To ask for advice on daughter/bedroom issue?

[itsbloodyfreezing]

Sorry bit boring but posting here for traffic as I can't find any answers online and I know you ladies will come up with something!

We've just moved house, house is lovely and bottom floor nice and toasty. DD14 is in the attic room and despite the room having two radiators it's bloody freezing!! She is a bit miserable about it, walking into it is like walking outside, especially if you stand under the two dormer windows, it's like a cold draught whistling straight through the windows. It's a big room and unless you're standing right beside a radiator it's just uncomfortable to be in. There is an attic space that runs behind one of the walls, not insulated.

We don't have much budget to do any serious overhauls at the moment so do you have any suggestions? I've got her a fan heater but the power bills will be extortionate so it's not a great solution.

Can she share with a sibling?

Bit obvious but can't you swap rooms with her?

Oil filled radiator? I think they're cheaper to run than a fan heater, we them in our dd's attic room.

Insulate the attic? Will probably work out cheaper than the power bills!

Agree with oil filled radiator, last winter we were living in a rented house with a very old inefficient boiler, it cost a fortune to run so we couldnt afford to put the heating on. We got an oil free radiator for the lounge and an oil filled radiator for the bathroom and they kept it toasty and our bills werent huge.

Have you insulated the loft? Sounds like our house- made a massive difference. Ours had old 1970s lagging but the new stuff is fab. Plus drain the radiators

new windows for her room? or a proper lined thick curtaon over the window?

Can you get some double glazing film for the windows, and some insulation for the attic space? If you can't afford the real stuff for now, if you fill the attic space with stuff it will insulate it a bit won't it? Also a bookshelf with lots of books on it along that wall might help, and a pretty and thick wall-hanging to go on the sloping roof bit?

You can also get (or certainly used to) plastic sheets you stretch across windows as a sort of secondary glazing.

Even if you decide to share rooms for now, you should prioritise insulation and sorting the window draughts in the attic as heat from the whole house will be escaping that way and pushing up your bills.

Insulate the attic space, fasten insulation on the inside of the wall (use that cheap stuff that comes on a roll)

Ds1 has an attic room and it's the warmest in the house because it's
so well insulated.

Also we have electric blankets on all the beds, they're amazing

She doesn't want to swap....she likes having such a big room!Double glazing sheets are a good idea for the windows!. And oil radiator. I will look at insulation for the attic too if it will help.

Electric blanket ? They are fairly cheap to run.

It obviously needs some serious insulation - how much headroom is there? What would the space be like if you lost 4 inches to insulation?

It's not an option to just put heat sources up there - if it's like going outside at this time of year, in the summer on sunny days it will be like walking into a kiln. Without insulation the space is basically uninhabitable except for a few weeks in Spring an Autumn when the outside temperature isn't extreme. If you don't have the budget to properly insulate the space you need to shuffle around the lower rooms and make space for her in one of the other rooms.

Yes, oil filled radiators are much better than fan heaters. Add secondary glazing, extra thick curtains (or you can line them with fleece). Could you drape fleece on the walls and ceiling somehow as insulation (I'm thinking you could fix it to rods somehow?).

Plus get her a super snuggly onesie and slipper socks for Christmas too .

The attic room is going to be colder than everything on the floor below. It is acting as an insulating space for the rest of the house.

Inexpensive things that can help a bit:
Silver stuff behind the radiators.
Radiator shelves, especially if the radiator is below a window.
Draft excluder on the bottom of the door (brush type)
Draft excluders around the edges of the door (foam strips)

Slightly more expensive:
Insulate the remaining loft space (but leave an uninsulated margin around the edge for ventilation).
Lined curtains for the windows.

Get it insulated pronto. We have two rooms in the roof space and they have insulation between the rafters as you would and also the upright walls of the room are insulated with solid foam type stuff.

Have a look at the energy companies deals for insulation, they do a lot free/discounted due to government targets

Both ours and DD's bedrooms are in our roof space and they're really cosy. DH used a thin insulation material when he built the rooms, it comes in sheets, is covered in silver and works really well.

Old blankets make great curtain linings, you can even just string one straight across a pole by making a seam at one end, they really keep draughts out and if you don't have any then charity shops or rellies usually do.

Insulation is definitely your #1 best option, but an oil filled radiator beside her bed is a far less expensive option to run than a fan heater.

Also, cover the windows with plastic window film - that should decrease the draught as well.

You can use straw as short term and very cheap insulation. Just get some bales and cut to size.

Another vote for oil filled radiator, we use one in DS's room. Cheapish to buy and cheap to run, very safe and really works.

Cheese while I'm sure straw is very cheap it is also extremely flammable unless treated and would be very dangerous so I don't believe that is advisable.

Lots of good suggestions here. I would fix the drafty windows first of all.