Warming up toddlers room

Warren78

Hi

We have a small box room we want to turn into a bedroom for my daughter, shes 2.

Thing is, one of the main walls is an outside wall and it gets freezing in the winter. I wouldn't put her bed along that wall as it's just far too cold to the point where the sheets feel slightly damp because its so cold. This goes for her wardrobe as well, all the clothes end up freezing. If the furniture is up close the these walls then we get black spores appear, so any furniture i put in there at the moment i make sure there's quite a big gap behind it.

We have a double glazed window in there (its quite an old one) and a brick air vent which i open to circulate air throughout the room, we have a normal radiator under the window. The house is pre 1930's and has solid brick walls.

Has anyone else got the same problem and if so how did you warm the wall up?

I dont really want to put an extra heater in there as im worried she'd burn herself on it. The room is so small i dont want to add more thickness onto the wall by placing thick insulation internally as we need all the space we can get in there. I've seen insulating wallpaper but i cant see that making a huge difference, can you?

We also looked at external insulation but its such an expensive job.

Would underfloor heating help? We have carpet in there at them moment but we wouldn't mind replacing it.

I've also seen inferred panels that can go on the ceiling but have read that these can be expensive to run, and they heat up the objects in the room, so not sure how this would help a cold wall - all seems like a bit of a fad anyway.

Please any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Davesnave

Long answer short; if you aren't prepared to lose about 75mm of space to insulate the wall, it's going to continue leaking heat.



Electric radiators may be wall mounted above toddler height, though mine understood well enough that her storage radiator could be very hot.

macman

Is the rad warm all over? Cold spots at the top mean it needs bleeding, cold spots at the base mean it's sludged up and needs flushing. Does it have a TRV, and if so is it opening fully?
You could a) fit a larger rad if space permits, or b) fit a double panel rad if it's a single.
An infra-red electric heater costs exactly the same to run per kWh as any other electric heater, and that's about 300% more than gas CH.

tacpot12

A larger radiator will heat the room better, but you will still loose a lot of heat out to the room.

Aerogel-based products are starting to become generally available and offer excellent insulation with minimal loss of space. Have a look the Spacetherm website: https://www.proctorgroup.com/products/spacetherm

You could consider a Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) system in the attic to pump warm fresh air into the room and the rest of the house. This would stop cold air coming in from the ventilator - you would keep the ventilator open a bit to allow the fresh air from the PIV to escape and in case the PIV failed.

Grenage

As you suggest, insulating wallpaper is a waste of time and money. As Dave has suggested, your only insulation options are internal or external insulation.


Alternatively a larger radiator or oil radiator will see you through at the cost of fuel. We've got an oil-filled radiator for the parrot in the living room, it doesn't get very hot when it's left on 'eco mode' 24/7. It's no more economical to run, but it raises its temperature much more slowly and doesn't get as warm.


I would (and did, in my old house) insulate internally. It makes such a difference.

FreeBear

I'm in a similar situation - 1920s semi, 8'x8' box room with two external solid brick walls. Plenty of insulation in the loft, but with 1980s double glazed units in need of replacement.

When the work schedule allows, the walls will be stripped back to bare brick then insulated. Yes, I will lose 75mm or so, but the savings on heating make up for the minor loss of space. Will also take the opportunity to install a smaller, more efficient radiator which should make it much more toasty in there.

owen_money

Thicker pyjamas?

Ruski

Insulating wallpaper have no/little energy benefit BUT will take the immediate chill off the wall.

Try it - what have you got to loose? A few quid


Russ

armchaireconomist

Without insulating? New carpet + nice thick underlay, new window, draught proof skirting etc., heavy thermal curtains and a new type 21/22 radiator if required is a good start.