Cold house help :( reaching max 11 degrees C

[sophsh]

I'm new to mumsnet so hello everyone

We live in a rented terraced house and with the heating on 6 hrs a day, downstairs only reaches 11 degrees. The kitchen is so cold and doesnt have a radiator so that everything freezes in the cupboards in winter - you dont really need a fridge living here sob sob

Does anyone have any tips on how to get the house warmer without major changes as its rented? We have wooden floors throughout & double glazing.

Is there any solution to this (legally?) that the landlord has to do? I'm at home all day and it's honestly miserable.

thanks for all replies!! xx

Why on earth don't you have a conversation with your landlord

Eh? You've never been a landlord have you?

If she was mine, I'd say I'm sorry it's cold but you need to heat it and this is your responsibility. I'd advise rugs, a Fan heater in kitchen etc, but ultimately I would not see it as my job to heat the home for them. Becsude it wouldn't be my job. This is always the tenants unless it is bills included and a house share.

Echoing other other advice that you might need to ask landlord for a thermostat and leave heating on all the time. To keep our timber-framed terrace (holiday let) at a constant 20 degrees 6 am til 10 am, 18 degrees 10 am til 6 pm, 20 degrees 6 pm til 10 pm (off all night), takes 3 to 4 hours of heating time (boiler cuts in and out all day) even in this cold weather.

If a mid terrace can't get warmer than 11 degrees, with heating on full blast, then there clearly is a problem. The landlord definitely needs to be informed of the situation at the very least.

Ours was noticeably cooler one winter when next door was empty. Have you neighbours on both sides?
Can you go out somewhere warm during the day like a cafe or library?

Most landlord insurance stipulates no fan heaters in the property. They are a huge fire risk.
Oil filled radiators are much better.
I bought two really cheaply in Lidl last year.
I tend to keep the heating on very low and use a heater in the living room as we spend most of our time in there.
We don't need any heating in summer so the cost evens out.
Rugs and curtains help a lot.

Well, I live in a terrace with wooden floors (but no double glazing) and if I turn the heating all day it's 12 when I get back, and takes several hours of the boiler at full blast to get up to 16. So I sympathise with the OP.

Can you turn the heating down very low (but not off) during the day/night? Even keeping a baseline of 12-13 degrees would be an improvement.

Your heating just needs to be on for longer in this cold weather I'm afraid. Our chilly old house takes several hours just to heat up, despite double glazing, insulation etc.

Was there an energy efficiency statement when you moved in? The rules about the energy efficiency of rental property and too low efficiency properties will not be rentable so it is in the LL interest to maximise efficiency. Not sure about timings but your house must have a low rating.
There is a new version of the energy company obligations (v3) and some companies can provide insulation. You would need to have the LL permission for things like roof insulation or thermostatic radiator valvesbut if it is free why would they say no? ALso double glazing does "blow" and need repair. I currently have some draughty double glazed windows.
It is worth having a look at the Energy Saving Trust or reading some of the WHich articles for ideas for saving energy orincreasing efficiency.
Thermal linings on curtains are very effective. Sometimes you can find lined or heavy curtains in charity shops or freegle/freecycle/gumtree. Rugs or carpets would help as well. Again carpet and rugs are often on free sites.
But you propbably need to run the heating more.

Is there a thermostat? During the six hours it's on is it also running your hot water? If so it won't be heating the radiators at the same time, so you'll need to account for that

11 degrees is incredibly cold though. I would be asking the landlord about it too. Not everyone can afford to have the heating on all hours. but once the heating is on, it should be warming th house hotter than that. Particularly with a terrace it is insulated by the houses on either side.

Turn up the boiler thermostat, which makes the water inside the radiators hotter so they'll heat the rooms more strongly. Be careful if you have DCs who might touch hot rads. (But it also makes a condensing boiler less efficient, so remember to turn it back down to around 60 or less when the cold snap is over).

If you're at home all day, you should probably be running the heating for a lot more than 6 hours. I don't think you can really complain to the LL that "the heating doesn't work" when you've set it to be turned off 3/4 of the time!

(I re-read and see your rads are already hot, never mind.)

You say your radiators are hot.

Look at your gas meter readings (not your bill).

How many cubic metres per day are you using in this cold weather?

Is your house haunted?

You just need to leave the heating on.

We have a Victorian terrace and like pp it has to be on constantly or the house would never get warm. Think about it.

A modern house with good insulation would heat up very quickly, because the cold doesn't pass through to the inside of the house. Whereas a Victorian house the cold passes through constantly because it's not insulated. You have to run the heating constantly to keep the cold at bay.

It's sub zero outside, think how much heat is needed to bring it up to a livable temp!

Ask the landlord to fit a wireless thermostat. You can bring it into the room you're in. You can pay for this yourself if they won't pay. You just need permission.

Also definitely get an oil filled electric radiator for the main room e.g. lounge or kitchen. Get one with a timer and thermostat built in. Ours cost 80 quid from argos and it's great.

Then leave it on constantly at 18 degrees.

but once the heating is on, it should be warming th house hotter than that

Not necessarily, the ops not answering questions, but it's likely the heating isn't on for six hours straight, it might be two hours morning, two hours afternoon two hours evening and the house simply never has a chance to heat up. Basically it will start to get a tiny bit warmer then they may switch it off again and any little heat dissipates as it's an old house.

As others have said, turn the heating on for a lot longer.
All rentals have to have an EPC of E or above, ask to see it.
Look for a new place to rent.
Stripped floors are ok but only if they have been lifted and insulated below first. No-one bothers unless it is their own home, and even then rarely.
How long have you been in there?

I live in a very old house, exposed to the weather, with draughts everywhere, single glazing and draughty windows and inadequate roof insulation (huge roof), and even then my 40 year old storage heaters keep the place at well over 11 degrees for most of the day (unless it’s very very cold and windy) so your situation seems extremely odd.
When I lived in a mid terrace my kitchen was the only cold room (very exposed). I kept the kitchen door shut and used a fan heater if in there.

1. Leave heating on longer 2. Rugs down on floors 3. Cheap roll out insulation into loft 4. Window insulation tape to stop draughts 5. Bubble wrap onto window panes (it’ll stick on with a bit of water - was invented as an insulator!!) 4 inter lined curtains.

Others have mentioned carpet and rugs- on this weekend's freegle/freecycle emails locally there have been 3 offers of carpet offcuts of reasonable sizes , so definately worth joining up to see if you can find some

I would expect that with a few hours heat, any house should reach a temperature of 15/16 minimum.

Although it is the tenants responsibility to pay for enough hours of heat to make the house warm, the Landlord is responsible to provide a heating system and insulation etc which allows the house to get to a decent temperature when the heating is on for a few hours. If the heating can be on for several hours and still only reach 11 degrees there is a problem with the house itself. It might be that the Landlord needs to look at the insulation or the heating system.

Op, a good question, would be what happens if you leave the heating on for a 12 hour stretch? What temperature does it then reach? If it is then still cold, there is clearly a major problem.

zombie thread

Yeah 11c is too cold inside, It sounds like it’s very poorly insulated if the radiators are that hot but it’s still only that temperature, try leaving the heating on for longer but at a lower temp so your getting some warmth for more hours to see if it helps.

We lived in a listed terrace once where the doors and windows were so old the heat just flew out. Might a front door curtain help? Are the external doors badly fitted or old?