Insulating 200yr old house - Advice?

clio_16v

I am looking at buying a 200-ish year old house with a BER of F. I will have a TINY / non existant budget for heating / retaining heat. Currently has oil heating and mostly double glazed

External insulation is probably not an option as it is a Georgian house and also I don't have the money

Internal drylining insulation can lead to condensation / mould I believe unless its breatheable ( Need advice here)

Dont think there is any underfloor / attic insulation...

Where do I start?

My rough plan is to:

Seal doors / windows and check for drafts etc

Pull up floor boards and insulate underneath with Sheepswool / breathable insulation with vapour barrier on top??

Similar insulation for the attic

Check / flush / service / replace Oil boiler and rads

Am I missing anything? I could afford to do the above over 12 - 18 months

MicktheMan

I'm guessing there's plenty of open fire places. What's your plan for these? And for ventilation in general?

Gael23

To get it done any way properly will cost a bit of money so better leave it until you can do it properly

slave1

Research SEAI grants, these may assist you

sydthebeat

Check out "tgd L 2019 : NZEB, Major Renovations"

Lumen

The reality of living in a house like this with a small heating budget is that summer will be fine and winter will be long and unpleasant if you are used to even late-20th century comfort levels.

The best investment after the obvious attic insulation and draught excluding is probably carefully designed zoned heating, so that in winter you can live in a couple of rooms without bankrupting yourself. Are electric blankets still legal?

The type of house and location makes a big difference, specifically the external wall area and level of exposure to wind. A sheltered terrace is a completely different kettle of fish to an exposed detached house.

I moved from a 125sqm C2 semi to a 225sqm D2 80s detached and saw oil consumption of maybe 1,000 litres a month in mid-winter. Those kind of bills are either difficult or ruinous depending on your financial position.

Think carefully before proceeding. IMO icebox period properties are really only suitable for people with very deep pockets or incredible energy, skills and commitment.

Calahonda52

OP: I will have a TINY / non existant budget for heating / retaining heat = not a good buy as its a money pit as Lumen and others allude to

Steveop

Hey

I’m half way through a similar renovation. I’m using cork board on the walls. It can be stuck straight to a stone wall as it breaths. I’m buying it off -snip-

beggars_bush

The house we're in is pre 1837. It was renovated 9 years ago

And while it was done reasonable well at the time, for a fairly good budget, problems are surfacing all the time

I'd question how well the builder actually did some of the work on sealing the old stonework internally and around doors and windows

BryanF

beggars_bush wrote: »

The house we're in is pre 1837. It was renovated 9 years ago

And while it was done reasonable well at the time, for a fairly good budget, problems are surfacing all the time

I'd question how well the builder actually did some of the work on sealing the old stonework internally and around doors and windows

Have you seen pictures? Can you recall what materials were used to seal the stone work? Did the arch provide any drawings at the time? This might just be drying out etc

ElderWanderer

clio_16v wrote: »

I am looking at buying a 200-ish year old house with a BER of F. I will have a TINY / non existant budget for heating / retaining heat. ....
......

Where do I start?

.....

It's more of a question of where do you stop TBH.

You're looking at buying house which will be extremely expensive to heat as is, or extremely expensive to renovate properly to a standard where it will be reasonably energy efficient. You have a very small budget for both.

It might be a better idea to abandon the house you're looking at, and buy a more modern one. If it's block built you can upgrade it properly DIY if you do your research and at a relatively reasonable cost. (Note careful use of the word "relatively". There is unfortunately no ultra cheap solution which will make a cold house cheap & easy to heat- you're still probably going to be looking at a 5 figure sum.)

Markcheese

Size of house counts a lot ,also is it detached / terrace semi-d , ( the less external wall the better ,from a heat loss point of view )
Your plan sounds pretty reasonable to me ..
I'd probably use something more basic than sheep wool for the underfloor and attic , do plan on closing up any chimneys you're not using ,don't completely seal them though , if you can get a chimney pot plug for each unused chimney pot on the roof it'd be a good start , and put fit a small stove in any fireplace you plan to use ,
I found a stove on low in the middle of the house for most of the day gave a "better heat " than blasting the heating for a few hours ,( depends on your lifestyle though,if no one in the house all day not much point in heating it ,) those old thick walls can provide really good thermal mass to hold the heat ,.