Mumsnetters living in bloody FREEZING houses - come and rant here

[InnerBlonde]

Rant, rant, rant! Argh. Oldish house (bungalow). Tokenistic cavity infill insulation. Old boiler. Concrete slab floor. Massive windows. Inadequately sized radiators. Not an option to keep the heating on all the time - financially and environmentally. The thermostat in the hall yesterday read 12 degrees Celsius. That is chiiilly when you're doing sitting still, computery kind of stuff.

I am just fed up with feeling so cold in my own home. It's become so cold it's interfering with getting things done. Strong hibernation urges kicking in!

Not really sure what can be done about it though. I'm on my own, money isn't in copious supply, it isn't a great time to move house - but I have made a resolution not to feel this cold in my own home again next winter. So any tips for achieving that?! Aside from the obvious wear-five-layers-and-stick-a-hot-water-bottle-up-your-jumper (which I'm doing now) advice.

Even if not, come and have a moan. Out-cold me if you can!

Our boiler is great but is cancelled out by all the drafts. I am sitting with a rug over my knees! The problem isn't helped by the fact that our back door has a whopping big hole in it.

God, no, that's not going to help at all in temperatures like these! You can almost see the fivers floating out of it, can't you?

Hope you manage to stay warmish.

Ha - the study is the only warm room in our house or the downstairs loo and I have the heating on full all day - it's stupid bloody cold all day and then hot at night.

And I can see more than bloody 5ers floating out - out last gas bill was £700.

Have you all got double glazing or like me have to mop the condensation off the windows in the morning and make sure the bathroom door is shut when you have a shower or the steam sets off the fire alarms?

My house is freezing. Big, old and draughty. We have done some double glazing but it is so expensive and the windows really would need to be in the style of the current windows (leaded frames) so new ones are so expensive. We have coal fires every night in the living room which keeps this room reasonable, but the rest of the house is freezing. Boiler is fairly new and I have it regularly maintained but the heating just isn't efficient. We had to have a hole in the kitchen wall to accommodate it too. No cavities to insulate. ARggghhh, it's so cold in most rooms here.

Sitting here working with blue hands. Where can I get fingerless mittens?

[schock] at Madame's gas bill! Was that for a month or (more likely) a quarter? I can't stretch to that, although I thought a gas bill we had last winter for half that amount was a lot.

It's bizarre that your house is cold in the day with the heating on, and hot at night (presumably with it off?) - you want it the other way round, really, don't you. Does all the heat rise and warm up the upstairs?

Houses can be sooo much more efficient and better designed than this. There must be (will have to be) ways to make existing, older houses much more thermally efficient - future energy costs and sourcing, and chillier winters, will demand it.

Stay warm, ladies.

I remeber as a child we had a layer of wallpaper that was backed with polystyrene under the main wallpaper, does this still exsist and would it help?

Fingerless gloves here, goingslowly.

Double glazing here, but doesn't seem to do much at all. Still have condensation to wipe off windows, and it makes the frames mouldy. I think our biggest problem is the uninsulated concrete slab floor throughout the bungalow - it's offering thermal massing in the opposite temperature direction of underfloor heating!

Get a small heater and put it under your desk - ignore the rest of the house.

Fingerless gloves are a good idea - H&M?

12!!!!! mine varies between 16 and 17 in the day with all heating on full. We have electric comfort heating.

Old sash windows and very high ceilings.....it is rented, if it were mine i would put secondary glazing in..but it is a listed building so the landlord isn't allowed to change much about it.

Night times are the worst.....i need to buy heavy duty curtains..but the windows are so big they would have to be made but we would need 3 pairs just for the lounge so very expensive also.

This winter has been the worst by far though....i avoid washing my hair and showering at the same, usually shower in the evening..and hair washing in the morning.

but 12...poor you

Ah, I feel for you Riven. That's tough.

I am currently sat at my desk wearing t-shirt, thick cardigan, fingerless gloves that can turn into mittens if I get really bloody cold (from Accessorize goingslowly), thick scarf and a blanket over me. I am still a bit chilly .

idobelieveinfairies - are you cold at night, too? Bizzarely, DS and I are finding the evenings to be the best time. We have a quilted mattress protector under the sheet (we co-sleep), three duvets and up to four hot water bottles. Socks in bed are a must. No problems so far. I rather fancy getting back in there now!

