freezing cold house with no central heating - help!

annie2005

Another good draught excluder is two pair of curtains. We use this to combat 30 year old double glazing. Charity shop heavy lined curtains. Hung on alternating hooks and then Velcro to the walls alongside the windows. Also the plastic layer of double glazing really does work if you use a decent plastic. Again Velcro will save the paint work as well as enabling you to open the window underneath for cleaning etc during the winter months. Also make some draught excluding rolls and if you get over-long floor length curtains these can help seal out the cold air as it falls.

flossyblog

My dutch tutor was really frugal, she told me she heated her living room with the fridge - back of

200

i googled those doubles glazing kit
and companies do sell them

Snowy_Owl

My wee flat can also be very cold and has no central heating. It does thankfully heat up quite quickly when I put the electric heaters on. Agree with all the above, lots of layers, hot water bottles in bed, etc. During the winter months have clothes fryinh in kitchen - i know it's not idea but have no other option so when finished using the oven, I leave the door open to give a bit of extra heat out. Also have a blanket and a quilt on my bed to keep me warm at nioght. As I am a very cold tattie, also wear a jumper (sometimes 2 - 1 borrowed from dear fiance) in bed. Therefore kept as snug as abur in a rug!! Snowy

beautiful_ravens

All of us (me & OH + 3 kids) have either a fleece blanket or a fake fur throw ontop of the bedsheet, which we lie ON. The kids just wear normal PJ's and are really toasty warm. We hate it when its time to wash the 'furry blanket' on our bed, because we have to lie on an ordinary sheet - luckily the fur throw dries very quickly!!

Ive got 3 pairs of curtains hanging at my dining room window - they are all attached to each other by the tape hooks - so theres the 1st pair, with a 2nd pair hooked onto the curtain tape, and that 2nd pair has a 3rd pair attached onto its tape - but you DO need sturdy curtain fixtures to do this !!

I remembered this year to block up the unused chimney holes - the living room has an open fireplace, but I put a fake woodburner-fanheater in the hole.....So in the autum I cleared out behind it (cobwebs) and couldnt believe it when I looked up the chimney and could see straight up to the sky!! I stuffed an empty compost bag up there, and then fitted a piece of chipboard stuff (from the back of a picture clip-frame) into the hole. One less draught!!

One old house we lived in had literally up to one inch gaps between the floorboards and skirting board - so when we redecorated, I made alot of paper mache, filled up some smaller areas, and when it was dry, gloss painted over it same colour as skirting. Some other areas were too big for this, and we had to hammer strips of 1x1 wood over the gaps instead. It made a noticable difference to the warmth in the room.

Butterfly_Brain

Have a look at the preparing for winter and saving money on gas and electric threads there are loads of brilliant ideas on them

mrsr

Have to agree with leaving curtains drawn all day if you can ,makes a big differance.A proper themal vest is worth every penny (never thought i would say that sounding like my mother)sitting under a throw with hot water bottle and cuddling my little dog.I'm luckly i have a warmer house now just need to cut my costs but I well remember when there was no heating or dg it was awfull I feel for you.

Pennylane

Oh my lord this brings back memories. Our first home was a one-bed rented cottage and while it looked pretty in the summer it was ffffffreezing in winter.:eek: It had just one coal fire in the front room & that was it. The kitchen was so cold that the milk used to freeze in the bottles and pop up like lollipops. The kitchen was built on some years before & I'm sure was just one brick thick. That was the only cold place I ever lived in. I vowed that I would go without anything in order to stay warm. I just hate it & feel miserable.

Here's what I'd do. First of all I'd speak to the landlord because they really ought to be doing something about either cavity wall insulation/loft insulation and draught-proofing.

I'd get some good thermal underwear and socks.
Thick lined curtains from charity shops or freecycle. There are some other great ideas on here and I can't better them. But DO speak to your Landlord.