1930s house is freezing cold

[littleFinch]

I've generally lived in old houses but they heat up ok if you whack on the heating. This just isn't working in new house.

Boiler and radiators are old but they are all hot when heating is on. I think they are small for the rooms though.

It is unpleasantly cold in all rooms except the front where the radiator is bigger

We are putting in loft insulation as there is currently none so that will help but I can't believe that is causing the cold to be so bad.

How would I check if it is the windows? They are doubled glazed but at least 20 years old. I am very happy to sort windows or heating but couldn't do both at the same time so need to prioritise one.

We are also going to sort the front door which is definitely draughty and get a new one.

You would be surprised how much difference loft insulation will make. Thick curtains are also a good plan and if you don't have double glazing, you can get this plastic stuff a bit like clingfilm which works as temporary double glazing

Insulating your lift will make a huge difference. If you are still cold then I would do windows next, assuming that your heating is basically functioning.

You've both really cheered me up with the thought that loft insulation will help. I don't mind whacking the heating on and paying extra because it's an old.house but am totally shocked that this isn't working.

There's literally no loft insulation so full body cross this makes a big difference!

If there is no insulation, the heat will literally just be going straight up into the sky above your house!

If you get any condensation on the inside of your windows or between the two panes of glass, then the double glazing unit has failed.

Check for draughts round the edges of rooms at floor level, some skirting boards have a gap and don't quite meet the floor. Draughts can get in that way.

Find out whether there are air bricks. We have one on the outside of the kitchen wall and the inside of one of our base units gets seriously cold in winter. Makes the whole kitchen floor stone cold as well.

Loft insulation will help. Bleed radiators if needed. Are the walls solid or cavity? You can hire a thermal imaging camera to see where the worst heat losses are.

Gosh, yes, loft insulation is essential! Wait till you get that done and then see if you need to replace radiators etc.

In my parents house which didnt have loft insulation you could tell as soon as the heating went off.

Cavity wall insulation as well - beads not blown fibre

@Geneticsbunny now that is a very upsetting thought!

@RescueMeFromThisSilliness great tips, thank you. The two bedrooms have condensation, no other windows do.

@RescueMeFromThisSilliness how do I fill skirting board draughts? Sealant?

1930s houses are often single skin i.e. no cavity to insulate. We had one, beautiful house but it was always cold, cost a fortune to heat. We moved.

@JohnofWessex it's cavity walls but I'm very put off from insulating due to fears about damp. Do the beads stop this?

I don't think a 1030s house will have cavity walls (ours doesn't). This doesn't help because the walls get very cold.

We have a 1930s house which we bought with an extension and loft conversion (both well insulated). The loft and extension heat up easily and retain heat without eating gas. The front of the house is original (no insulation) and whilst it does get warm thanks to the most powerful radiators in the world, it absolutely EATS gas (smart meter so we can see). So loft insulation will help but the problem could be more widespread. Out walls are not cavity so we are limites in what insulation we can install.

Have you checked your floorboards? My house was built in the 1890s and I had some terrible cold drafts. When I lifted the carpets, I found the source of the problem: gaps everywhere and some were big. They're all filled in now and it's made a big difference to house temperature.

We live in at 1930s house and it has a suspended floor so under the floor boards there is 4ft of cold air that always caused a horrible draft. Just spent a fortune insulating under the floors, made a massive difference.

Heavy curtains and heat trapping blinds, layers of insulation in the loft, get rid of any attached conservatory they eat the heat, check around for single glazing my original 1930s front door was all single glazed had that replaced. Carpets on wood floors.

I lived in a 1930s house and the big bay windows were lovely, and being all young and trendy we put up blinds because curtains were old fashioned and boring 😂 A few years later we replaced with lined curtains and couldn't believe the drop in the heating bill.

We also had some insulation in the loft when we moved in and thought it was fine, but when the gov had the free insulation scheme we got new deeper insulation in and that also made a massive difference with heat (and noise e.g. storms).

This too. We loved the look of nice stripped floorboards, but the draughts were awful and we ended up putting in carpets with thick underlay.

20cm deep Loft insulation I added to a Victorian cottage put the temperature up about seven degrees within two hours on a cold night and meant the house stayed warm.

Go with that and then check if there is damp in the walls. Clear guttering, downpipes and drains to ensure water drains away, and that should do the rest.

Finally check exterior doors and floor boards for drafts.

1930's house here too. There is quite a void under the floor and if it was windy the carpets used to lift in the breeze. We plylined the floor before getting new flooring fitted. We also put loft insulation in, insulated some of the walls on the interior and replaced the windows. The front door is old but solid and so we just fit letterbox draught excluder and also draught strips around the door. We do have cavity walls, but do not be tempted to get cavity wall insulation, it is not suitable for a lot of houses of this age and next door ended up having it removed again.

Other consideration is that there are 3 fireplaces, all currently covered over with a sheet of wood at the front but probably v draughty. One is apparently usable but think will get others properly blocked off and maybe get a chimney sheep for the one we might use in the future.

If it's only in the bedrooms the condensation will probably be from your breathing over night, it doesn't mean the windows have gone. The windows will be worse though if they are single glazed/gone. If there is damp inside them then they are gone.

I'd recommend a dessicant dehumidifier OP (if it's cold) to dry the air out, especially in bedrooms. Dry air will heat much better than damp air.

1920s here, the loft insulation made a HUGE difference. Don’t forget to seal the loft hatch, and insulate this too.
We had old double glazing and the new windows put in a couple or years ago made another difference. so did the new composite door
We have thick curtains lined with thermal linings, and draw them before dusk.

we have also had a radiator man round who said we needed a couple more radiators and a much bigger one in the kitchen. Huge difference again.
we are quite frugal, as all good mumsnetters should be and only heat when actual snow is on the ground, - not really- but our avarage spend is lower than usual for a three bed, but the house is so much warmer.
a cat on your lap and a heated lap blanket help too

friends have used the thermal wallpaper on outside walls and say it has helped, but we are yet to do this.

Thermal cameras you can get for your phone are great at finding cold spots.

Loft insulation is really cheap per roll so you can normally put in loads of that.

You can normally switch single radiators for doubles fairly easily and cheaply. There are doubles with two heat exchanges and doubles with one (type 21 and type 22 I think).

You need to look at the entire heating load on the system and check it is appropriate and that the system is flow balanced (see youtube) and gives an appropriate return temperature for efficiency. If you are fitting new radiators you need to make sure your boiler is up to it. If you want to size a radiator in terms of W just look up the equivalent size on a site like screwfix and the W value of the radiator will be the same for the same size and type (single (11) double(21/22)).