My neighbour told me the other day that modern houses' heating systems are designed to achieve 20 degrees in a hallway and 22 degrees in a living area when the outside temperature has dropped to zero. We're a few degrees short between us, methinks.

lol riven

making dinner heats the place for a bit...but after 7 it drops away...when people walk past there is a slight breeze that feels sooo cold.

At night i don't seem to notice it as much, its when we get out of bed..you just don;t want to.

We have the condensation thing going on with the windows too....its not nice.

My house is freezing too. It a new bungalow so you'd think it'd be warm.....wrong!
The kitchen is worst as it has a tiled floor.
We have oil central heating and only put this on to take the chill off for an hour when we get up and maybe an hour at night. We cant afford any more than that.
On the up side we have a coal fire in the lounge which gets lit mid afternoon if its freezing like today. But of course coal costs money.
It's not nice for the children is it?

Riven it must be very hard for you.

My DP lived in Canada for a while. He had to have his heating on 24/7 because it was so cold in the winter. But the heating there is more effective and a lot cheaper than over here! I suppose it has to be as not being able to afford to have your heating on in those temps could be fatal.

That was for the quarter - the £700! Electric was almost as bad - think someone must have run a lead from the mains to power their house too! DH reckons it is the PC that uses all the electric - tosser - typing keeps my hands from freezing!

Our house is listed and secondary glazing is on the long list of things that are to be done before next winter - £4000 we have been quoted though for the whole house which we should make back in a few years - fecks me off that we aren't allowed to have wooden double glazing made in the same style as the windows are in at the moment - we are probably a bloody carbon footprint nightmare!

Bloody hell Riven - is there not some sort of organisation that is supposed to help you and get you somewhere to live that won't make your daughter's condition worse?

The upside to all this is that I am sure you burn more calories when you are cold.

God that os true - but a treacle sponge with piping hot custard would warm me up!

InnerBlonde et al - I feel your pain. Our kitchen is 12 degrees when I go down to do DDs breakfast most mornings. Elderly house and downstairs is baltic. We've got wooden floors with massive holes in them that the draughts blow through.

Inner blonde have you got flooring on top of the concrete slabs? Sorry if it's a daft question. My DP is promising to insulate under the floorboards so we're not so bleeding cold next year. Obviously you can't insulate under concrete but if you stuck a laminate floor / rugs etc on top it might help? Cheap(ish) from Ikea.

Ah, you know the pain of 12 degrees, then, swings. Pretty grim, isn't it?

Thanks for flooring tips. We have carpet over some of the slab, and laminate in the living area. Possibly a stupid choice - carpet would be a bit warmer - but it's ever so practical to have laminate for the rest of the year. Tricky. Ta, tho.

Riven - what size is dd? I have some fleece all in ones which might be useful?

swings and innerblonde, can I join your club? Draughty Victorian house with mostly no double glazing - 12 degrees most mornings - it's at 14.5 at the moment - DH keeps telling me to take off my coat in the house as it looks like I'm off somewhere. We had a double sided woodburner installed in the summer so once that's going it helps a lot but I can't justify it in the week daytimes.

I have taken to sleeping with thermals on..

MadameCastaFiore - our extension has got wooden double glazing to match the original style - we are lucky as we aren't listed but they were extortionately expensive - one window (1500mm wide three casements with small glazed squares above) was £1500

Nice to know I'm not alone.
Currently wearing thermal vest,fleece, bodywarmer and scarf (and trousers obviously) and still freezing. My warmest room is usually about 13 to 14 degrees when the heatings off.Which it is when I'm the only one at home. Doesn't seem right to put the heating on just for me.
For a cheap fix we have put storm guard double glazing film on a couple of windows - its helped a bit. You put it on with a hairdryer and can get it from DIY places.
I would light the woodburner but run out of kindling.
Off to do the hoovering to warm myself up.