old house, rubbish BER

gar_29

heya,

i've just bought a victorian house, with a crap BER, which i'd love to improve, but from an environmental point of view and financial!

i've no money left for big stuff, (insulate walls or anything like that), but are there simple but cheap things to improve the house?

the BER did inlude a list of things, which i'm starting to work through, but anyone come across a good list or blog with decent ideas?

cheers!

gar

djpbarry

Probably more suited to the DIY forum - mods, do as you will.

Joey the lips

I dont have a list gar but the biggest fail seems to be on insulation and time clocks and zones on heating. Another failure is air tightness.

The insulation is easy. If you cant afford to drill walls and pump in insulation what is wrong with making a hole and packing it with fibre wool. On the air tightness cheap door and window seals and on the heating zones. This is going to cost a little.

gar_29

Joey the lips wrote: »

I dont have a list gar but the biggest fail seems to be on insulation and time clocks and zones on heating. Another failure is air tightness.

The insulation is easy. If you cant afford to drill walls and pump in insulation what is wrong with making a hole and packing it with fibre wool. On the air tightness cheap door and window seals and on the heating zones. This is going to cost a little.

Thanks! That's a good bit of advice

PeteHeat

Hi,

I understand what you mean old victorian houses didn't have cavities to fill and dry lining can ruin the original features.

My first priorities would be attic insulation, seal strips on the windows & doors especially if they are sash windows, vented caps for the flues & chimney ballons in fireplaces you are not using.

Many victorian houses have wooden floors so make sure the vents are clear at the front and back of the house as they need a through flow of air.

There are many different ways to improve the insulation however some are large jobs if you want to retain features so a long term plan will help you to complete each room / section of the house as you progress.

Allow yourself about half an hour each evening to look back over old threads here, there is loads of info posted over the years.

Best of luck in your new home.

.

BERmad

To improve your BER you could fit energy efficent lights through out the house a fit thermostatic valves to all the rads this will help imrove your rating a bit with out spending big money.