How does anyone retain heat in an Edwardian House?

thedrumdoctor

markin said:

Don't let a plumber see the size of the house and add 5k, Even if you could afford it, Get plenty of quotes.

Thankfully I’ve got someone I know lined up to do it who’s worked on the present boiler before.

I had a quote a few years ago from British Gas, just for laughs….

FreeBear

thedrumdoctor said:

FreeBear said:

macman said:

Oh dear..... Please, have a read of this web site - https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/managing-damp-in-old-buildings.html

  

I've likely ticked every 'do not do this' box in that article. Here's a taster from 2004….

Not too sure what the regs were back in 2004, but if you did the work today Building Control would have wanted to see insulation added to both the walls and floor.

Reddleman79

I live in an Edwardian house. It doesn't retain heat! I don't want to ruin its character by doing all sorts of modifications and live with it. On the other hand it's not damp as it has lots of natural ventilation, around the doors, through the roof space and under the floorboards. Despite the cool environment I love it and wouldn't want to live in a modern house. All the houses I previously lived in were Victorian!. In my dreams I'd like to live in a 17C cottage with stone mullioned windows and oak panelling. 

thedrumdoctor

FreeBear said:

Not too sure what the regs were back in 2004, but if you did the work today Building Control would have wanted to see insulation added to both the walls and floor.

It's about time we got up to speed with the idea of renovations needing to have a huge emphasis on retaining heat in the northern hemisphere. The Romans got it right with their underfloor heating. 

mac.d

FreeBear said:

macman said:

Everything you say is correct, but in term of 'bang for your buck', the boiler should come first. The cost of insulating the walls is going to be many times the cost of a new boiler.

If money is tigh, I'd agree. Adding wall insulation internally could be done one room at a time to spread the cost..

On a related note, is it a builder you need for internal wall insulation, and anyone got a rough idea how much it would cost per room?

thedrumdoctor

Reddleman79 said:

I live in an Edwardian house. It doesn't retain heat! I don't want to ruin its character by doing all sorts of modifications and live with it. On the other hand it's not damp as it has lots of natural ventilation, around the doors, through the roof space and under the floorboards. Despite the cool environment I love it and wouldn't want to live in a modern house. All the houses I previously lived in were Victorian!. In my dreams I'd like to live in a 17C cottage with stone mullioned windows and oak panelling. 

You must be a polar bear! 

I despise the cold and blame it on my 50% Mediterranean DNA. 

The cost of changing my house to make it energy efficient is probably too invasive/expensive and I'm better off moving rather than trying to make it into something it isn't. My dream now would be to be able to buy land and build my own house with solar, ground energy heating, air-con and a subterranean level for winter living. The neolithic people at Skara Brae got that bit right about subterranean houses. Animals in the northern hemisphere need to go underground in the winter. 

Better still, there's always my Italian citizenship waiting to be claimed.... 

FreeBear

thedrumdoctor said:

FreeBear said:

Not too sure what the regs were back in 2004, but if you did the work today Building Control would have wanted to see insulation added to both the walls and floor.

It's about time we got up to speed with the idea of renovations needing to have a huge emphasis on retaining heat in the northern hemisphere. The Romans got it right with their underfloor heating. 

The Romans also had slaves & servants to keep the fires stoked and didn't have to worry about CO2 emissions.

mac.d said:

FreeBear said:

macman said:

Everything you say is correct, but in term of 'bang for your buck', the boiler should come first. The cost of insulating the walls is going to be many times the cost of a new boiler.

If money is tigh, I'd agree. Adding wall insulation internally could be done one room at a time to spread the cost..

On a related note, is it a builder you need for internal wall insulation, and anyone got a rough idea how much it would cost per room?

A small jobbing builder in conjunction with a decent plasterer would be able to do it. I'm budgeting ~£1K per room, but that includes redecorating and doing all the work myself. Materials are coming in at  around £200 per wall at the moment.

Emily_Joy

Hi OP

We are in the process of buying a relatively spacious early Victorian house and trying to estimate the heating cost. The house we are looking at has log burners and the current owners claim they are quite efficient. Is it something we can rely on?

As I was reading the discussion - what which one is generally better external wall insulation or internal wall insulation? With the space we have we can easily sacrifice a few cm for internal insulation, but are there downsides? 

P.S. The little semidetached ex-council house from 1960s we are living in at the moment doesn't seem to retain heat either. The only rooms that get warm is the south-facing bedroom when the sun in shining and the kitchen when I am baking!

macman

Logburners can be around 80% efficiency, compared to nearer 90% with a modern condensing boiler, or 100% with any electrical heating source. Much better than open fires at around 20%, but not that great.
Logburners are only cheap to run if you have your own free source of fuel, otherwise mains gas is cheaper.
And they output large amounts of particulates, far more than diesel cars and trucks.

Emily_Joy

macman said:

Logburners can be around 80% efficiency, compared to nearer 90% with a modern condensing boiler, or 100% with any electrical heating source. Much better than open fires at around 20%, but not that great. Logburners are only cheap to run if you have your own free source of fuel, otherwise mains gas is cheaper. And they output large amounts of particulates, far more than diesel cars and trucks.

The condensing boiler was installed by the current owners in 2020. Regarding the last part - if the logburners were so dangerous, humans would have not survived.