1994 built house very cold - advice

baldbear

My mother's house had attic insulation and cavity beads pumped into the walls about 2010. It was very cold with poor insulation.

I can feel the cold now in it. She's knocking 80 now so am worried about the warmth of the house.

Does the efficiency of what has been done fall off after a number of years? It feels like it to me.

Are grants still available after been previously obtained? Or what's the best thing to do?

A heat loss survey looks good but of course there is a cost to it. Based in Longford.

Wearb

How it it being heated? What's the weekly consumption at this time of year?

elperello

Do you have a BER cert for the house?

yankinlk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058277584/1994-built-house-very-cold-advice

How much insulation was laid down? The thickness, height recommendations have changed... I think it's up to 300mm now... And a lot of rolls are only 100mm. You could lay across the existing layer... Think perpendicular to existing. Makes a big diff.

I think once you get a grant that you can't get it again, but insulation is cheap.

Look at the windows next... Likely they are leaking and drafty.

handlemaster

Cold if not measured is relative to the person. If the OP lives in a second floor studio apt the house will feel cold in comparison.

the_amazing_raisin

So don't confuse insulation and heating. Insulation doesn't make the house warm, it'll just mean the house has a lower heating load

If the house feels cold then the heating is probably set too low. What kind of heating system is installed? Depending on the fuel type then it can be better to run the heating for a long period at a lower temp, but the temp might be set too low

I'd also check for cold drafts, if the door or windows aren't well sealed then cold air will leak in and make the house seem cold despite being well insulated

Finally, check if any of the radiators have been turned off. There's this dumb idea going around that it saves money to turn off radiators inside the house

To be clear, it doesn't, it just means all the other radiators will be working harder to warm the space inside the insulation

Also, it's worth asking your mum how she feels inside the house, she might be happy to wear an extra layer, but you definitely don't want the house too cold. Maybe invest in a room thermometer or too so she can keep an eye on the temperature

There's a great channel on YouTube called Heat Geeks, they go through a lot of the heating concepts and advice and make it easy to understand

Sleeper12

Modern homes have a cavity built in between the walls. Insulation here has great benefits. Older homes have cavity blocks. It is a complete waste of time and money insulation the blocks.

Attic insulation has come a long way in recent years. There was a time where the advice was 100mm in the attic & don't go into the eves or under the water tank. Now the advice is at least 300mm, go all the way into the eves and under the tank. Then put vents in the foof itself.

Flinty997

Might be the boiler needs servicing and re-pressuring. Do all the radiators work and are they hot. Are they hot all over at the bottom and top and all parts of the radiator.

iniscealtra

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/

Grants are available / good ones too. Look at the SEAI website for info.

baldbear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120048916#Comment_120048916

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120049001#Comment_120049001

She has oil hearing and got a new boiler last year. No BER cert which confused me. I checked her MPRN to see if it's registered.

Checked the attic and it all looks good. But 150mm thickness is what was laid last time and it is not laid fully out to the eaves.

elperello

I thought there should be BER cert if there was grant aided work in 2010.

As in post by sleeper you could go up to 300 but don't go out to eaves without vents. There are probably vents in the soffit.

The boiler should be ok but check rads.

MicktheMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058277584/1994-built-house-very-cold-advice

"A heat loss survey looks good but of course there is a cost to it. Based in Longford."

There is a bigger cost in doing stuff to the house which will have no real effect! An independent heat loss survey will pinpoint what's going on and how to address adequately. Note, a BER won't do this.

Flinty997

Get the boiler and rads serviced and make sure they test the pressure.

You're not really describing what the problem is. It's it not getting warm, or is it not retaining the heat.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120056113#Comment_120056113

Yeah gotta second this. House feels cold doesn't really cover the issue, my house feels cold if I switch the heating off or forget to close the windows

OP can you give some more details on what exactly is the problem? Given a new boiler was installed last year it's possible it's settings weren't optimised for the colder weather we're having, either running longer or turning up the heat would help both of these but obviously will cost more oil

If the boiler is running flat out and the house is freezing then that's another problem