Freezing House

Siipina

Hi all,
I hope you can give me some advise. I have rented a house 5 month ago and its lovely except it freezing cold. Its an old Farm House with 2 new exstensions, one is the kitchen and the other one the utillity room and on top o that the main bedroom. We have an oil fired heating and a small fireplace. The old part is, with the fireplace on ok but the exstensions are freezing cold. Its no joke, I can see my breath when I am sitting in the kitchen and the heating is running. The same is in the bedroom, the radiator is warm but its so cold you can see your breath when its cold outside. We are spending a fortune on oil and its not possible to get the place nice and warm. I do know that there is no insulation at all over the kitchen and I am sure there is none over the bedroom either. You can see the lights from the kitchen if you are on the attic. The cold is not the only problem cause, I guess because o the cold everything is damp and we are starting to see mold on the walls of the main bedroom and the two smaller ones. We have a dehumidifier running but in the last few days the thing isnt even working, I guess because it is already so cold in the room. Any ideas what we can do about that ? It really start to piss me off big times.
Thanks a lot for any advise

flintash

I'd say, pretty typical. Irish never seen really warm houses, never mind old build house. Not really much and cheaply you can do to warm the house. I have done all the small things in my one- attic insulation, draft proofing, reflectors behind the rads, not really noticeable difference after all.
On top of poor insulation of walls you could be suffering from rising dampness.

Siipina

I dont mind "normal" cold but my dad was over one day and he had a thermometer with him, it showed 13 degrees in the kitchen and 18 in the sitting room ater the heating was on all day and we thought it was roasting. And I dont think its a good thing to see your breath inside when the heating is on. As we dont own the house there is not much point to start insulating the whole attic our selfs.

flintash

is there rad in the kitchen?

Siipina

yes there is one in the kitchen and even a good size but doest help much at all

Idbatterim

if you rented five months ago, seven more months until lease is up. At this stage you will nearly get away without heating for the entire period. Then leave when the lease is up...