1930 house insulation

[irene90]

Hi all!

looking for advice on what would be the best way to keep the heat inside our house, I feel like I’m heating more the outside world at present !

so it’s a 1930 house , allegedly it has cavity walls but i don’t know how to tell that . It was on the home report . We have only been here 2 years and I know for sure that the insulation is poor because it just won’t keep the temperature I set it at . Can easily drop down to 12 if the heating is off . And if I were to set the thermostat at saying 18 it’ll be on pretty much all the time as it reaches 18 and within 20 minutes it goes down to 17.8 so it switches on again ..and so on .

So far we have had a new roof done , boarded the loft and added insulation there . I got all the windows hinges changed so they all seal properly now . They are double glazed . We bought a brand new boiler last year.

I think the kitchen is a big culprit : the floor is always freezing and there was a sort of cool breeze from under the kitchen cupboards . I have put a sealer all along and it’s better but reality is that cold air is still right behind them , the inside of the cupboards are freezing too in winter . We also have 3 sets of windows and a large window / door so I feel like it’s half a conservatory almost.

i really don’t know where that breeze comes from . Would it be for the suspended floor ? How do you go about sorting it out ( is it even duable?)

its a semi so not all wall are external but still ..

I heard about cavity wall insulation but also read a lot of people complaining of damp problems afterwards ..

anybody in a similar position? Any advice is appreciated

thanks everyone xx

You can get nets attached to the underside of the floorboards which have insulation in. You may have a good crawl space to enable them to be put in.

Yes, you can lose plenty heat through the floor, and if there is sufficient space under there you might want to consider getting some insulation. Q-Bot run a good service for that .

Bearing mind what else you have had done, though, it's likely that the biggest issue is going to be your walls. I'd recommend getting a thermographic survey so you can see where the greatest heat loss might be happening.

Damp in cavity walls after insulation is uncommon but does happen. It is usually related to penetrating damp using the insulation as a bridge so the damp then hits the inner leaf. If your walls are in a particularly exposed or windy location (or you live in a high rain fall part of the country) you might want to get some expert advice before you jump in with a cavity wall fill.

There are alternatives - external wall insulation, for example - although these are a good deal pricier than a cavity wall approach.

Oh, and also, where is your thermostat? Bear in mind that temperatures you measure in one part of the house might not reflect what happens in other rooms.

So you might lose 1°c per hour in the kitchen, but the living room might be much better. Worth running the experiment in various parts of your home and seeing what happens...although you need to make sure the temperature outside is the same every time you do the test.

I'm planning g to insulate under our floors as that's the biggest culprit but it's a big upheaval. Having read a little it seems sprayfoam would not be a good idea so it will be a case of lifting the floors fitting netting and insulation so a big job

We have a 1930s house. One hell of a draught comes up through the floorboards because there are air bricks on the outside walls to maintain airflow. We sealed all around the bottom of the skirting board where it met the floors in every room using expanding foam. Upstairs too. We learnt to our cost to do this because a new bedroom carpet developed a line of dirt all around the edge and it won't come out. A carpet fitter told us the up draught causes it. Then we fitted carpets with good quality underlay. Sealed floorboards is not for our house

We also had cavity wall insulation which made a big difference and hasn't caused any damp problems.

We have two fireplaces downstairs and sometimes stuff a piece of cardboard over the hole as the cold air comes down the chimney.

And loads of loft insulation helps.

We have a 1930 house which we struggle to keep warm
Last year we had the floors insulated. It's made a big difference.

We had a company insulate under the floorboards. They went underneath and placed insulation up against the boards. It's was then netted to attach it.

We got a government grant to have it done when they had the green home scheme.

However, you can do it yourself if you don't mind spiders and cramped spaces.

Full price without the grant would have been around £800.

Just got a quote from Q-bot and it was £8,000 😲