Hi All.
We live in a 4 bed 1930's semi which also happens to be a chalet, about 3yrs ago we decided the house was just too cold and especially with very young kids in the house, we had to do something about it.
2014 - We removed all carpet and changed to wood flooring.
2015 - Changed boiler to a 34 combi boiler from a system boiler, at least we got hot water on demand and heating efficiently.
2015 - Loft insulated to 270mm thickness
2015 - We were told by the energy company who did the loft that our walls were solid walls, hence they could not insulate it, however the first 1 meter from the foundation is a cavity brick wall, afterwards its solid 9" blocks. They said it wasnt efficient for them to just insulate 1m from the foundation upwards if they could not do the entire height of the wall which is not possible to do.
2015 - Dry linning to some walls, road facing and also the side. So this was done using timber frame with celotex 60mm in between the battens. Crucially, just plasterboard and skimmed on top, no insulated plaster board, so we have thermal bridging. Amazing how one sknowledge increases in 3 yrs.
Here are the problems we still face. The house is still so cold. Our only respite is from April til say Mid September, as our garden is south facing so at least the house is hot during these months, winter is always a nightmare, just checked energy use gas bill is about £100 a month and we are barely comfortable. There are a few things that I am looking at since we plan to extend in the next year.
I feel we are loosing heat from the floor, will insulating the floor make any difference. I read somewhere it can save £40 anually, this is not enough savings for me to warrant hte cost of doing the work. However, I want someone to tell me otherwise. The fact that the wood floor is on top of floor boards, I feel heat escapes from there easily as you have the gaps. What is hte most effective way to insulate a floor ?
The internal drywall insulation, am i right that if one uses a 25mm insulation ontop of a plaster board, this will be more efective. If this were to be done, will it still be necessary to insulate the wall from the outside or how effective will this be ?
External insulation - Due to the nature of the works we are doing, it presents an opportunity to insulate the walls from outside also.
Our kitchen - Almost feels like being outside, we know it the biggest heat looser, solid construction, with a hip to gable roof. The kitchen feels like it was added to the house at the rear, there is no loft insulation as one cant get to it, the spot lights feels like air conditioning units, we are very well aware of it, however as we plan to extend, it will be knocked down and
rebuilt as part of the extension. I just thought I had mention this.
We live in a 4 bed 1930's semi which also happens to be a chalet, about 3yrs ago we decided the house was just too cold and especially with very young kids in the house, we had to do something about it.
2014 - We removed all carpet and changed to wood flooring.
2015 - Changed boiler to a 34 combi boiler from a system boiler, at least we got hot water on demand and heating efficiently.
2015 - Loft insulated to 270mm thickness
2015 - We were told by the energy company who did the loft that our walls were solid walls, hence they could not insulate it, however the first 1 meter from the foundation is a cavity brick wall, afterwards its solid 9" blocks. They said it wasnt efficient for them to just insulate 1m from the foundation upwards if they could not do the entire height of the wall which is not possible to do.
2015 - Dry linning to some walls, road facing and also the side. So this was done using timber frame with celotex 60mm in between the battens. Crucially, just plasterboard and skimmed on top, no insulated plaster board, so we have thermal bridging. Amazing how one sknowledge increases in 3 yrs.
Here are the problems we still face. The house is still so cold. Our only respite is from April til say Mid September, as our garden is south facing so at least the house is hot during these months, winter is always a nightmare, just checked energy use gas bill is about £100 a month and we are barely comfortable. There are a few things that I am looking at since we plan to extend in the next year.
I feel we are loosing heat from the floor, will insulating the floor make any difference. I read somewhere it can save £40 anually, this is not enough savings for me to warrant hte cost of doing the work. However, I want someone to tell me otherwise. The fact that the wood floor is on top of floor boards, I feel heat escapes from there easily as you have the gaps. What is hte most effective way to insulate a floor ?
The internal drywall insulation, am i right that if one uses a 25mm insulation ontop of a plaster board, this will be more efective. If this were to be done, will it still be necessary to insulate the wall from the outside or how effective will this be ?
External insulation - Due to the nature of the works we are doing, it presents an opportunity to insulate the walls from outside also.
Our kitchen - Almost feels like being outside, we know it the biggest heat looser, solid construction, with a hip to gable roof. The kitchen feels like it was added to the house at the rear, there is no loft insulation as one cant get to it, the spot lights feels like air conditioning units, we are very well aware of it, however as we plan to extend, it will be knocked down and
rebuilt as part of the extension. I just thought I had mention this.
