How do I insulate my semi on the south coast please?!

[Jingleballsjellyballs]

With the ever increasing bills I’m beginning to wonder if I’m just going to have to be cold from now on in winter! Can anyone suggest how we can make our house warmer and how we could insulate?

We live in a semi detached 1960’s ex council house on the south east coast in an exposed area. I’ve read that cavity wall insulation would be bad in this area? We have a PIV unit (mr venty), would this make cavity wall insulation a possibility?

We looked at getting an extension with render but the render aspect was refused by planning so I’m guessing external wall insulation would also be refused? Is that even an option on a property in this location?

I’m so inexperienced with all of this but I’m trying to be as frugal as possible with the heating and would really like to try and insulate a bit if possible. We already have double glazing and a good amount of insulation in the loft. Keep doors closed, heat one room, have TVRs etc. What do we do?

Interlined curtains - rugs , padded door stop thing under the door if it lets draughts in or a thick curtain over the external doors - these don't address the wall insulation but may help. Also harder to heat a house up from cold than keep it at a modest heat all day & then turn up a wee bit later on - but you would have to check who that would work for you.

Not sure that will have been helpful as not talking about walls - but more smaller pragmatic things - all best to you

Yeh all of our curtains are lined, we have draught excluding sticky bumper things round any gaps, HIVE heating so just heat the rooms we need when we need them. I feel like we’re doing all the stuff we can internally, but still, as soon as the heatings off the temperature plummets. My bedroom is currently 10 degrees for example…had the heating on this morning when we woke up

Hopeful bump

OP, I live in an ex council 1950s semi and it's not the warmest. But I don't have all the radiators plumbed in downstairs ( long story) and my double glazing is donkeys years old. I'm sure when I can afford to replace the windows it would make a huge difference. I use a lot less gas and electricity than the average 3 bed house apparently, so I'm guessing it's not as cold as I think it is.

Do you have areas of your 60s house that have cladding? I know it was a popular design feature to have tiles or panels under windows for example. I'd imagine if you do, heat will be flowing out of those areas and would be quite easy to add insulation?

No we don’t have any cladding at all, it’s all cavity wall brick. I really wish cavity wall insulation was an option for us as it seems the simplest and cheapest but I’m certain we’d end up with terrible damp

Can't help with insulation ideas, but we do the following at home. We have an old boiler and thermostat so the whole house is heated when it's on, so we try to minimise that.

Teddy bear fleece bedding in the bedrooms- both duvet covers and sheets are available. Makes a massive difference to all of us.
Electric blanket on beds (they're cheaper to run than the heating).
Also teddy bear fleece blankets on the sofas. Under and over.
I've also seen people say to use duvets which is a good idea if you've got a spare.

Slippers and thick socks, plus thermal layers and fleecey hoodies.

Other other energy saving thing is to boil the kettle full and decant into a thermos to use throughout the day. I'm hoping that's better than repeatedly boiling smaller amounts.

What about internal wall insulation? Where they strap each wall and put insulation between the old wall and new plaster board. Super effective but it takes a lot of work/mess, & labour costs can be ££

I can't see for most people that external insulation is going to be feasible. As soon as you start putting on cladding or render all your door and window frames will be affected and you will probably get water coming in. Plus councils may not approve the works. Internal insulation has to be the way forward surely.

I'm looking at this with interest as I have a very old listed house. I'm assuming that listed buildings will be exempt from any future requirements to get to a C rating as to achieve it would mean a whole host of things which are currently unacceptable to listings officers including double glazing. However, I'd still like to make the house more energy efficient if possible and keep my bills down.

I've bought some magnetic double glazing panels which were pretty inexpensive compared with formal double glazing. I haven't fitted them yet but my understanding is that these are acceptable in old buildings and if there is ever a problem I can just take them down.

I've also been looking at internal wall coverings. My first house was a Victorian project and was always freezing. I remember we lined the walls with treated polystyrene wallpaper with lining paper on top and it made a huge difference. A quick look at some DIY retailers suggests there are now versions available with the lining paper ready attached. I'll definitely look at this again. There are also serious solutions like Sempatap I haven't priced that yet, or possibly insulating board sheets (currently rejected by me because of the listing, but something builders use regularly).

It might be worth looking for local environmental Facebook groups, they might be able to give you advice more particular to your local weather and planning rules.

I'm currently working on getting external wall insulation for my solid wall 1930s house. My original planning application was rejected because it would change the look of the house from brick to render.

But the installer said he'd quote me for a brick slip finish on the front and a rendered on the back, which would hopefully make the planning department happy. But apparently it might be expensive.

Otherwise I think I'll do external wall insulation on the back (my council don't need planning for that), and DIY internal wall insulation on the front and plant ivy on the front of the house.

I know I sound bonkers growing ivy up the front, but I've read a long report from English Heritage who studied the effects on buildings, and I think it'll work for us. It turns out it's an insulator, and keeps walls drier (rain runs off it, breathable). It only damages walls which are damaged already. I'll need a trimming regime, but I'm okay with that. And it'll probably knock money off my house if I sell, but I intend to stay here for decades, so that's fine. I think the report said it moderated temperatures by about 4 degrees, reducing heat loss by 15% (but this is from memory). Quite mad that a plant can do that.

@BocolateChiscuits that's so short sighted of your local council. We need better insulated homes to lower demand on fossil fuels.

Funny you should mention Ivy, we have some on the coldest walls but it dies away in winter so doesn’t insulate then! I hadn’t realised there was insulating wallpaper, that’s definitely something I can look at. I also hadn’t thought about how windows would be affected by external insulation

@Jingleballsjellyballs

With the ever increasing bills I’m beginning to wonder if I’m just going to have to be cold from now on in winter! Can anyone suggest how we can make our house warmer and how we could insulate?

We live in a semi detached 1960’s ex council house on the south east coast in an exposed area. I’ve read that cavity wall insulation would be bad in this area? We have a PIV unit (mr venty), would this make cavity wall insulation a possibility?

We looked at getting an extension with render but the render aspect was refused by planning so I’m guessing external wall insulation would also be refused? Is that even an option on a property in this location?

I’m so inexperienced with all of this but I’m trying to be as frugal as possible with the heating and would really like to try and insulate a bit if possible. We already have double glazing and a good amount of insulation in the loft. Keep doors closed, heat one room, have TVRs etc. What do we do?

If planning have rejected your insulation ideas, tell them you are going to rent it out. All these things are going to become law for rented properties.

We've just insulated some eve cupboards with knauf thermal board and put wallrock thermal liner (wallpaper) on the walls to help retain the heat. the wall feels a bit warmer and the musty condensated walls in the cupboards have gone completely

@eurochick definitely. It's very backward. I got a local counselor to ask that they review the rules on external wall insulation at a council meeting, but it fell on deaf ears. Ah well.

Apparently for some councils you only need planning permission if it's a conservation area.