Pregnant, no heating.

[Halie]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice about our situation.

Currently 12wks pregnant.

Myself and my husband bought our home 5 years ago. It is relatively cheap (120k) compared to UK average, one reason being it has no heating, but it was the best we could afford and rentals are virtually non existent in this part of the UK (its a popular holiday destination and most places are bought and then used as holiday homes). We can manage the payments along with other bills/costs of living but we have a very small amount of savings (<5k) which I've been saving for mat leave and for things baby will need. We are both professionals and I earn in the 30k bracket whilst my husband earns in the 20k bracket.

The property has no heating and no mains gas access. We have got by with plug in electric heaters, heating 1 room at a time as and when needed (due to expense). But considering a new born, this is less than ideal and I am concerned particularly about winter and nighttimes. It is a very cold house to say the least. Our EPC is an F. There is no insulation and we were quoted 15K for insulation alone recently.

We are not eligible for any grants or schemes that I can find due to our income and not being on benefits on any kind.

We cannot afford 15k insulation and thousands to fit some kind of heating system. We have a very small yard and have been told we could not have gas cylinders as they need to be a certain distance from windows/doors. Solar is useless as the roof is not facing the correct way and this part of the UK is not sunny most of the year. So we are limited.

We considered moving and buying elsewhere but property is more expensive now than when we bought and we can't find anything nearby (our support system and jobs are here) that is much different within our price range (electric heating). As I say, rentals do not really exist here.

I feel frustrated that by working hard and trying to get a house of our own we seem to be worse off.

Any suggestions on how to manage this situation?

Thanks

Are you in a rural area?
Do you have rear access to your house?
There are a few options. You could go for oil if you have somewhere for the tank. The traditional option in rural areas
Bottle gas or a larger gas tank. More expensive than oil, if you haven’t got the storage room and need bottles even more expensive but you can have a combi boiler
Air Source Heat Pump. If you don’t have much insulation it would be expensive to run but plenty of grants around.
Solid fuel. The cheapest form of heating but you need somewhere to store it and its work. I’m on solid fuel and wood. A multi fuel stove in your living room with a back boiler would heat radiators and hot water. I’ve got a cooker boiler stove in the kitchen.
Modern night storage heaters and a decent electricity tariff for storage heaters. Not going to be the cheapest option to run but probably not more than bottled gas or the ASHP and would be easy to fit.

Can you add the cost of all this to your mortgage? I think you’re right that heating one room at a time won’t be ideal when the baby is here. Some banks also do a home improvement loan. If you can afford a bigger mortgage payment and you’re happy to stay in the house long term then it might be worth it. After the baby comes you can keep saving up if possible and try to make overpayments.

My house didn't have mains gas but others nearby did. I had to pay for it to be piped and metered - is that a possibility for you?

Loft insulation can be done by yourselves - B&Q etc sell it.

Window insulation can be clingfilm or bubble wrap, or that Diall film.
Thermal curtains, including door curtains.

But going forward if you can only have electric then solar will be the way to go imo.

whilst my husband earns in the 20k bracket.
Is he on full hours? Because that seems low for full hours on nmw. Otherwise he needs to get a different job or a second one.

You may still be eligible for some form of funding under 'Route B' based on postcode and energy efficiency rating.

Check here - https://www.eonenergy.com/grant-finder.html?utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=gbis&utmmcontent=cwigeneric&gclsrc=aw.ds&gaddsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAACjzMwiHM2haNzmxfYGC5Frgzhpdk&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-5a9BhCBARIsACwMkJ4lS2sSmXh6NUz2A0gSjdtB3xMeuURctiqOv3cMICWC2WifS6N5HwaAsxmEALwwwcB

This has given me flashbacks of the absolute stress of our boiler breaking when we moved in to our new house... baby was 4 days old. It was STRESSFUL. Genuinely, I would dedicate the rest of pregnancy to finding a solution that will keep them warm enough. Heating one room at a time will be a nightmare, and night-times need to be warm too...

Gas bottles can be used in small yards, although it won't be the most efficient if you've got no insulation... and you'd need a way to use it. Is the yard too small for an oil or LPG tank?

If you earn a combined £50k, could you put the costs of a new heating system onto the mortgage? Can either of you take a second job?

Thank you for the reply.

Yes we are rural - off mainland UK. There is no rear access to the property unfortunately.

Our yard is very small, just enough space for the bins and we've been told we cannot have gas cylinders or an oil tank.

Potentially an air source heat pump may be the only realistic option but we do not qualify for grants due to our earnings. We would have to get a loan, although I have found one which is interest free for eco friendly home improvements. I have heard that they are not very good and due to the lack of insulation, like you say, it may not be cost effective. So at the moment the best option doesn't seem too great.

Solid fuel would be a major expense to install a whole system and we would not get any support to do it in terms of grants or interest free loans as the government is discouraging it.

I will look into storage heaters thanks - maybe that might have to be our solution until we're in a position to move.

Agree! You need to extend your mortgage. Heating is not exactly a luxury and it’s certainly a necessity with a baby unable to regulate their body temperature.

You're basically camping. You'd be better off selling and getting on the list for council housing. Heat really isn't negotiable.

