HOME INSULATION

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Hi, this is a request for advice from all building experts out there regarding house insulation. My house has been given a SAP rating of 92. It is a 2 year old 4 bed detached house with 3 stories so with the house supposedly being so efficient I was expecting it to cost very little to heat to 17-18 degrees. In reality it costs a fortune. At the moment over £100 pounds per month. The heating is not on during working hours but comes on at 5.30pm and goes off at 10.30pm mon-fri. It is pretty much the same sat and sun except for coming on for a couple of hours midday. During this cold spell the boiler was lit constantly during the "heating on" times trying to get the house to 17 degrees but hardly ever managing it. The boilers temperature regulator is set at 3/4 but it makes no difference when set to max. All the TRVs on the downstairs radiators have to be set to max and the ones on the other floors to approx 4. All radiators are working fine with no trapped air. As soon as the boiler switches off we can almost feel the temperature dropping immediately. Should this amount of heat loss be expected in a house with such a high SAP rating or does it sound like I have a problem with insulation?
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
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You may want to post a similar question in the heating section - but don't duplicate exactly as the mods will probably delete it

Post the boiler and rad details and ask them about sizing and balancing.

On the face of it, either the structure is not insulated adequately [unlikely], the heating system is inadequate/poor design or its down to you personal preference on heat levels.

But £100 per month is too high - but you may want to qualify this in terms of actual gas units used per month and the cost per unit - you may be on an expensive tariff.

Also, generally with 3-storey properties, a lot of heat goes up the stair well - is it open at the bottom floor?
 
Thanks woody,
You are quite right about the stairs, they are open at the bottom and the way the hallway is designed we can't really close it off. The cats tend to sleep at the top of the first flight of stairs so I suppose that indicates where a lot of the heat is going. Upstairs has always been warmer than downstairs.

We are on British Gas' Click Energy 6 tariff and since Oct 08 we have been using on average approx 8 cubic meters of gas per day.

Thanks for the advice about re-posting in the heating section. I'll give that a try to check that my system is up to the job.

Also, I forgot to mention in the first post, we sometimes (depending on the weather conditions)get cold draughts coming from under the top floor bedroom skirting boards and from the recessed light fittings in the middle floor bathroom and en-suit ceilings. I seem remember that when fitting a rawlplug last winter in the plasterboard on an external wall I noticed a draught coming out of the hole I had just drilled but didn't think anything of it. I know there is supposed to be a gap between the plasterboard and the brickwork to prevent condensation forming but is cold air supposed to circulate around the gap?
Thanks for the reply.
 
These draughts may indicate a lack of airtightness of the structure - ie joists are not sealed where they go into the wall. This would be a requirement of the building regulations, so may be worth investigating.

I am not sure if it will be covered on the NHBC warranty though, but certainly a problem which the developer would be responsible for if you wanted to pursue a civil claim for compensation
 
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I think its time to send Persimmon some more emails. Probably won't do any good though.

Thanks for your advice Woody.
 

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