Heating a Victorian home

[geomc7]

Hi, I am hoping some of you can help shed some light please! My DH and I have recently put an offer in for a 5 bedroom detached Victorian home, the property is roughly 260 m2. Its needing a full renovation but the windows are double glazed and have been replaced 15 years ago. My DH is a heating engineer so all house will be re piped, new boiler and new radiators will be installed. We previously renovated our 3 bedroom detached Victorian home (new heating system again) and our energy bills cost around £220 a month for gas and electric. I am just a but apprehensive on how much we will roughly be spending to heat the house as the rooms are larger. Is there anyone on here who stays in a Victorian home that can tell me how much there energy bills are please? Thank you for reading and any responses are greatly appreciated

I'm in a victorian home. It needs renovations (no funds) but its sturdy. Bills average £240 a month, but the thermostats always set cos ive found once its cold it takes ages to heat back up.

We used to live in a 5 bedroom semi-detached Victorian house with 3 reception rooms, very large rooms and high ceilings. We had new double glazed windows and a new combi boiler. Last winter we averaged £230 a month on gas and electric however we used to keep the house really cold, I'm talking about 15°C to avoid spending more. We had oudies, hot water bottles, heated throws, and heated underblankets. It was pretty miserable tbh and this year prices have gone up so we'd have been spending even more to be freezing cold. We ended up moving to a smaller, more modern house partly for this reason.

We’re on about £300 a month, we don’t stay cold but we’re not heat freaks, run it around 18/19 in the evening and morning, 16 in the day if we’re home and 10 overnight (which in practise mostly means no heating overnight) Four beds and a work in progress, but it does have new windows/roof/rads etc.

I’m in my 4 bedroom Victorian house. Had double glazing etc.

i think the cost entirely depends on how often you’re at home and it’s on. Eg last year I WFH and it ended up being around £600 a month as it was on all day (not night) around 18 degrees. In my house as soon the heating goes off, the warmth leaves almost immediately!

this year I’m at the office 5 days a week and it seems to be coming out at around £300 a month ish

@Jennyjojo5 ”i think the cost entirely depends on how often you’re at home and it’s on. Eg last year I WFH and it ended up being around £600 a month as it was on all day (not night) around 18 degrees. In my house as soon the heating goes off, the warmth leaves almost immediately!”

The large apartment I’m in now is the same. Even worse is that the heating/temp seems to be about a day behind what’s happening outside.
I’m getting old and nowadays really, really dislike being cold. Talk of living in 16 or 18deg because of the cost of heating means my next move will be to a much more heat efficient property.

@OneForTheToad I hear ya! I love my Victorian house but would never buy one again..they take a lot of maintenance and are bloody freezing! (although lovely and cool in the summer)

My heating bill is around £100 a month. I don't put the heating on but leave an oil filled radiator on low in the bedroom. Downstairs the temperature is 7 degrees. Victorian houses are just money munchers. I would chose something heat efficient and south facing. My Victorian terrace has high ceilings and massive windows but my goodness it's cold.

Sounds like my house. Energy bills currently around £250 a month. I've invested a lot in better windows, heavy curtains etc. I don't mind it being on the cool side but find it frustrating when it takes so long to heat up. I keep the thermostat at around 15 with boosts to 19 in the morning and evening.

After being in my sisters house in the winter I would never buy one. I need seven layers to sit in her living room.

5 bed detached. We're currently paying around £250 a month for dual fuel - was £350 last winter but came down a bit this year with the price cap changes. I try to keep the main living areas downstairs at around 19, although it cools down very quickly when the heating's off. There are some unsolveable cold spots, partly I think due to eccentric old pipes and long distances from the boiler to the radiators. The rooms on the NW corner just never get very warm despite double glazing, carpeting (when I would prefer wood floors), insulation etc. A new boiler made a huge difference a few years ago but it's never going to be like a new build. (If you're married to a heating engineer I think you've hit the jackpot!)

We moved in to 210 sq m 5 bed Edwardian semi in the autumn so early to tell at the moment but our energy is £240 a month and it is looking hopeful that will cover it over a year. We work from home and heating goes off overnight then on 20 all day, I turned it down yesterday as was a bit warm.

It was 3 degrees outside this morning and 16.5 in south facing living room and 17.5 in north facing kitchen with the heating off at 8am Difference being the living room has a large bay with older double glazing whereas kitchen which also has a bay has triple glazing and internal insulation on one external wall.

I think being a semi does make quite a difference . We have a new boiler and radiators and in living room plus upstairs have gone for thick carpet and underlay plus there is a lot of insulation in the loft. Rest of the house is floorboards.

