What to do about my cold house!

01-11-2012, 04:23 PM

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for some advice....

Basically the flat i live in is a converted house, its split top and bottom. Its around 100yrs old.

We find it incredably cold during the winter, even at the moment when its not even that cold.

We have loft insulation that is apprently the right depth so cant add that, we spoke to the council (oh yeah its a council flat too) and they got a quote for cavity wall insulation, but this was going to cost me £500 and the people downstairs £375.

Its a big property and because of the size of the eves (Not sure if thats the name of them but its the side walls that go righ up to the corner of the roof point?) we have more to pay then the people below. But if the people below didnt agree to pay there part, which i doubt they would as they havent complained of the cold that im aware of.

We have been told that if we were on benifits i could have it done for free...yay having a job is great!

Anyway, i dont mind paying for stuff when i think i should, and i know my opinion of when i should and others will be different but on this occasion i really dont think i should have to pay for this, its not my house its theres if i were to move out i cant take it with me. I dont reqally care if i have the insulation or not but what i cant do is afford to pay nealry £3 a day in gas which is what it cost the other day to stay warm.

We keep the thermostat at a constant 21 but as soon as it goes off the place gets cold so quickly its silly.

Is there any knid of regulation or something that people of rent out there properties have to abide by?

Clutching at straws really as i cant afford the cavity wall and i cant afford £3 a day on gas either!

One more thing is that we have a loft fan fitted that stops condensation and mould, it blows air from the loft which is very cold into our hallway, this has only been in a short(ish) amount of time but the cold issues were here before this, i turned this fan off as it was causing extra cold but then we got condesation on our windows and mould on some of our walls, so on it goes again! The council have said they can fit a heater to the fan to warm the air before it comes through the vent but this will be me paying for the electricity of this heater on 24hrs 7 days a week.

My kiRAB of which 1 is only 9mths old have to have extra blankets at night too keep warm, this isnt right!

Any thoughts/ideas of how to tackle this issue???

**Xray** · 01-12-2012, 12:20 AM

You shouldn't have to set it that high, even in a very draughty house, I'd have thought

Have you checked the actual boiler thermostat?
You didn't turn it down for the summer and forget to turn it back up did you?

The thinking is, that if it's too low, you'll never get the house up to temperature.

**gear_head26** · 01-12-2012, 02:45 AM

I take it you are renting this freezing cold flat. If so why don't you move out or is that a very difficult thing to do for some reason?

Isn't that fan blowing the wrong way round? Shouldn't it be extracting moist air and then, only for a limited time too (say 10 mins) as its own timer makes it cut out?

It seems to me you're not getting rid of your moist air and then making it even worse by chilling it with the fan.

Cavity wall insulation is 'a must'. But only in your own property. It's daft to spend your money on the LandlorRAB's property, IMHO. If it is yours, then can't you get a loan from somone privately from somewhere like Zopa?

**abig84** · 01-12-2012, 02:48 AM

I have no clue sorry mate, all i know is what they have said to us.

Are you getting solar in your area anytime soon.

**ã€ŽLunaã€** · 01-12-2012, 05:08 AM

Have you talked to your energy company? Sometimes they have subsidised insulation available...

Also turn your thermostat down a little and have it on for a little longer?

**Rubluffin** · 01-12-2012, 02:31 PM

Well measuring the gas meter will not be reliable for heating costs if you're cooking using gas too. Also if you've got a corabi boiler amount of water you use will have a big effect. Suppose though its probably not significant compared to the cost of heating by the sounRAB of it.

Another thing you can do is to shut curtains in the day for rooms that are not being used sounRAB like it wouldnt make too much difference but it does!

I need to do something about our house too as its quite cold, I put on a pair of tracksuit bottoms on under my jeans yesterday! Doesnt help that I was writing an essay for about 8 hours stuck at a desk!

**brittney.** · 01-13-2012, 06:16 AM

And this fan in the hall....

Surely if you are goingto run something electrically, run a dehumidifier to dry the air. Just doing this will make everywhere seem warmer.

**First Name ramani** · 01-13-2012, 06:18 AM

Pluraber's matches mate.

An example here.

Although you can't beat a fag, tbh

**grayhalo13** · 01-13-2012, 04:44 PM

You can get smoking (or aerosol) things for getting rid of fleas that produce a lot of smoke or visible gas you could try. The smoke ones do leave a bit of a smell for a few hours but the other ones are pretty good. Probably not what you want but just thought I'd throw it out there!

EDIT ^ thats probably a much better idea!

**lexiedarnell** · 01-13-2012, 05:31 PM

Yes we are renting it, but as we are council tenants we could try to exchange with other people but ideally don't really want to move if it could be avoided. Plus we couldn't afford to privately rent.

Apparently the fan is working correctly, it's not like a bathroom exactor fan, it's cold a flat master I think, it's ment to be blowing the way it is. So I'm lead to believe, and if the make heaters especially for it I guess it must be right as you would hear the air being sucked into the loft.