Long-term most efficient way to heat my house

SuseOrm

I’m about to buy a little terrace which needs absolutely everything doing to it the boiler looks okay the radiators look horrendous pipework all over the place the whole place needs re-plastering re-flooring to so I’m thinking of grabbing this opportunity before I move in to sort out the heating arrangements. 

I was considering underfloor heating instead of radiators I noticed that there’s both a gas and electric option obviously I think gas is more expensive  to install in the first place but cheaper to run. 

But equally with the electric I can just move from room to room turn it on and off as required and when it’s just me there in my dotage I’d probably literally just heat one room.  

Any thoughts or recommendations please ? 

Ebe_Scrooge

Don't use electricity as your primary source of heat if you have the option of using gas or something else.  If you want flexibility, personally I'd say conventional radiators with TRVs fitted would be more convenient than underfloor heating.  They'll also respond more quickly when you change the temperature setting on an individual radiator.

To replace the radiators and pipework is not a huge undertaking in the grand scheme of things.  Sure, it's not a 5-minute job, but it's eminently do-able on a reasonable budget.  And if the boiler is OK that's another thing to consider - replacing a boiler can be expensive, so if it's OK then there's a saving straight away.  If you were faced with replacing the boiler then you might want to look at something like a wood-pellet boiler for longer-term sustainability - though you then have the fuel storage to think about.  Or even go the whole hog and choose air-source or ground-source heat pumps - though these are not always practical, and often not cost-effective to retro-fit, and require top-notch insulation.  Whatever option you choose, bear in mind that it can take many years of lower running costs to recoup the capital outlay of any new system.

It's personal choice, of course - but just some ideas to ponder.  Lots of options - but in reality, sticking with gas is likely to be the most cost-effective option for most situations.

FreeBear

Ebe_Scrooge said: If you were faced with replacing the boiler then you might want to look at something like a wood-pellet boiler for longer-term sustainability - though you then have the fuel storage to think about.

For a small terrace house, I have my doubts that a pellet stove would be practical - Aside from storage space for the fuel (and you'd need a fair sized shed for that), they are not as controllable & instant compared to a gas boiler. Servicing costs would also be quite a bit higher..

Would agree with the comment about not using electric UFH - Go for wet every time and you'd be able to switch to ASHP once the prices come down. Fitting oversized radiators would also allow for a switch to ASHP at a later date.

Regardless of which heating option you do end up going for, insulate as best you can. Loft insulation is cheap, so that is really a no-brainer. If you are stripping the walls back to brick, it will be as well to whack some insulation on before replastering - Removing any more than 25% of the plaster will trigger Building Regulation compliance, so you'd want to add around 75mm of Celotex/Kingspan to the walls to meet the required u-value (assuming solid brick walls). Once the walls are insulated, along with good quality double (or even triple) glazed windows, there is no need to have the radiators under the window. That gives you the opportunity to re-jig the CH plumbing and make a neater job of it.

SuseOrm

So with regards to insolation do I just need to insolate the walls on the outside or the inside walls as well please ?  

I’d love to get the underfloor insulated to before putting down underfloor heating which I think is the way I’m gonna go for at least some of the rooms.  

The double glazing looks okay for now I definitely will replace it in the future Bella that’s not a job for today and the loft is going to get converted so I presume I’ve got minimal opportunity to insolate that if I’m going to need all the headspace I can get. 

Thank you ever so much I really appreciate this I don’t have a dad to ask these questions of

Bendy_House

Hi Suse.

How old is the house? Does it have cavity walls?

For cavity walls, at least, internal insulation applied to just the external walls is by far the best, and will be far cheaper than adding external insulation. Since it needs replastering in any case, simple remove the old, and 'glue' the rigid insulation to the bare wall. You may wish to 'tank' the walls first, depending on what they are made of, and how old the house is.

'Wet' UFH is great as it works at much lower temps than rads, and should therefore be adaptable to new sources of energy such as heat pumps and solar & batteries, the latter via an electric boiler (which you might want at some point anyway, when gas costs more than leccy...).

 

SuseOrm

Id say the house is early 1900’s typical 2 up 2 down thats been badly extended 🤦‍♀️

twopenny

Do insulate but look carefully at the different ways, specifically for older properties. If you insulate too much and using the wrong materials you can end up with moisture caught and creating damp

I'd always go for a mix of heating. Some gas, some electric. Then if there's a problem with one you are not up the creek without a paddle.

I had my gas boiler go just before the Beast from the East. But I had gas fires and an electric choice for an immersion so still hot water. I was warmer than the people who had their combi boilers outlets freeze. They had no heat and no hot water.

Electric went off in a storm then I had the gas heating.

A small wood burner creates a lot of heat and is unaffected by both G&E. The chimney will need lining if they still do it that way and vented elsewhere also.

But having a variety of options in one house will ensure you keep warm if one fails.

As for underfloor heating - if it's that old there is possibliy a void under the floorboards to keep it damp free. It would be expensive to create a new floor to sandwich the heating I think.

Mutton_Geoff

twopenny said:

Electric went off in a storm then I had the gas heating.

How were the controls, boiler electronics and pump running when the electricity was off?

BUFF

SuseOrm said:

Id say the house is early 1900’s typical 2 up 2 down thats been badly extended 🤦‍♀️

If it's at least partially got suspended wooden floors I would suggest underfloor insulation under those & going with a wet central heating system using radiators sized for low flow temps on a boiler & suitable for future use with a heat pump.

As has already been mentioned, when doing wall insulation watch out that you don't cause issues with interstitial condensation.

When you convert your loft that will have to meet whatever current building regs. are in place at the time. If you think that's a few years away yet then it's probably worth doing loft insulation meantime (you may even get a grant).

FaceHead

Gas heating and radiators, as per the consensus. 

As it's a terrace house, it has relatively few external walls. The roof is the most important external surface, so start off by making sure you have between 200 and 300 mm of loft insulation. 

Next, there are probably only a couple of external walls at the front and back.

How are the windows, these are then next biggest offender for heat loss? 

From the age, I'm going to assume the walls are solid 9" brick.

If you are having the external walls plastered, put insulated plaster boards on, and get them skimmed over (take photos for a future EPC). Even a 38m insulated plasterboard cuts the thermal conductivity of a solid brick wall by 60-70% (but most of the heat was going out the roof/windows).

If you are not having them plastered, and the walls are good enough to decorate as-is, it's probably no worthwhile to further insulate the walls. 

Finally, how are the doors?

SuseOrm

The windows look okay actually I was going to prioritise replacing them but the doors just even for a decorative perspective aren’t great so that seems sensible to replace those.