i have to have the heating on constantly, as well as bad for the enviroment its bad for my purse

[FairyTaleOfNewYork]

£15 on gas this week alone. i am frozen, the kdis are frozen, we wear jumpers, slippers, and sometimes i even have gloves on indoor. we have duvets AND blankets on beds, dressing gowns etc and its freezing. unfortunatly we have laminate floor throughout (allergic kids, helps with asthma etc), which doesnt help with the heat problem. We have double glazing and the loft is insulated.

The problem is, there is a vent in the hallway ceiling, which seems to blast cold air from the loft down no matter if its on or off. The vents direct straight to the living room and bedrooms. I have called the council to come and have a look at it, but i dont think its an emergncy, so we could be like this all winter.

We are exactly the same. We have a huge gap beside our front door and when it rains the water comes in.

I fill ours up each month (when dh gets paid) with £100.

It ran out last week (we get paid this week) and I have put another £25 on since then.

Could you cover the vent with something, misdee? Tape a towel over it or something so it still lets some air through but stops the cold blast?

its madness

my mum is bringing round some curtains for the living room so i can stop soe draughts from living room patio doors (currently have blinds, again because of allergies, curtains are dust traps) I also will putting a curtain over the front door this week as the front door also leaks, the inside lock was frozen this morning.

Anyway wouldn't it count as a health emergency? Surely Peter needs to keep warm?

Do you know what the vents are for - do you think it would be ok to cover them up - maybe tape some cardboard or something over them?

Thats a good idea about a curtain. I did not realise it was you misdee, I would get onto them again and again and again. You have enough to worry about.

lady at repairs thinks it may because this place suffers from damp, but surely it should be sucking and not blowing? no idea if its safe to cover up.

Really feeling it today, my legs are frozen which is odd.

Peters room is quite warm as its far from the vents.

anything else i can do to keep this place warm? the stupid vent blast boiling air in in the summer so we cant win

If you don't use the french doors much, or if you have draughty windows, you can get this plastic stuff from B&Q that you tape right round hte window frame, then you use a blow dryer on it to tighten it up. You then can't see it, and it keeps all the draughts out. IT's only good for windows/ doors that you don't need to open till the spring, though. Only costs a wee bit, it's like clingfilm.
Sounds like your floors might need underfloor insulation- is it a concrete floor or wood? If wood there may be a cavity underneath. I had this problem in a flat I lived in, the laminate was always freezing and the floor leached heat out. It was Victorian though, so a huge cavity under the wooden floor.
I had a modern 70's extension in the same flat that was freezing when I moved in. It was a single skin brick construction with plasterboard over it- illegal these days, and no warmer than a shed. We took the plasterboard off and oput insulation round the whole room then replaced the plasterboard, and it ended up being the warmest rooim in the house.

mellowma definitely get a curtain on the front door. Our front door fits badly and it is amazing the difference the floor length curtain makes.

can u tape a muslion square over the vent? that way u still get the air but not as much of it? we have done that with teh air brick in the boys room. still bloody cold tho but draft is less

council didnt call back over the vent, but my curtains are now up in the living room and its quite warm in here tonight.