Question around heating

[Love_London]

I recently moved from a flat which was a new build and also an eco friendly building.

It had an amazing insulation and there were only couple of days in a year when we needed to turn on heating.

Otherwise we were okay with wearing just another layer of clothes in cold days.

And we moved to a semi detached house and I find the whole house freezing cold...

Floors (wooden) are so shockingly cold and without heating on, my hands are so cold that I cannot even type a text!!

My house is only 7 years old and I didn't expect it to be so cold when I bought it =(

My question is...

Do you actually turn the heating on everyday (or every evening) during the winter period (i.e. from Nov - Feb)?

How much should I expect to pay a month for my utilities bill?

And also, I believe using radiator is the cheapest option for heating rather than using electrical heaters right?

I am thinking of installing plinth heater or buying some fan heaters but not sure if it's a good idea...

Would appreciate any advice!

PS - we have done all draft closing and also loft is properly insulated.

[wee quinnie]

Apologies if the following is very obvious....

1. Only heat the rooms you're occupying, and keep doors closed.

2. Thick curtains - keep them closed whilst it's dark.

3. RE - radiators - yes gas is cheaper than electricity.

4. Have you got chimneys/open fires? If you are not using them, cover them up to prevent loss of heat.

I live in a 3 bedroom house (semi detached) without double glazing or cavity wall insualation (unfortunately). My combined gas/leccy bill is about 80 quid a month.

ETA - Also, you will find it a lot warmer if you don't sit immobile gazing at the internet for hours on end - moving around will make you feel much more comfortable.

[KidKruger]

thermal suit under a garish onsie does the trick.

[Mellors]

Big rugs over wooden floors in winter.

[Lowlander]

We have an old Victorian house, thermostat is set to 18C in mornings and evenings but heating only comes on around mid-October and off mid-March/April. Make sure it goes off when you're not around.

Get some thick curtains and rugs, insulation under the ground floor directly under the floorboards, but with space for air to cirulate underneat that.

Avoid using electric to heat wherever possible, and as others say only heat the rooms you use.

Our gas is around ?40 per month for heating and hot water, electric about ?30 - do a comparison on uswitch or similar we save ?100s that way.

[mynamehere]

Selectively, most important first, start to insulate the rooms if you're going to stay there. Same for the windows if they're not double glazed. Divide the house up by say 5 years and do 1/5 of the house a year. Include the floors. You'll end up with a great house. Insulation is just slabs on walls and repainting.

Grants you qualify for?

And what everyone else said as well

[Nigello]

This produce is good for stopping the draughts from under the floorboards: http://www.stopg-p.co.uk/ I'd choose brown and not neutral unless your boards are really light in colour.

I only heat the downstairs of the house, switching off all rads upstairs until an hour before I go to bed and close all doors even if I just leave the room for a few moments.

[Salsaboy]

I'm a firm believer that you need to heat the whole of the house to actually get some heat into the structure of the building, especially the brickwork. This will also help avoid problems like condensation of outside walls and non double glazed windows. Insulation obviously is a massive help as is draught proofing where possible. But remember that a house, especially an older one needs to breath to stay healthy.

[Applespider]

For those times where you do want to relax on the sofa without chilling out, think about buying an electric throw. They cost pennies to run and bundled under it, you can keep your regular heating lower.

[Sue]

What everyone else said.

I put down Stopgap in my living room floorboards last year, and it has made a noticeable difference. I too used brown, which looks better against my white floorboards as it just looks like the gaps. But you can get small tester packs - if you order one colour, they send you a bit of the other colour as well. The only problem I've found with it is that it sometimes tends to rise up and you have to push it back down, but it's not a huge issue.

Agree with rugs - I put large rugs down in my living room in the Winter.

An electric throw is brilliant. I can sit in my living room under mine with the radiator turned off, and still be really toasty.

Agree, only heat the room you're in (obviously only if you're going to be in it for longish lengths of time). It's a bit of a pain remembering to turn the rads up and down when you move rooms, but hey think of the money you're saving. I have a wireless thing which controls the boiler, and I take that into the room I'm in as well.

