How can i make my house warmer?!!?

[iamwhaticallpregnant]

We have just moved into a much larger old fashioned house (4 floors). We have had the heating on since we moved in and I can not stress how cold it is ALL THE TIME. There are radiators in some of the rooms but the heat doesn't seem to radiate at all! The hallway and three landings are FREEZING COLD - no radiators on the landings. We are worried we are going to have astronomical heating bills! Or have to live in Ski gear. (We do understand the last week has been particularly cold).
Question is therefore - how can we make our new house warmer? For a cheap cost. My mum suggests keeping all the doors shut - which I have done but the living room and kitchen and landings are just arctic . What stand alone heater would you recommend and is there anyway I can heat the house better? And am I better off just putting a heater at the bottom of the house as heat rises?

Have you bled the radiators? The plumber did that for me the other week and the house is SOOO much warmer. Just a small thing, but might help.

I asked my partner if they need bleeding and he seemed to think no (although I am suspicious of how much he really knows about these manly things lol). Good idea.

Foil behind the radiators, door curtains, shut all curtains and the Doors you can, draught excluders everywhere.

Electric blankets in bed, thick socks/slippers

when the radiator is on it should be hot top to bottom. If it's hot at the bottom and cold at the top then it needs bleeding. I am sure there is a video how to on youtube somewhere. It really is very easy. If you bleed the radiators and have a pressurised hot water system then check the pressure as it may need topping up.

As for the rest - insulation is your No 1 task. thick curtains, good thick underlay if you are carpeting, draught excluders if its draughty, loft insulation.
If you have open fireplaces then when you aren't using them stuff an old cushion or something up them to stop the heat escaping up the chimney.

And then the trick with a very solid old house is to get it warm and keep it warm: it will take ages to warm up but once it's there it's cheaper to keep it warm than to let it get cold and then warm it afterwards.

However, if it's not a really solid house then it's going to be tough. I lived in an old victorian house like this with paper thin single glazing, stripped wood floors and no insulation and reverted to stapling bubblewrap over the windows in one of the rooms.

wow - thanks, this is all fantastic advice, I am worried that curtains are very very expensive? is that right?
feel like i am sitting outside most of the time - dont know where the heat is going to from the radiators. all wooden floors downstairs, double glazed and no open fire places - but i can constantly feel a breeze!

there are blinds in all the rooms (most of them). the front door looks pretty air tight.

Sort the central heating as it's far far cheaper than using oil filled or anything else electric.
We have an old flat with super high ceilings, hugeee windows (all single glazed) and floorboards.

It's warm. I don't know why - maybe protected from the prevailing wind? but it seems to hold the heat ok once it's warm.

what we have done is put thick, heavy curtains on all the windows, all lined, velvet ones are great (old velvet - look on ebay, modern stuff isn't as thick) which was an outlay but well worth it.

large old woollen rugs on the floors that have no carpet, and also on the ones that do as carpet is quite thin.

door curtains, as well, make a big difference.

I keep the thermostat on about 18 or maybe 20 when it's like this.
We have 15 rads, only three were working when we arrived, soon sorted with a flush through of the system and only two needed to be replaced. New boiler, just a cheap one, was much cheaper to run than the old thing.

Yeah curtains are expensive. I recommend charity shops, which always seem to have at least one pair of long thick curtains. Also, you could always hook a second pair onto the back of a thin pair for super cheap lined curtains that you can unhook in the summer.

Do check out the bleeding thing, my DP seemed to think no as well, which the plumber found hilarious. It's so easy to do (you need a 'radiator key' and a bowl just in case) and our bedroom's roasting now.

Curtains are sold in standard lengths and widths, the trick to spending a reasonable amount on curtains is to buy some premade ones that fit the space you need well enough. Measure what you think yours could fall to and try different lengths (+5 or -5 cm from your ideal length) in search engines.

Insulation would be better, though, anything you can do to increase the insulation will pay you back within 4-7 years.

ah yes curtains can be dear...it depends on the size of your windows and so on.
Ours have a 10ft drop, which makes it very hard to get anything ready made. Even Ikea stop two inches short of the floor. So ebay was the charm.

Still the really nice old velvet ones cost around £200-300 but so much less than getting them made. And you can find bargains, our bedroom ones that fit the 10ftx10ft bay were a hundred, they are brocade with a thick thermal wool lining, old but very pretty and great condition.

Just keep looking...often smaller ones on ebay are very very affordable.

Oooh yes good point Bangham, you want old velvet curtains. If they're a bit too long, so much the better. You want them touching the floor at least.

buy thermal curtain lining and 'curtain lining flange tape for loose linings' both on Ebay. Make up curtain linings and hang them behind your current curtains. It's really really easy, honestly, anyone who owns a sewing machine will be able to do it with you.

BUT DO NOT hang curtains over your radiator (you knew that of course but just saying anyway).

Right off upstairs to take my own advice and find my loose thermal curtain linings!

thanks all!! yes the windows are huge!! I will def try ebay for 2nd hand curtains - and try argos for those window sheets. Adversecamber - I dont know what cavity wall insulation is. It is only a rented house so we cant do a lot with it - but we do intend on staying here for years.

We are doing this now with our more modern leaky house (60s). I just made a flap for the bottom of the door leading into the garage because there was a gale coming through it. Much warmer now. A towel rolled up and put against it worked but people (kids) forgot to replace it. We put foam weatherstripping around the front door and this weekend are putting up curtains with thermal linings over the patio doors in the back.

purplewiththread - u overestimate what I know!
i know nothing!! trust me.

ISeeSmall, I was just looking at those exact curtains last night in Ikea here in San Diego! Same colour and everything! I ended up buying different ones instead and separate thermal linings.

what did you make the flap out of?