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!

Have you got a height measurement for her?

Oh and would you like them?

MadameC - could I ask where you got your secondary glazing quote (mindyou I think we live on opposite sides of the country so possibly not much good to us) and ('scuse nosiness) did you have to get Listed Buildings Consent for the secondary glazing?

Do not telll listed buildings about secondary glazing is the best bet - ours are akin to Hitlers henchmen!

And we have lots and lots of windows and I want the white plastic sash secondary which is sooo much more expensive!

Hmm. Ours too. Which is why I live in fear of doing something without asking and them finding out - especially as we have loads of other stuff to do which may well involve them coming round at some stage [sigh]. I suppose fixing the cracked panes of glass and the huge gaps around some windows would be a good start . We don't have any large windows at all though which might make it cheaper [hopeful]?

hmmm. Will measure...

this house is FREEZING.

bungalow built in 1902. secondary double glazing but original sash windows.

stone walls.

back of house faces West but sits at the base of a huge, forested hill so not a lot of sunlight.

thankfully, it's a rental.

we'll be moving out this summer or Autumn and if it doesn't have double glazing and recently upgraded central heat we ain't taking it. luckily, with the economic downturn, there's a lot on for rent.

Our bungalow is only 'comfortably' warm by the time I turn the heating off before bed and then it isn't getting much higher than 18.5. We have a new central heating system which would be great if we lived in a modern house, but we live in a c1890 bungalow with incredibly high ceilings, original drafty sash windows and a converted dormer loft which is currently curtained-off to try and stop the cold air from the un-insulated roofspace rushing downstairs.

The temperature on getting up this week has usually been 12 or 12.5 but has been down to 11 on occasions. DD's room was 10.4 one morning but thankfully she was snug in bed. We have a coal fire in the living room which we've been lighting earlier than normal but it only really takes the chill off the room and I usually give in and have been putting the heating on by mid-afternoon.

This is my parents old house and we had no central heating at all until I was 15 - I think I must have banished any memory of how cold it used to be to the very back of my mind!

We are in the process of (hopefully, fingers crossed etc.) selling and moving to a modern, energy efficient (with Scandinavian triple glazed windows) house - can't come soon enough.

Thanks to a builder vanishing, we had no roof when A was born in sept. we now have roof except for holes where french doors and two windows should be. MrNC has put polythene over and slabs of insulation in the holes but it's still freezing in the halls - and when windy rain comes in and leaks into my room. The glass arrived today so if the internal frames come tomorrow then we might be waetherproof next week (only 9 months...)

our kitchen is in a dodgy unheated conservatory so reaches 2 degrees in the early morning. no need for fridge!

luckily the central heating is good (first thing we put in on buying this place!) and has secondary glazing (second thing!) so the other rooms aren't bad except the lounge the raduator is too small. the dining room has no outside walls and is toasty.

Our builder spent christmas in hospital having been beaten up. it wasn't me but i really can't say i'm sorry.

I don't know how cold our house is but we have got 2 storage heaters upstairs and 2 gas fires downstairs. No central heating and a couple of double glazed windows but most not. These past few weeks have been FREEZING. Landlord says he is going to put a double glazed window in the kitchen but we are still waiting for that. Bathroom is baltic and sometimes i stand in the shower under the hot water thinking that i can never get out!!

We have been putting on one of the gas fires and all sitting in the same room playing games or watching tv. Back to work last week and it was great to be warm!

Have got an electric blanket which has been wonderful.

Freezing is not the word for my house. My central heating broke down last year. We have single pane windows with rotten window sills and one fire that works. It's costing me a fortune to run oil and halogen heaters in all the bedrooms.

Thank god we are moving soon. Very very soon.

I wear my dressing gown over my clothes most days. As do the dd's.

ooh, this thread is definitely for me.

high-ceilinged draughty victorian terrace? check.
shitty single-glazed windows? check.
bare floorboards on ground floor? check...you can actually feel the icy air from the cellar blasting up through them.
ill-fitting front door with no keyhole cover? check.

and my personal favourite: loft conversion with no door and no possibility of fitting one? check. we might as well be burning money up there.

i fucking hate this house

The draft in our hall/stairways was more of a gale last night - I went round 3 times looking for a window which was not properly shut (there wasn't one - just the gaps round the windows!) - it was freezing and yet, peversely, with the door shut, our bedroom was baking - but DD has been messing with the timer for the underfloor heating in the kitchen so my one and only normally dependably warm room let me down this morning - I was hustling a complaining DS down the stairs, having chiselled him out of bed, saying 'yes I know it's freezing but the kitchen will be nice and warm' - and it wasn't .

