Stone 1800s house - pros and cons

[Tilyoufindyourdream]

Have seen a lovely house we like, early to mid 1800s with stone walls. EPC says no insulation in/on walls. Loft is insulated.

Love the house but just concerned about the walls and if it will be cold, lose lots of heat, etc. Also anything else we need to be mindful of when (hopefully) buying an old house?

We have a stone 1860s house in Scotland. Before this we had a stone 1870s house in Scotland.

It's cool year round. The cold bits are where we have draughts, rather than from the stone per se.

To keep it warm: insulate under floors if you can, good thick curtains, use the shutters if it still has them, make sure windows are in good repair and consider secondary or double glazing. Draught proof. Yes you want to keep it breathing, but imo it's hard to draught-proof so successfully that that would become a real problem. Get thermals, slippers and woollies!

If it has fireplaces - either get them draught proofed with chimney balloons or install woodburners. Don't leave open fireplaces.

Yes it costs more than a new house to heat.

Also - carpets & rugs for warmth underfoot. Don't go for full hard flooring.

Spiders!

Ghosts?

Some great advice there, thank you. I don’t think there’s insulation under the floor so could look into this. There are some wooden floors upstairs but downstairs is carpet, except for the kitchen which looks like a sort of tile. Whole house has double glazing so that’s a big positive.
Three fireplaces - two have been blocked up with electric / gas fire but we’d probably want a wood burner anyway.

Eek hadn’t thought of that! Hate the things, although I’m less of a wuss than I used to be!

Hadn’t thought of that either, but think I’m more freaked out by the spiders! 😂

I have an old house too. I put up internal insulation, there is still enough draughts to prevent any damp but it's warmer. Put wood stoves in fireplaces and use them as per pp.

We have an 1800s stone built house. It is colder than our old home in general but our already renovated rooms have been insulated well and in those you’d barely notice the difference. We insulated walls and floor when we had it all apart.

I love it. The house has a character of its own and bringing it to life gives me a great deal of joy. It wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea but we’re very happy.

We moved out of ours a few years ago, we were renting and it hadn’t been updated with insulation and had really old windows. It was absolutely freezing in the winter. So unless it’s well insulated I wouldn’t do it again. I did love the open fires we had everyday though.

Wifi really doesn't like stone walls, so be prepared to invest in a mesh system or the like. Not the biggest concern but every day frustrating

We live in an 1803 stone house. Double glazing in now, before that it was freezing. We have blocked all our chimneys, every room has a fireplace so we needed to stop the heat disappearing up them. Two functioning fireplaces have multifuel burners. Roof is insulated. The house heats up quickly and is cool in a hot summer. We have the original shutters on all the windows which we use in winter, some the size of doors. We gravitate to "the big room" in winter where is lovely and cosy, we top up the wood burner before bed so that in the morning its still toasty. I love it.

Get yourself a copy of SPAB's old house handbook (the eco one is very good too).

The key thing with solid walled houses is breathability, which will keep the walls dry and vastly improve their insulating properties. Modern impermeable materials and insulation are the worst thing that can be done to these houses so the less messed about with the better.

Hadn’t even thought of that, but an excellent point. Thank you.

Two people have mentioned shutters now. The house doesn’t have any but I guess we could add them if they make that much difference. Weirdly I’ve always loved shutters since having them on my Lego windows as a kid! 😂

Thanks, will have a look at this.
So it is better to not add additional insulation and just focus on fireplaces, glazing (all double glazed), draughts, etc?

How thick are the walls? How large are the fireplaces? How high are the ceilings and doorways?

These are all features of climate management in old houses. Fireplaces are meant to act as a "heat bank" for the house, thick walls mean heat doesn't escape and heat doesn't get in either. Lower ceilings and doorways are meant to stop heat escaping too (not because people were shorter!).

My parents' house has a lovely cool temperature in summer, and if they heated it the right way would be really cosy in winter too (they ramp up the heat in one room but leave the adjacent SIX rooms unheated with doors open all the time, grr).

So it depends if the house has these features and you're willing to adapt to the rhythms of the house.

By the way we find it's almost always cheaper to heat our whole house constantly on low in winter, which keeps it comfortable without the highs and lows.

A hot dry summer warms the stone up and acts as a radiator in autumn keeping the house warmer. The house also stays a consistent temperature easier throughout the day. Double glazing, thermal blinds, thermal curtains help.

Lighting the fires in winter heats up the whole house effectively via the chimneys

Re shutters, ours are on the inside of the window.

Location matters too - it will be a lot colder on a windy hillside than in a sheltered town. Mine is on a windy hillside.

We don't have logburners due to everyone in the family having asthma so rely on GCH. Getting to a constant temp and then keeping out draughts is the only way to stay warm in winter. So if you are using CH I recommend smart thermostatic radiator valves so you don't spend all your time going round rooms to turn the heating on in advance. We have just installed underfloor heating in the bathrooms and solar panels on some flat roofing on a barn and its making a big difference.

The reality is any pre 1900 property will have cold spots as at the time they were built people only expected to heat small parts of the property and were used to being cold as they moved around - the kitchen and front room are often the only rooms its easy to heat well, often bedrooms don't even have fireplaces (this was also true in the 1955 council house I grew up in). Modern homes are designed for heat to circulate much better.

EPCs for old properties are useless. And a mortgage survey will be too (we've bought two old houses with mortgages and they have come back complaining about the lack of cavity walls - no shit). So if possible take someone who has at least lived in a period property with you when you go to view, and get a proper survey done.

Its worth understanding the flooring (is it earth or are there solid foundations) and walls (solid rubble or rubble and brick backed) as these can give you options regarding internal insulation in future. Likewise check if its either listed or in a conservation area as that will affect whether you can apply external insulation. There are sometimes grants available for both of these so worth considering.

@Tilyoufindyourdream have you ever lived in a house with single glazing or anything pre-1980's that hasn't been updated? How did you get on with it if you did?

As we renovated around the house room by room we lifted every floor board upstairs and insulated under the floor boards. We dry lined every room as well. Put in double glazed windows.

Downstairs dug down solid floors, insulated, concreted and dry lined every room, also double glazed.

We did it in stages as we saved up.

I live in an early 18th C listed Rectory. The walls in the oldest parts are around 18 inches thick. It has secondary double glazing and holds the heat well in winter. I've not noticed it going below 17 degrees which is very different from the modern rectories I've lived in that got really, really cold in winter. There is a vaulted cellar under the reception room which makes that room colder, but the rest are fine. As others have said, insulate the floors, double glaze the windows, put up thick curtains and use the shutters if you have them. We have a mesh system for the wifi as the walls are thick.

It's a nice house and no ghosts.

I’d say walls are about 2 foot deep. Fireplaces aren’t massive - the one in the lounge is the e biggest but not huge by any means.
Ceilings aren’t particularly high, they just look similar to the current, modern house we currently live in.
Cool in summer sounds nice, especially at bedtime. And interesting point re heating on low all day - currently have smart radiator valves so would be good to have them again.
Thank you

Currently have smart radiator valves so would def have them again.
The EPC rated it as a D, with potential for a C. So could be worse! Will def get a survey as have seen some bubbling around a windowsill so want to check for damp. Presume that would also tell us about the flooring. Not listed or in conservation area so that’s helpful. Thanks for the advice.