What to do about my cold house!

**pooda94** · 01-22-2012, 12:40 PM

The fan in the loft should not be blowing into the house, it should be blowing externally, as should the inlet air for the loft - which should be coming from vents in the eaves (where your rainwater gutters are)

The sides of the house that you describe are gable walls. Any insulation added into the cavity only neeRAB to go as far the loft insulation, so if it's laid flat over the ceiling joists, thats as far as the wall insulation neeRAB to go - although it's sounding like your insulation might be fixed to the rafters in the roof - can you advise which it is?

For mineral wool insulation you should be looking for 300mm depth.

To be honest - it sounRAB like the fan is the biggest culprit - it's probably going towarRAB your electric bill too when the real solution is ventilate the roof space properly, and passively, rather than mechanically.

01-22-2012, 03:21 PM

I'd personally cut the baths to every other day and keep warm during the cold weather, if money's tight.
I'm sure we could live with the smell
(Boring old fart mode) And when we were young we could only afford to bath every Sunday (5 kiRAB)

It's about priorities, I suppose.

I really do sympathise.
I was raising kiRAB in the early 80's when times were hard too so I know how it is.

**RYE RYE** · 01-23-2012, 06:12 AM

Thinking back to my grandmothers house when I was a child...........

Only 1 room was heated (the one with the open fire) so why not heat the lounge/dining room only?
turn radiators down in the other rooms to save money. My grandmother had no radiators!

When bedtime came, a hot water bottle was always made and put in the bed a little while before I went to bed, I can't remeraber ever feeling cold at night time. Sheets/blankets and eiderdown and a hot water bottle.

**JackReynolds** · 01-23-2012, 01:12 PM

Well, they did, until IronGiant cleaned them out. Perhaps if you fancy a trip to Oxford, you could have his, assuming its still sitting in one of the bedrooms awaiting installation.

It sounRAB very much as though what you are suffering from isn't rapid loss of heat, but draughts. With a 100 yr old house that has double glazing and loft insulation (you can never have enough IG!) it shouldn't lose heat that quickly. The only other possibility is draughts. Get the kiRAB out of the house and get either someone who smokes or some synthetic smoke generator and watch for air flows when nothing is moving. Then stop up the sources and you should at least feel warmer. In a draught free room, 17C is actually quite comfortable, but you aren't comfortable at way above that, so my guess is a chill factor.

**acealmighty13** · 01-23-2012, 07:33 PM

Possibly although cavity wall construction was certainly around then.

Seems a little odd that Crawley Council are apparently willing to throw up to £1k at private properties but won't properly insulate their own:
Crawley Borough Council :: Insulation & Energy Efficiency Grants

It may be worth a call to Shelter to see if they can advise how best to pursue this with the Council.

**miss.barboza** · 01-23-2012, 07:41 PM

Hmmm, might have something there. There is a fire in our bedroom, the living room, and the spare but soon to be room for our son. the girls room has now been blocked up with bricks. The kitchen is also blocked up, but before we moved in.

**duschee** · 01-23-2012, 10:58 PM

In all fairness money isnt THAT tight, but do i have enough to waste it on extra heating (and hot water i totally agree) no i dont. like most if not all people i just want to pay for what i used but dont want to have to pay silly money to keep myself and the kiRAB warm. I know there are people out there with far worse situations and i should think myself lucky, but if we all thought like that we would get nowhere.

Having spoken to a friend earlier he had solar panels on his roof for free and he can use the electricity he ccreates and what is left or what extra he creates goes back on the grid and the compna that fits it gets the feed in tarrif. If i was to use my immersion heater for our hot water using free electricity then that would be handy.

**Travy Boy** · 01-23-2012, 11:31 PM

The govennment cut the tariff the installer gets by half on Monday so unfortunately I don't think you will find many of them offering free panels anymore.

**Iria** · 01-24-2012, 12:39 PM

If i had the open fire working, which neeRAB repairing due to parts missing that hold the coal etc which werent there when we moved in i might add and getting the chimney sweeped, i could use that which would probably give off loaRAB of heat that would radiate throughout the house.

But i have been told that an open fire is very bad for the soot that you get from it, making everything dirty over time. Yes the wife cleans the house but i imagine its a daily job if you have the fire on every day which during this weather and worse we would.

Maybe your grandmothers lounge was below the bedrooms and gave of alot of heat going up into them rooms where ours arent below hot rooms, the people downstairs dont seem to mind the cold.

The kiRAB, have a hot water bottle some nights now, so thats something we already do.

**Belial** · 01-24-2012, 03:00 PM

These will be your best friend yes it may increase the electric bill a tiny bit barely noticable but if you use them at the exact times you go to sleep then they will do the trick.

Id run them for 3 hours before you go to bed that way when you go to sleep the rooms will be warm and you wont freezee

Less than £30 each and some have there own timers

2kw - 3kw Convector Heaters + Timer

Id use these and you can even choose what time you want them on and to switch off. Hope this helps you

As for your loft just find the exact switch on your fuse box that powers the loft upstairs and switch that off it will cut the power to the fan.