How do I make house feel warm?

pink.1970

squeaky - many thanks I am now looking at the links you listed in earlier post.

bobsa1

Some houses are very cold, mine is a 1930's solid brick wall house and gets cold within half an hour of the heating going off. To keep the house tolerably warm costs us £150 a month in gas.

I'm sure you do this anyway, but thick curtains and closing them as soon as it gets dark will keep heat in, foil behind radiators reflects heat back into the room.

Keep doors closed as much as possible. To help with the mould, don't dry clothes on radiators etc. get plenty of air flow & we find a dehumidifier helps with that damp feeling and makes the house feel warmer.

I try to keep at least one room nice and warm during the day, however whilst it is very cold I have heating on low overnight and throughout the day.

My house takes a good couple of hours to warm up from the heating going on!

Gorgeous_George

Houses need to be dry. Do not dry clothes in the house. Tumble driers need to be bented to the outside unless they are the 'condensing' type.

When filling the bath, add cold water first. When hot is added second, it will cause less steam.

Consider using a dehumidifier. Condensation is yours and is normal but it needs to go somewhere. Usually the coldest window or wall takes the hit. A damp house needs to be dried out and then kept dry for the problem to be solved.

You should be able to get the roof lagged but this should be the LL's job. Maybe the EPCs will help in the longer term but you need your roofspace lagged now. It is likel wearing a hat yourself. Double check the warmfront site.

Hassle the LL.

GG

clutton_2

if your landlord will not pay for insulation in the roof, and you do not qualify for grants, then you have three choices: buy your own insulation for the roof (take it with you when you go); pay higher fuel bills; move.

rooms with plastered walls (as opposed to wall papered walls) are much more likely to be colder

open a window the minute you have had a bath/shower - to let the steam out

do not dry wet clothes indoors - unless you have the window open (to let out dampness) and the heating on to dry the clothes

close curtains the minute it gets dark, or leave them shut all day if you are out at work - this does keep heat in

most importantly - have the boiler checked to see if it is working in THE most fuel efficient manner - is the thermostat set in the correct way ? is the hot water on when you only want room heating - and vice versa.

draught proof doors and windows with that sticky-strip stuff - but do remember you do need ventilation as well - its a difficult tightrope to walk on.

if you never open windows - you WILL get mould eventually - steam from baths and cooking and sweaty breath from humans has to leave the building somehow - and if they can't - they get absorbed into the walls - and this produces black mould.

mrsplinter

Have you tried putting the heating on for longer or at different times. Admittedly I don't have central heating just electric night storage heaters, but i think I would have central heating on for much longer in this type of weather and earlier before getting up. We've been having the coldest nights of the winter recently. I don't know where in the country you are but some places in the midlands have been down to -10 at night, but much warmer, quite mild in the day. The coldest temperatures occur around dawn 7am ish just when your heating comes on. There is also a time lag between the heating coming on and the house warming up. I don't think there would be much chance of warming your house in 15 mins between it coming on and you getting up, if the heating has been off overnight and it is anything like -10 outside.

Phirefly

I know its not getting to the cause, but I can thoroughly recommend getting a dehumidifier. Our house gets bad condensation, but we can't prevent the causes; its well insulated, we have no choice but to dry clothes inside/breathe/shower etc etc. Since we got the dehumidifier, its been a 100% improvement. We got the Delonghi DNC65 from John Lewis with the £20 off SHE voucher thats still doing the rounds.

clutton_2

""we have no choice but to dry clothes inside/breathe/shower etc etc.""

you mean you have not yet learned how to do without breathing ???

pink.1970

clutton - We cannot put our own insulation in the roof as there is no loft access, this is 1 of the problems Enviro Health told LL about along with fitting airbricks and extractors in outside wall for kitchen and bathroom.

He said bathroom roof wasn't a problem unless it was leaking (we know for a fact that it hasn't had a new roof on since the extension was built some 30 odd years ago).

We dont dry clothes over radiators we try to dry them outside if possible and then hang over an airer in spare bedroom.

Bathroom window is open when we have a bath. In fact as I said in earlier post windows are opened as soon as we get up.

Boiler is ok its checked every January. Its a combi boiler and only heats hot water when you turn hot tap on.

Double glazing in my opinion shouldnt need any other kind of draught proofing.

keelyjrs

This thread has been really helpful to me too, as we have black mould round our windows. I'm going to get my bleach out this morning and have a good old scrub!!

We have started keeping our bedroom window open at night (much to hubby's annoyance) but I am guilty of drying clothes on an airer :rolleyes: Thing is though we don't have a tumble drier and it hasn't been the weather to use the line in our garden (which is communal as well so I still have to dry my smalls indoors!!) Hey ho, Hubby reckons it's because it's cheap double glazing.. we live in council property so it is never going to be the good stuff!!

Anyway thanks for useful tips and OP ... here's to banishing our mould!!!

Phirefly

clutton wrote: »

you mean you have not yet learned how to do without breathing ???

I know. Inefficient aren't I.