[Closed] How to heat an old house efficiently

Detached or semi? current insulation levels in loft / walls / windows?

Had a modern combi boiler in my old semi detached with 250mm loft insulation & double glazed sash windows, worked well for me but I don't mind the cold or wearing jumpers 🙂

insulate it. draftproof it.

To actually generate heat, ie if there is none, your best bet / only real option is gas central heating. Expect to pay thick end of a 10k wedge.

But you really should consider draft proofing and insulation in combination with this. Loft insulation, unused chimneys, and ground floor suspended timber floors are good targets to start with. Oh, and windows if they are original/old. Plenty of info on the web, including case studies of similar houses.

Cheers, yes the epc score is 39 and is showing need for roof insulation is cavity wall a poss in an old property.
Windows are wood/replacement and have been double glazed. It has a combi boiler and CH fitted so keen to test efficiency of current set up.
Heating bills are C£2k per annum at present.
Chimneys are used for 2 gas fires (coming out) looking at a log burner for 1 room and an open fire in the other (occasional use).

If your going to own it for a long time you really need to get it insulated to the max in the loft/roof area and on any outside faceing wall. Might cost a lot but you'll get it back in 10 years. Cavity wall can be done to almost all houses now regardless of brick construction method. Theres grants available to help, plenty of info on t'internet.

insulate it. draftproof it.

Once you've done that, don't forget to insulate it.

Or buy more jumpers. Every outside wall and roof needs either Kingspan type stuff or battens and fibreglass before replastering from scratch. Double glazing as a minimum. Stop the drafts from the cellar and the crawlspace beneath the floors. High TOG rating underlay and thick carpets on any concrete floors that you can't lift and relay. Forget open fires unless you can close off the chimney when not in use. Then a regular combi boiler should do the trick, or you could faff with solar water heating, but I'd only do that if I could do most of the install myself.

An open fireplace is like leaving a window open. If you have to pay for logs you'll find a log burner isn't a cheap option.

jam bo - Member

insulate it. draftproof it.

matt_outandabout - Member

Then insulate some more.

then complain about the damp and mold 😀

then complain about the damp and mold

Then buy a positive pressure ventilation system to allow air circulation and condensation removal.

I'd do what seemed obvious but after that it's just part n parcel of living in a victorian house. Sandstone walls 2 foot thick and filled with rubble don't seem to suit cavity wall insulation 🙄

Single glazed?

Sandstone walls 2 foot thick and filled with rubble don't seem to suit cavity wall insulation

I shouldn't think 9" solid brick walls can cope with cavity wall insulation either, if you are semi detached try to keep furniture backed onto party wall rather than outside walls to avoid mould, also best thing you can do with open fires is put a vented stopper in the chimney pot & forget about having opening fires, allows ventilation but restricts blowing gale through the living room.

If you can bare it, turn the thermostat down = cheapest way to save on heating bills

Just heat one room and MTFU

I'm in the same boat

It's cold the moment the heating goes off

End stone terrace. The gable wall is freezing. House was renovated just before I moved in. Seems like they studded the ground floor gable wall but not upstairs. No idea why.

Also opened up the bedroom fireplace which was a mistake

I'd do what seemed obvious but after that it's just part n parcel of living in a victorian house. Sandstone walls 2 foot thick and filled with rubble don't seem to suit cavity wall insulation

Same here, once past the plaster I can chase the walls with my finger 😯

as a heating professional.. well i get paid to heat folks homes.. keep the cold out draughts can kill the room temp.. insulate.. keep the heat in.

organise your furniture appropriately.. dont hand curtains two feet over the top of the radiators,, dont put your sofa..bed in front/beside a rad either let the thing work .dont have shelves over radiators..

use proper radiators that radiate and convect heat for maximum bang for your buck..

pipes under the floor?. insulate them..heat the room not the under floor void..

fit new rads.. thier effciency over anything more than 10 years old will amaze.. you can feel the difference.

External wall insulation has reaped a genuine 40% saving on gas for our 3 bed council semi.
Couple of outside walls suffered from damp (condensation), that dried up immediately.

Had a very old stone cottage.

Couldn't do much as there was no room to insulate in the roof.

Basically I put draft excluders on doors, had some door curtains made and mainly staid in one room. The attic bedroom was freezing.

The romanticism of an old solid fuel based cottage eventually got a bit tiring for me. 🙂

Lift and insulate under the floorboards BEFORE you decorate, move all the furniture in and have kids. 🙄

Dry line every outside wall with Kingspan covered in plasterboard backed with polystyrene. Insulate the attic to more than 250mm. That will make a massive difference. The deal with the windows, chimneys, vents and other sources of draft.

We have a bedroom that's in an extension abouve the un-heated garage and outside the main thermal mass of the house. We got it dry-lined and put three layers of glass wool in tha attic and.... wow! It's now the warmest, quietest room in the house. I wish we had dry-lined all the outside walls when we moved in, it would have paid for itself in reduced gas bills several times over by now.

I thought you had to be careful when adding internal insulation to avoid the dew point being in the wall? Might just be an issue with timber framed houses (like mine)

Might be worth looking at fitting decent extractors to the kitchen and bathroom. Damp humid air is harder to heat than cold dry air , causes mold to form behind wardrobes and discolours paint.

Drying wet towels and clothes on a rad in a house creates huge amounts of water vapour, the kg of water evaporates and condenses on a cold surface.

My mums 1880 bulit property is terrible for this, bedding feels slightly damp to the touch and unused rooms have thhat slight dank smell of lurking moulds.

We bought her a dehumidifier , which battles with an oil fired rad upon which clothes are dried. Windows are never opened and all clothes dried inside .

What are those infa-red panels like? Not heard of them before but they are supposed to be a cheap effective way of heating

We double glazed, battened, insulated and plastered, this adding about 10" on the inside of each external wall (insulated under floors and in attic as well).

This is our first winter in the place since the work was done, and our first winter here ever where we don't have a clue what the weather is like outside without looking - it's great! £££ though :/

The insulation we used was rock wool, and a lime plaster to allow continued breathability. So far, so good?!

Look into getting a Green Deal assessment and see if you can get financial help. The assessor will give recommendations. The assessment, with EPC should be about £150. There's then funding availble for improvements (a little like Bike2Work)

Thanks all some great suggestions, insulation and a assessment at the top of our list.
Richard