Cold House

[Wispy68]

I have double glazed windows and have recently had my roof replaced, but my house is still freezing cold, even with the heating on for most of the day (which is costing me a bomb!) Does anyone have any ideas why, and possibly, what I can do about it?

[parkhead]

Do you have cavity wall insulation? We had this problem in our kitchen extension and managed to sort it out with this.

[gazzawazza]

You may have had your roof replaced but was your loft insulated??? A great deal of heat goes straight throught the roof if not properly insulated, (that's the ceiling/floor of the roof space).

[coemgen]

We recently had our loft and walls insulated, it makes a hell of a difference. We have only just turned the heaters on as the house is so warm we didn't need to before.

[matchmade]

It's the walls because they are the largest area on the house, and maybe your doors are draughty. If your house is old and you don't have a cavity wall to insulate, the only thing to do is a) fit an insulating layer of polysterene like wallpaper, before adding wallpaper, or b) create your own cavity walls using studs on the walls with insulation packed between them, then plasterboard. It makes your rooms smaller on internal dimensions and means moving all the skirting boards and electrics, but it will make a big difference.

The double-glazing is mostly a waste of money: the seal will go on the glazing and you'll lose the insulation effect quite quickly.

You could heat the house differently: keep the central heating on a low value continuously, so the house doesn't cool down as much during the day or overnight, and have thermostats in all the vital rooms so you can crank those up when you are in the house.