How to improve warmth of top floor of townhouse

climbingcog

Hi,

We stay in a 2 year old new build detached town house. Bottom and middle floors are generally warm, but the top floor is noticeably cooler. The insulation in the loft seems thick and covers all areas. The radiators are set to 4 all day, though the controller/thermostat is located in a bedroom on the middle floor (below), though radiators in there are set to 3. The walls are SW, NW and NE facing and probably exposed to winds more than the rest of the house.

I could obviously set the thermostat higher for key times or generally, and/or could relocate the thermostat to the top floor. But are there other ways I could improve the warmth? Could we install extra/thicker plaster board over the existing board?

I am willing to get someone in to do the necessary work but not sure what is workable. I'm more inclined to a better long term solution than simply cranking up the heating.

Any ideas greatly welcomed.

Scott

jk0

Is this a timber frame house? If so, have a look behind the sockets to see if there is adequate insulation.

Edit: BTW, I believe it is sensible not to have a TRV in the room with the thermostat, or if there is one, to set it at max.

Furts

My experience and my intuition suggest the radiators are not correct for their locations. They could be improved by replacing with a larger size, or probably for the same size but changed into a double convector or double panel.

It is highly unlikely that your heating has been designed for your particular location.

It is also highly likely that nobody has checked that your installed radiators comply with the design requirements for your home. It is common for the heating installers to save a few pounds by installing cheaper radiators - nobody ever checks on this.

climbingcog

Is this a timber frame house? If so, have a look behind the sockets to see if there is adequate insulation.

Edit: BTW, I believe it is sensible not to have a TRV in the room with the thermostat, or if there is one, to set it at max.

The house is not a timber frame. I wouldn't be able to look behind anything without taking plasterboard off or cutting holes.

There is a radiator in the hall that has not TRV so as to act as the bypass radiator.

climbingcog

Furts wrote: »

My experience and my intuition suggest the radiators are not correct for their locations. They could be improved by replacing with a larger size, or probably for the same size but changed into a double convector or double panel.

It is highly unlikely that your heating has been designed for your particular location.

It is also highly likely that nobody has checked that your installed radiators comply with the design requirements for your home. It is common for the heating installers to save a few pounds by installing cheaper radiators - nobody ever checks on this.

Both radiators are double panels. They are situated under the windows as per most other radiators in the house. The same size of radiators are in the same size room on the ground floor, and the temperature is much better in that ground-floor room; that ground-floor room also has a double patio door, so one would expect it to be colder from that.

I am thinking it may genuinely be an insulation issue, or that I need to run the heating up there for longer/higher thermostat setting (though I'd rather avoid that second option).

TheCyclingProgrammer

Have you tried turning up your central thermostat and then turning down the TRVs on the ground and first floors to compensate?

climbingcog

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Have you tried turning up your central thermostat and then turning down the TRVs on the ground and first floors to compensate?

That would most likely work (and I think I have done something akin to that at times when I've wanted it warmer over a longer period of time) - but as I outlined in the above, I am keen to find another way of keeping the room warm (or keeping more of the heat in) before having to have the heating on for longer/higher on that particular level of the house.

littlerock

On the top floor, is there a corridor or hallway of some sort leading to the rooms there? We found a lot of our heat was rising into the stairwell and void at the top of the house and we put a additional double depth rad on the top landing outside the bedrooms. This heated the air in the void and made the other rooms warmer as well.

surbitonian

The thermostat should not be in a bedroom. As soon as that room reaches temperature it will shut down the pump and boiler so no more heat will circulate, regardless of TRVs. The stat should be in an open area - hall way/landing. That way individual room temps will not impact others. Also the area containing the stat must not have a TRV on ay rad in that area.

Smiley_Dan

climbingcog wrote: »

I am thinking it may genuinely be an insulation issue, or that I need to run the heating up there for longer/higher thermostat setting (though I'd rather avoid that second option).

Quite common in new builds. After exhausting the advice about checking whether the heating system is up to spec, begin to look at this for sure. See https://twitter.com/myhousesucks .

Might not be an insulation issue; air tightness is normally pretty terrible. See if there are any draughts behind plug sockets, between floor and skirting board (if hard floor, otherwise take up the carpet). Any recessed downlighters? And... so on.

Furts

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

Quite common in new builds. After exhausting the advice about checking whether the heating system is up to spec, begin to look at this for sure. See https://twitter.com/myhousesucks .

Might not be an insulation issue; air tightness is normally pretty terrible. See if there are any draughts behind plug sockets, between floor and skirting board (if hard floor, otherwise take up the carpet). Any recessed downlighters? And... so on.

The link should be compulsory viewing for anybody thinking of buying a new home. Indeed, in an ideal world the folks at MSE Towers should be placing it as a sticky at the top of the property buying section.

Standards are abysmal - you and I know this. Even people consumers trust, like Grand Designs Kevin McCloud, are no better than Taylor Wimpey in the link you post. Kevin decided to dabble in house building in recent times, and thought it would be a quick buck for him to take on a dodgy, cheap contractor. The scheme has the owners extremely unhappy - defects abound, but this is the norm in house building. For those who are interested Google the development near Stroud in Gloucestershire.

Equally Taylor Wimpey are con folks - they leave a trail of destruction behind them. Just Google Oxley Woods. Yet nobody, including consumers, learns from this.

Oxley Woods had the backing of John Prescott - remember him? I suggest consumers were never going to get a fair hearing and fair treatment for political reasons.

This is not a rant against new home builders or new home buyers. There is a report working its way through Parliament as we debate this. Time will tell if the current Government have the balls to do anything about matters.