Insulating a draughty cold old redbrick: how to keep it warm cost effectively.

hubiedubie

We live in a 3 bed period redbrick which we have serious problems keeping warm in the winter.
The main culprits for the draught seem to be a skylight at the top of the house and the front door. We plan to replace the skylight.

The roof was repaired in the last 5 years and the roofer placed some insulation down on one of the attic floors.

We have gas central heating / cooking but our bills are astronomical. We had a condenser boiler installed with 2 zones plus water recently.

What cost effective recommendations would you give to keep the heat in our house?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

SmileyPaul

By the sounds of it (especially since you're talking about a specific draught rather then overall coldness) it looks like you need to fix the seals in your skylight and front door.
as far as the skylight goes, as long as you have it put in place by an appropriately trained and competant person it should be fine.

as far as the door goes, you could attempt to replace the sealants that are found around the door frame, use something like one of those old door cushion things at the bottom of the door to stop the draught or if the problem doesn't stop, replace the door and frame asking the worker to pay special attention to the frame.

hopefully that helps

HeidiHeidi

Have you single glazed windows? If so, get them properly draught-proofed, replace with double glazing, or invest in good heavy curtains.

Do you have open fireplace(s)? Get chimney balloons, or block them up (or light a fire )

Old houses are cold houses, usually (unless you have very deep pockets!)- I know how you feel, I live in one!

BryanF

hubiedubie wrote: »

We live in a 3 bed period redbrick which we have serious problems keeping warm in the winter.
The main culprits for the draught seem to be a skylight at the top of the house and the front door. We plan to replace the skylight.

The roof was repaired in the last 5 years and the roofer placed some insulation down on one of the attic floors.

We have gas central heating / cooking but our bills are astronomical. We had a condenser boiler installed with 2 zones plus water recently.

What cost effective recommendations would you give to keep the heat in our house?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Define cost effective by telling us the yearly heating costs, your budget & payback timeframe is?
Depending on your budget, Id probably start with a heat loss/air-tightness

Defor_Dog

Define cost effective? Are you looking to make the most of what you have without really spending money or are u willing to spent money but only in the right places?
Red brick period house- depending on the period this may have cavity walls which for 3 bed semi-d (assuming semi d) could be pumped for less than 1000euro. Attic insulation should be 300mm glass fibre, you may have 100mm so for 200mm top up should be done for 400euro. So that's 1400 for attic and wall insulation, there are also grants available for this also, 450euro in this case(certain conditions apply) so you would be down to under a grand. You would save this grand in 2-3 years on your heating bills!!!
Also to find draughts go around the house with an incense /smoke stick to locate them. A lot can be easily sealed using silicone, expanding foam draught strips etc

hubiedubie

Thanks for all the advice. We had one gas bill recently which was around €800 for 2 months. Hower that was after an estimate. I'll need to get all the bills to get an accurate idea of heating. Thanks again.

RKQ

Defor_Dog wrote: »

Red brick period house- depending on the period this may have cavity walls which for 3 bed semi-d (assuming semi d) could be pumped for less than 1000euro.

I would never recommend pumping bead insulation into a cavity brick wall. Real brick is made of clay and clay soaks up water. Wind driven rain can cross the cavity if the cavity is filled with insulation.

In period house the cavity was designed as a water break, it was not designed to be filled with insulation bead.

sinnerboy

I have to agree. The lovely old weathered red brick is particularly sponge like and the cavity is not likely to be clear of obstructions so the risk of making an (internally) dry wall wet is high.

The best option in my opinion ( despite well versed limitations here ) is to modestly dry line.

Your existing wall U Value is around 1.6 W/m2K .
Adding 38mm of PIR with a 50mm ( 12 +38 ) insulated plasterboard will slash that to 0.44 W/m2K .

You cannot get grant assistance if you insulate to this relatively* poor level.

* I use that word in the most generous sense - not to put you off

It is important not to over insulate by dry lining as the brick fabric requires some heat energy to penetrate through it to help keep it dry. This simple law of physics seems unknown to SEAI.

Yes you will have some cold bridging. But your house will feel a lot warmer warmer and it will cost you less to feel warmer.

I know because I did this in my 80's hollow block house ( I pushed in insulation up to 50mm in my case as the the nature of the hollow block allows one to do this keeping the risk of interstitial condensation low)

sinnerboy

Interesting to note a crude rule of thumb here. You must double the insulation to halve the U Value.

80mm of PIR would give a U Value of 0.24 W/m2K .

( Again I say do not attempt this for your old red brick )

The first 25mm does most of the work.

BryanF

I'm keen on a more natural/breathable solution, there are several products on the market, although they are a little more expensive

Defor_Dog

I realise that old red brick allow water to penetrate but.......
A good quality bonded polystyrene bead does not allow water to penetrate. The beads do not form a solid mass, each bead has a single point of contact with the surounding beads, therefore leaving little gaps throughout. These gaps then allow the cavity to breathe somewhat and any moisture to drain away.
Irish agrement board certifies that "Bonded Beads will not transmit water across the cavity or from below the Damp Proof Course Level."
In saying that i personally would only cavity fill my redbrick house if it wasnt in an elevated, exposed location in an area with extreme weather conditions. ie in an unfavourable location on a driving wind/rain index map.

sinnerboy

Moderator Warning

Please clarify - do you have an commercial interest in bead fill - you sound like you do and if so - tread carefully here.

If not - fine - thank you for your opinion

Defor_Dog

Just to clarify, i do not have any affiliation with cavity fill insulation.
I merely came up with a suggestion for the OP to make a cold house more energy efficient without having high installation / implementation costs.
imo cavity fill would suit their needs....
of course they could opt for drylining internally but the op may need to remove kitchen units, tiled bathrooms, original coving, picture rails etc... not much change out of €8,000 plus full redecoration costs on top of that. Not exactly cost effective which was what the op requested.

Just my 2cent is all:)