A friend of mine has a large ground floor relatively modern apartment which is apparently very expensive to heat and a real struggle to keep warm. It has conventional electric convector heaters on the walls. It sits above the communal garage which is naturally and well ventilated - and also very cold in Winter.
The main problem is the huge lounge/dining room which has laminate flooring - and the suspicion is the thermal insulation just isn't good enough between flat and garage beneath. Other smaller rooms in the flat are carpeted and fair better.
Any ideas on how best to deal with this? My ideas were:
1. Take up the laminate flooring (which is showing its age a bit anyway) and carpet the lounge/diner too, but not convinced it will be THAT much better in a room that size.
2. Take up the laminate flooring, and lay thermal insulation board, and something thin like wood effect Karndean on top of it so it keeps the flooring depth consistent with other rooms. But I'm just not sure whether this will be significantly better than what is already there either.
3. Look at some cheaper or more efficient electric heating, but my friend doesn't want anything bulky and horrible to spoil the look such as storage heaters, and it is a really nice flat.
My friend was thinking of underfloor heating but that would need a thermal barrier underneath it anyway, and doubt that would cost any less to run. No gas to property.
Any other thoughts, and in particular practical experiences, appreciated.
Thanks! Ian.
The main problem is the huge lounge/dining room which has laminate flooring - and the suspicion is the thermal insulation just isn't good enough between flat and garage beneath. Other smaller rooms in the flat are carpeted and fair better.
Any ideas on how best to deal with this? My ideas were:
1. Take up the laminate flooring (which is showing its age a bit anyway) and carpet the lounge/diner too, but not convinced it will be THAT much better in a room that size.
2. Take up the laminate flooring, and lay thermal insulation board, and something thin like wood effect Karndean on top of it so it keeps the flooring depth consistent with other rooms. But I'm just not sure whether this will be significantly better than what is already there either.
3. Look at some cheaper or more efficient electric heating, but my friend doesn't want anything bulky and horrible to spoil the look such as storage heaters, and it is a really nice flat.
My friend was thinking of underfloor heating but that would need a thermal barrier underneath it anyway, and doubt that would cost any less to run. No gas to property.
Any other thoughts, and in particular practical experiences, appreciated.
Thanks! Ian.
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