Afraid I wear many layers of clothing around the house in the winter. Wearing a woolly hat really makes a difference as your head loses a lot of heat. You just have to try and remember to remove it when answering the door - though I don't bother any more. Unless I'm wearing two, when I remove the top one to minimise the eccentric old woman appearance :)) A woolly scarf also helps. And thick socks. And woolly slippers. And thermal tights or leggings :)

[The Minkey]

For comparison: I live in a 3 bed 1920's semi and have a dual fuel deal with EON. My direct debit - which doubled when I had a non-energy conserving friend staying - has just come back down to ?62 per month, and I anticipate it may come down a little more. For comparison, my CH is on from 7.30am to 10.30pm every day at 17 degrees as I'm at home more often than not. It's not on overnight. I've had my loft insulated and blown double-glazed units replaced. I don't have cavity walls.

Dodgy health means I'm a lot more sedentary than I'd like to be so I stay warm by wearing a lot of layers. If I'm cold when watching a bit of TV, unless I have visitors rather than turn the heating up I stay toasty under a blanket. I only do a clothes wash when I have a full load. Drying gets done on the line outside or comes inside to finish off on the drier. I don't have a tumble drier because of the expense of running one, and as money has become tight, I rarely use the dishwasher.

[aquarius moon]

If I set my thermostat to 17 degrees it would never come on.

I would freeze!

I can't function anything less than 19/20 apart from at night under piles of blankets. Getting out of bed in the morning is torture!

[Love_London]

Thanks all for helpful messages!

Days have gone slightly warmer so I am not as freezing as before but I am trying to get ready for real winter now.

My house is north facing and I found that it is one of the major reasons why it is so cold.

My previous flat was east facing and got so much sunlight in the morning to warm up the place.

I just hope I won't be hit with over 100 pounds per month bills!

[intexasatthe moment]

Another question here - it's around the whole issue of heating one room versus the whole house .

For myself I'm happy to just heat the one room but.....the scenario with my mother is ,in her 90's ,doesn't move around much ,lives alone in what is basically a 2 up ,2 down ,with a back extension kitchen ,never goes up stairs .

I have been told to keep rads on upstairs to slow the escape of heat from downstairs ,kind of keep a cushion of hot air especially above the cold kitchen . My aim is NOT to keep her bills down ,but to keep her warm .

What do people think ?

[Sue]

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Another question here - it's around the whole

> issue of heating one room versus the whole house

> .

>

> For myself I'm happy to just heat the one room

> but.....the scenario with my mother is ,in her

> 90's ,doesn't move around much ,lives alone in

> what is basically a 2 up ,2 down ,with a back

> extension kitchen ,never goes up stairs .

>

> I have been told to keep rads on upstairs to slow

> the escape of heat from downstairs ,kind of keep a

> cushion of hot air especially above the cold

> kitchen . My aim is NOT to keep her bills down

> ,but to keep her warm .

>

> What do people think ?

xxxxxx

Insulate the upstairs floors?

Is the loft insulated?

[Cathy migan]

I made the mistake of having the heating on low constantly for a while as opposed to having it on a timer. Big mistake in an old property as it just escapes without proper insulation. We now just heat the rooms we are in and turn off radiators in others. We also invested in a big furry throw kept on the sofa and a good old fashioned hot water bottle! Bills about ?80 per month for gas and elec.

[lightweight]

Sympathies - our place is drafty and then some, my breath mists in my sleep during the cold months. Get a fleece onesie for xmas and grin and bear it.

Or crank up the heating and cry when you get your gas bill!

[Andybol]

Hi there.

There's a few cheapish things you can do. Stopgap is great and I would highly recommend it along with radiator reflectors, heavy curtains and draught excluder etc.

Windows, back of radiator and poorly fitting doors are a major factor in heat loss.

[DovertheRoad]

I used Draughtex last year ( http://www.draughtex.co.uk) and found it worked really well in insulating gaps between floorboards and also between skirting boards and wooden floors. It's basically flexible rubber tubing that squeezes into the gaps and forms a seal and it comes in three thicknesses.

Just been doing a clear out and remembered they sent me an extra box by mistake so if anyone would like a free roll of the medium sized one (40M length for gaps of 2-7mm) , please PM me.