My house is sooo cold that to feel any warmth at all you actually have to be sitting against the radiator, and even then all you get is a singed arse.
It's bbbrass mmmonkeys in hhhere!

does anyone else spend their days in gloom because keeping the curtains shut is the only way to keep some heat in?

my house is freezing we go around in dressng gowns too, just got gas bill yesterday it was £ 667 for this quarter dh has gone mental!!
i wouldnt mind but thermostat never goes above 16!!

Our house is freezing too. I am sitting here in my coat, scarf, fleecy top and bottom with my boots on.

We live in an Edwardian semi - high ceilings and quarry tiled floors. We have double glazing, and it made a bit of difference, but not much. I am glad we had it as we don't get that awful condensation, but the next step is definitely a new heating system this summer. I want the whole lot ripped out and started again as I can't have another winter shivering in the cold. I can hardly bear to do things like the washing, because it means going into our kitchen. The kitchen has high ceilings, 3 doors leading out from it and 3 huge windows which makes it freezing.

When it is this cold, I even look forward to going to work so it must be bad.

riven do you rent? My local concil have schemes where they come and inspect properties for the issue you are having - they can make landlords bring conditions up to standard. You shouldnt have to live with bad damp and mould.

check with your council

I lived in a single glazed house where it was freezing (couldn't change the sashes as they were lovely and would depreciate the house, reproduction double glazed ones would have cost me thousands). I made some voile curtains (nicer than net), I inserted an elasticated wire and then used small brass hooks to fix them to wooden frame, then had a wooden curtain pole above the window frame to hold thick curtains made of a brocade material (found in a market for £4 a metre), velvet works well too. For bay windows I bought one of those plastic curtain rails that are flexible and then made the curtain top higher, gathered it in a ruff and this hid the plastic thing (metal/wood ones for bays are really expensive), our walls were white so it didn't show much when opened. Curtains shouldn't reach window sill and not gather on top of radiator or you'd miss heat. We religiously closed the curtains as soon as it was dark. Also a nice blanket on the sofa so I would wrap myself to watch TV in the evening, very cosy. I'd investigate an oil filled radiator, some don't cost much to run and they can warm up a room nicely, a handy thing to have when your central heating packs up, too. You can use one of those plugs with clock in it and so you can warm up the room beforehand by setting the clock. Always wore furry slippers and wore zipped fleecy tops, handier than sweaters. Usually set the timer to come up at one hour before we got up and switched it off at 10pm, we lived a lot in the room close to the kitchen and had lots of oven meals, so the oven would cook the meal and heat room too. Don't forget a rubber hot water bottle!

I live in an old granite house and it is not that warm. The heating is on at 6 in the morning till 10 at night and it just gets up to 18 degrees. I have an electric blanket and fleece pyjamas so night time is cosy. I wear vest tops under my jumper and when I am in the house I put on a thick wool jumper over the top, I also wear leg warmers under my jeans. My DH said I was imagining the cold until I took home one of those temperature gauges sp for old people and it said the rooms were too cold, we were in danger of hypothermia. He now says nothing. I also bought a £4.00 pair of cheap Ugg boots from Primark to wear as slippers and they are brilliant.

FREEZING. Three storey Victorian terrace with high ceilings and (lovely but) impractical sash windows. I'm in the study wearing Uggs and a gilet...DS1 has just sauntered downstairs in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and nothing else. His bedroom is on the top floor and thus about a million degrees warmer than any other room

Freezing here too (Victorian villa, sash windows which don't quite shut, etc, etc) - and I love it. DH hates it - he sits there in his clothes, dressing gown, and scarf, apparently immune to my rude comments .

I have been hot ever since pg with DS, so I am thanking my lucky stars that we don't live in a modern house with (horrors) double-glazing...

Tv said that this is the coldest winter for a decade, even my hardy plants outside are suffering and some died in my small greenhouse.