingerless mittens, extra jumpers etc in the house. Use throws and blankets to snuggle under in the evening.
Remember that the more active you are generally the less problem feeling cold should be.
Elderly and ill people who cannot be active get cold and stay cold far more. As you said central heating was an expensive luxury for the majority until at least the 70s. Think eco and dreass for the season, don't heat for your clothes. T shirts are for summer, loads of layers and jumpers are for winter. Don't forget your feet - two socks, or socks plus wellie socks plus slippers.

CaramelLatteKiss

I second the suggestion for layers!
Invest in good blankets. I was given a beautiful one for Christmas, I think it's alpaca, and once I'm under there on the sofa in the evening I am toasty warm

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Go for it.


If it's too cold, well, it's not as if you are compelled to stay there forever, is it?

RAS

Even if it is listed, the LL can install secondary glazing. have they done so?

Would they install a wood burner in one of the open grates?

debtmess

Go for it as you say it's hard to get rentals when on HB.
Thick curtains would be a must in winter.

We managed before CH. I was born 1981 and until 1994 we lived in a house with only a gas fire. Thick socks and water bottles we great at bedtime, and even now I dislike going to bed with heating on.

tori.k

I have a similar layout, altho mine is listed converted china clay dries, we heat by wood in the main living area and thats been fine over the worse of the weather but I wont lie the rest of the house is freezing even with thermal curtains and the works it's been quite uncomfortable at times, with kids so young I would say you will need to use the heating a fair bit so you would need to budget for this, I run a gas bottle heater between the bedroom for an hour to break the air but having teenagers mine get told to be sociable in the main living area or stick another jumper on, also it may sound mad but open the windows even if it's for half an hour I think old solid buildings need airing condensation can make a place feel colder than outside just opening a window for a bit balances it out.

krlyr

I grew up in a house with no central heating or doubleglazing, plus the original sash windows, and to top it off, surrounded in open fields so the wind could really batter the house at times! It did get cold in winter but not horrifically. I actually moved back to the house out of choice for a few years.

Blocking draughts, wearing extra layers, careful use of timers on electric heaters (20 mins before getting up in the morning, before getting home from work, etc. to take the chill off), and so on. Electric blankets to take the chill off the bed, an extra blanket or two. Putting a jumper on when cold - amazing how many people want to be able to lounge around in a t-shirt in the middle of winter and pay the heating bills to do so!

One things we did a lot of in the coldest parts of the year was stick to one room we heated very well, e.g. the living room. This was before the days of kids having TVs and PCs in their rooms though! We had the chimney unblocked and cleaned and had real fires, we could get plenty of free firewood so it was an inexpensive way to heat the house.

It certainly gave me an appreciation for central heating in the houses I've lived in since, but the charm of the house, the location, etc. certainly made up for the chilliness!

meritaten

I was born in 1954 and in the endless winter of 1962 we were living in a semi with single glazed sash windows, no central heating and boy was it cold! even tho dad was a miner we only ever had the fire in the living room lit. the chimney ran through my bedroom and so it was the warmest- relatively speaking - there could still be ice on the inside of the windows in the morning!
We kept the living room warm - had heavy curtains on the windows and during that winter we also had a curtain over both the doors in the room. The kitchen was freezing unless the oven was on - luckily the kitchen was so small it didn't take long to warm up! Dad ended up wetting newspaper to plug the gaps around the windows - we make stocking 'snakes' to stop the draughts under the doors. we wore lots of clothes! Beds were warmed with hot water bottles and yes we did all undress for bed in front of the fire - donned dressing gowns and raced upstairs to dive into bed! I can remember there being about five blankets on the bed - and mum having to borrow more off my grandparents as her room was so cold. and having the bright idea of putting the eiderdown between the sheet and the blankets (it worked - was a lot warmer than just stuck on top). getting out of bed in the morning was sort of this process in reverse..........mum would have our clothes warming on the guard in front of the fire. Meals would be hot - cold food is not a good idea in cold weather mum thought. I agree with her - and nothing brings back memories of that winter like eating Weetabix with HOT milk. mum still lives there - and even with double glazing and central heating complains its a cold house! (I tell her to put the ruddy radiators on then! she is so tight she would rather have hypothermia than heat the whole house).
You CAN live in a cold house hun - if you go back in time and dress appropriately and make sure the bed is warm with enough bedding.