Lethargic Man (anag.) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lethargic_man) wrote2007-11-15 08:07 pm
lethargic_man) wrote2007-11-15 08:07 pm
Bah, heating humbug!
I've just had my flat secondary-glazed (after spending a year unsuccessfully trying to talk the residents' association into letting me double-glaze the flat before the upcoming winter). I've spent over a thousand pounds on trying to stem the haemorrhaging of heat from my lounge—in addition to the secondary glazing, I've nailed slats of wood over the gaps around the edges of the juliet balcony doors, I've put brush draught excluders under the lounge and kitchen doors, I've put foam insulation around the opening panes of my windows, I've put secondary glazing film down on the windows of the juliet balcony door; and the place is still I-feel-like-an-old-granny-with-this-blanket-over-my-knees cold from the knees down.
I'm rather narked at this... but not very surprised. This place is appallingly shoddily constructed. What narks me is that my parents' place is roughly the same age (two years old than me), but was built properly: with double-glazing from the word go, and cavity wall insulation, and so forth. The difference is that their place was built by the people who wanted to live in it; this place was probably built to be let from the word go.
I'm not quite completely at a loss for how to try and warm my place further: my father suggested a fan heater set to blow air (but not heat it), to mix up the layered air; I suggested velcroing the curtains to the windowsill to stop the cold air sinking to floor level and escaping below the curtains; and also putting secondary glazing film back on my non-opening panes, so the glass secondary glazing becomes in effect tertiary glazing; but I'm still rather narked that the secondary glazing has had so little effect, for all it's cost me.
I'm rather narked at this... but not very surprised. This place is appallingly shoddily constructed. What narks me is that my parents' place is roughly the same age (two years old than me), but was built properly: with double-glazing from the word go, and cavity wall insulation, and so forth. The difference is that their place was built by the people who wanted to live in it; this place was probably built to be let from the word go.
I'm not quite completely at a loss for how to try and warm my place further: my father suggested a fan heater set to blow air (but not heat it), to mix up the layered air; I suggested velcroing the curtains to the windowsill to stop the cold air sinking to floor level and escaping below the curtains; and also putting secondary glazing film back on my non-opening panes, so the glass secondary glazing becomes in effect tertiary glazing; but I'm still rather narked that the secondary glazing has had so little effect, for all it's cost me.
no subject
Two things you can try: put bookshelves against all walls for insulation, and b) get an oil-filled radiator for extra heating power of the best (eg slow-releasing) kind.
I'm afraid that a fan heater will leave you feel toasted immediately in front of it and cold everywhere else; at least that's what they do to me.
no subject
Most of my exterior wall is window; I only have a short (2.5m) stretch of exterior wall which is not; and whilst I could rearrange to put a bookcase in front of it, it would involve more faff (unmounting the heater from the wall and remounting it on another wall) than I think the effort justifies.
and b) get an oil-filled radiator for extra heating power of the best (eg slow-releasing) kind.
That's like my mother, who's been trying pretty much ever since I moved in to get me to get central heating. (I really don't see the advantage of central heating when there's only one room I want to keep warm 98% of the time.) The problem is not getting heat into the room; the problem is that I end up with cold air in the bottom half-metre of the room. With the heater on full, I can stand up and the room is roasting warm, but sit down again and I'm cold from the knees down.
To put it another way, if you're trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it, the solution is to fix the hole, not to open the tap further
no subject
Alternatively, underfloor heating would solve your problems. You'd only need to rip out your floor and get approved flooring _but_ your feet would be nice and warm.
I can't help that maybe the wasteful short-term solution is the more practical.
(I don't do cold very well. I'm an anti-troll: my brain goes sluggish if it gets cold.)
no subject
I've now put in loft insulation in front of the Georgian glazing below the lounge windows, and it's made no bloody difference. :-(
Alternatively, underfloor heating would solve your problems. You'd only need to rip out your floor and get approved flooring _but_ your feet would be nice and warm.
That would be slightly problematic given that my floor's concrete... (It is cold, and there's a garage underneath, but, given that heat rises, I'm not sure how much heat would be lost that way. Radiative heat loss, maybe, but otherwise I see the flat as being like a diving bell.)
no subject