DH was doing a calculation yesterday against our old house which was a 5 bed detached chalet style house with poor insulation. We are using about 25% more energy but DH thinks that as the last house had a smaller square footage , lower ceilings generally and lots of sloping ceilings upstairs that have close on double the volume in this house to heat. Sorry that is long but hoping it may be helpful in some way, we have been pleasantly surprised and thought it would cost a lot more and we would be colder.

My brothers house is like that. I sit there relatively warm (as I go prepared) but with a cold face, head and hands.
The govt. should introduce minimum EPC ‘C’ at point of sale.

Realistically, the UK housing stock just isn't good enough for a minimum energy rating. I have done everything I can to insulate but short of pulling down the house, there isn't much more I can do.

I've lived in several and they vary. They vary even when boilers are adequate/good in all properties. 9ft ceilings and single glazing are a disastrous combination , though. I think that some are better insulated than others, especially important to get adequate loft insulation (which is cheap enough). It's also worth considering interlined (not just lined) curtains, even with double glazing. They cut down a lot of heat escape.

Ours is a 3 bed 1800s semi and bloody freezing! The lounge (12 foot ceilings, large bay window) is usually around 11-13 degrees this time of year. Yesterday we got to a balmy 16 after the heating had been on 4 hours. Boiler is old but works fine regular service etc

Loft is well insulated, all windows are double glazed, we have blinds and thick lined blackout curtains. We are replacing the windows one by one with modern ones.

We pay £285 a month DD but obviously this time of year we are using more than that, last month was £400.

We have 2 dehumidifiers running around 8 hours a day most days and this time of year the humidity is around 50 with them running and 65 without so fairly damp. We karcher vac the windows most mornings this time of year.

So basically expensive cold and damp in the winter. But beautiful! And lovely and cool in the summer 😂

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply its been very helpful! Our last home heated up to 21 degrees within the hour of the heating being turned on, we also had no insulation in walls and the rooms up the stairs were rooms in the roof so obviously no room for loft insulation. It was a very cosy home so hoping our next one will be relatively warm considering the size difference. DH is confident with re piping house and potentially looking at a log boiler system we can get the home heated efficiently thank you all again!

We have a detached Victorian. Our gas usage is 36000 KW and electricity is 6600 kw. Works out at about £380 a month.

We do t skimp on heating and most of the time there are 4 of us at home.

If you see it as your forever home I would consider (if UPVC) changing the 15 year old windows as by 20 years the glass will all need replacing and most people want new frames. Although fitters are good, the plaster and your decor always gets disturbed

We have a large 4 bed semi Victorian and it’s really hard to heat. We pay £250 a month but it’s often not warm enough. Once it’s been off an hour or two the temperature drops to 12 degrees in a few rooms.

it is amazing in summer but winters are hard now energy costs so much! We could do with new windows but we can’t afford it. You need a lot of money to make large Victorian houses energy efficient i think.

That's sounds very similar to ours @Xmasbaby11 have a dehumidifier? We have 2 , see my post above, and it's made a big difference to how warm and dry the house feels although it's still cold 🥶

Ours is a Victorian terrace but more cottage in style as we don’t have the high ceilings. It is a 4 bed but only as we converted the loft. We don’t have the heating on much during the day but we do have 2 log burners and run those a lot. Our energy bill is approx 220 a month, for gas Ch and a combi boiler. We are a family of 5 so our electric bill is prob higher than normal. Our house is currently 15 degrees but it’s draughty. Being a terrace helps with keeping any heat in.

4 bed Victorian about 120m sq. £90 - £100 a month for gas and electric but we wrap ourselves up and only have the heating on when it’s really cold (this coming week probably) or when guests come round. We’ve just got used to it and tend to hang out in the extension to the rear which is modern and properly insulated and holds about 12-14 degrees on a cold day. It heats up pretty quick and I’m sat in shorts at present writing this. Agree with others though, it’s hard to heat and when my elderly parents come over for Xmas we had the heating on from 8am and it just hit 22 or so in the house for lunch. If yours is going to be double the size of ours then you’ll want to zone it and heat only what you need. I’m sure your other half will be ontop of it all with his profession.

Sounds like quite a few people are having the Victorian living experience living in their Victorian house.

Victorian’s weren’t big on insulation a pair of curtains and an open fire were luxuries.

We have a 1903 mid terrace 2 bed / 2 bathroom / 2 reception. Costs £60 for gas heating. On the basis that yours will be more than twice the size and detached, I would expect a heating bill to be between £250 / £300 per month, with as much insulation/carpet/new double glazing/heavy curtains and blinds as you can do.

Ours is £400pm in winter

we average about £280 across the year.
we aren’t free and easy woth
it and the house definitely runs on the cooler side.

Some neighbours on the road spend in the £350/400 mark. They are detached