Our living room is really cold and DH won't countenance a carpet, so...

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

how can I make it warmer?
The main problem, apart from the fact that it has two outside walls, one east-facing, is that the beautiful polished floorboards which are DH's pride and joy, have huge great blimming gaps between them. Someone suggested filling them with silicone sealant. Will that work? He has agreed to a rug for the very middle of the floor but I don't think by itself, that it will make a huge difference - and I fantasise about being able to sit there in the winter evenings without three jumpers and a hot water bottle.

Argh, you could be talking about my living room. Polished but gappy floorboards, one rug in teh middle but that's not enough, one north and one west facing wall, and an open fireplace. frrrreeeeeeezing!
Am worried abou the silicone sealant idea and dh not keen either.

Just googled and found this. Might help?

www.gapseal.co.uk/?gclid=CJen3pDb4JYCFQOx1AodYxtuPQ

Actually, am impressed with my advice - so much so that I think I'll get some!

Pooka's link looks good. We had a similar problem - don't go for a standard filler, it dries out and falls off and looks worse.

What has been fantastic for us (will depend on what's under your floor) is that we had our floorboards taken up and the gaps between the joists packed with treated insulating wool. Toasty.

pooka that stuff looks amazingly good.

That does look good! Will show to dh to see what he thinks.
We also have some bigger gaps, where floorboards meet skirting or doorframes. Will have to come up with something for those holes too...

We have the same problem - but I am the carpet refuser!

If you have a chimney in a fireplace you don't use, get a chimney balloon.

The chimney creates an updraft which sucks air in through your nderfooor ventilation brick, comes whistling up your gaps (oooh missus!) and up the chimney.

I have sanctioned a large rug, which helps.

We recently did cheapskates version of chimney balloon - green garden sack stuffed with old bubble wrap or whatever.

Did it work?

(because 'order surprisingly costly chimney balloon' is still on my 'to do' list)

Thank you very much Pooka. I have ordered a sample roll from Gapseal. Our chimney has a draught excluder thingie that you can open and close, which helps. I light fires on special occasions, but it is too much of a faff to do frequently.
The insulating wool sounds like a great idea, Snickersnack, was it a very big deal to do?
I do love the floorboards, too, of course, but I so want to be warm.

It wasn't a big job - they did it in sections. It wasn't cheap but it was soooo worth it. Our floor is now lovely and toasty, where before it was chilly and unpleasant. I think it was this stuff. We were thinking ordinary insulating fibreglass but that's not great if there are gaps in the floorboards because of the fibres coming loose.

Do you have central heating?

You need a red rug

BLu - yes, it seems fine. We used the binliner on the advice of the bloke who came
to remove dead jackdaws from chimney. Having that done and a grid installed over the cowl cost quite enough!

Nothing to lose by trying it, is there?

Did dead jackdaws offer any insulating properties?

No, dead jackdaws only offer maggots dropping into fireplace (ewww)

We have central heating but it doesn't warm up that room much. The house is Victorian so you have got a combination of two outside walls, 12-foot ceilings, enormous rattly sash windows, a door into the garden and the aforesaid leaky floorboards. Really, you might as well be sitting IN the garden.

We have had the same problem but I bought rugs and loads of textiles like cushions, throws, etc which make it fel warmer. Also get the thickest curtains you can find.

Our tumble drier is on wheels and we bring it into the frontroom doorway, warms up and dries the clothes.

You should try getting a radiator that is more powerful (ie more btus)
It makes a massive difference

get better underwear. a long pair of inpenetrable combinations worn to bed may help your dh change his mind abotu the carpet.

but most rational suggestions already made: the room is cold because

• warmth escaping up the chimney: use a balloon
• radiators heating small patch of air that immediately shoots up to 12' ceiling (if not soaked into wall behind): get new bigger one + deflector foil behind and a deflector shelf over the top
• cold air rising through floorboards (sucked in by warm air rising): raise boards and insulate from underneath
• radiant cold from walls: get tapestries like the Tudors did
• radiant cold from thin glass in windows: thick interlined curtains, ceiling to floor and pooling on the floor a bit
• draughts from windows. If sash windows, get them serivced. You can get very thin double glazing nowadays.

Delux option for radiators/floors would be to install underfloor heating under the floorboards. Yum!