I didn’t have a working boiler when I had a baby, so I had no central heating or hot water in the house until my baby was 16 months when I’d finally saved enough for the repairs. I can’t help with what to do about your heating but I can help with practical tips on the heating one room at a time element with the baby. I chose to heat the living room most of the time and had a glowing radiant plug in heater and a fan heater that could move around the house. On cold nights we would sleep in the living room as it retained the heat from the day. We’d always bathe in the living room, I’d set the baby bath up on the hearth on top of a few towels and filled it with half cold, topping it up with a few boiled kettles worth of hot. Baby had a nice time splashing in it regularly. I would strip wash, cold shower or shower at friends and family’s houses.

It was a lot harder to keep the house warm with the heaters when the baby was mobile because the heaters were hot to touch and I had to find creative solutions to keep them out of reach. We always used the baby carrier to share body heat when using the kitchen but it wasn’t too bad in there when cooking with the oven on, and I’d always leave the oven door open after for the heat to come out.

The main problem was that the pipes froze in the bathroom when the inside temperature dropped to 3 degrees upstairs, they burst and took out the kitchen ceiling, which then started to develop black mould. So the repair to the boiler I had to find the money for turned into a much bigger repair bill which meant I then had to fix the leak and the ceiling and the mould first before the boiler as they were a more immediate threat. I then added cavity wall insulation eventually. It took a long time but it was perfectly doable with regards to the baby, just beware of it causing more problems than just the heat.

How would that work in practice though? Because whilst we own we cannot get on the council list and if we sell with no where to go whilst trying to register on the list then we make ourselves homeless. I'd argue that's a much worse situation to be in. Especially when there are families with babies being housed in temporary B&B rooms next to people released from prison. I don't think that is realistic or constructive to be honest. I'd rather be "camping".

When you say 'no heating' do you mean no boiler, no hot water, along with no central heating, or just no central heating?

We spent 2yrs in a static caravan whilst renovating. Ice on the ceiling inside the bedroom, wafer thin walls, single glazed etc. My tips:
-Bubble wrap helps to insulate windows
-An electric oil heater is safer/better value than some other heating options
-Sleeping in a large tent sounds bonkers, but it does keep the heat in, especially if the room ceilings are high
-Those baby sleeping bags would be helpful in various togs
-Draught excluders for each door

Night Storage heaters would work well, i know several people who have/had them. I had them too for a while and didnt find them too £££.

Assume you dont have fireplaces?

Add it to your mortgage! Over a long period it won't make a huge difference to your monthly payments and like others have said, it's really important to have a warm house with a baby!

https://www.diy.com/departments/knauf-eko-roll-loft-insulation-roll-l-5-68m-w-1-14m-t-170mm/663953_BQ.prd

My inlaws put this in their attic

Thank you for your advice and you did an amazing job in that situation. 👏

I think where there is a will, there is a way.

My grandparents lived in worse conditions than myself so I will find a way somehow whether we stay or leave. I count myself lucky - my grandparents had no heating (other than an open fire), no bathroom (had to use the washhouse) and no indoor toilet. Plus they had no modern conveniences like a washing machine/dryer or electric heater etc and they raised 6 kids in total! We're not in the worst situation possible, it's just an extra challenge to overcome and asking for advice here is one part of doing that. Thanks for a real and positive reply and I'm glad your situation improved thanks to your hard work.

Extend your mortgage. It won't cost much more and will be totally worth it.

After re-reading your post you did mention no solar. Sorry about that.

Out of curiosity how close are your nearest neighbours and do you know what they use for heating? Do they use log burners or something else?

If your stairs are in the living room you may find a non boiler multi fuel stove heats most of the house. Mine did in my last house. The heat just rose up the stairs and unless it was very cold the bedrooms were warm.
We spent last winter sleeping in the living room before the heating and hot water was sorted. It’s not uncommon in rural areas
Catalytic calor heaters are good for quick heat but I think storage heaters are probably the best option for you.

In the short term, oil filled plug in radiator in each room. They work much better than fan heaters at they carry on giving out heat even when they've clicked off. In the long term, release equity from the house so you can install a proper system. It'll increase the value of the house should you ever decide to sell.

Goodness that's really sad that you were in that situation with a baby in 2020s 😢 Nobody should have to go without heating and hot water, especially those with young children....there should be rules that the government have to help with the cost of repairs.

It really wasn't that long ago that people lived without central heating! Was having this conversation recently with one of my kids born in the 80s. Our first house was a complete renovation, everything from roof to heating as all we could afford. Didn't even enter my head to have central heating in it, we had gas fires downstairs but nothing in the bedrooms, including the bedroom that they were actually born in😂i would second the recommendation for oil filled radiators, think I used an electric heater when babies were newborn in the bedroom but the oil filled radiators are safer as no radiant heat so no fire risk.
I'm using one now, they are cheap to buy/run and really do warm the room up.

Now going back even further, when I was a baby it was a coal fire in the living room, outdoor toilet (which dad would put a paraffin heater in to stop the pipes freezing when cold) and ice on the inside of your single glazed bedroom window..........not recommended😏 but we survived!

We were in a similar situation when we had our first. We used oil filled radiators in timers in the living room and bedroom. Hot water from an immersion heater. It wasn't ever a problem.

LPG tanks can be a nightmare as they are owned by your supplier so you cant just change

Not ideal if you've got a baby on the way. Shame it wasn't sorted before you get pregnant but there's nothing you can do now. As others have said hopefully you can add to the mortgage. Your midwife/health visitor might be able to help with suggestions for help with loans etc. If not a home improvement loan is often cheaper than just a plain bank loan as that's what I got when I did some building work.