Reducing energy bills

pangolin

Another approach here that doesn't involve you actually getting underneath

https://youtu.be/rXJDwjkoEkQ

rjsterry

pangolin said:

rjsterry said:

Two possible routes for water ingress that I can see: at the edge of the door frame and where the pointing has come away.

The air brick looks fine. I would suggest sealing that joint at the edge of the door frame with some exterior grade mastic (rake out any old or decayed stuff first) and making good the missing pointing. I'm not sure anyone wants a page on repointing, but the mix should be weaker than the surrounding brickwork.

Thanks. Searching on eg screwfix brings up silicone, is this ok?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-builders-silicone-grey-310ml/912GR?tc=HT5&ds_kid=92700058168037379&ds_rl=1249416

Is it worth looking into lime mortar, or just going for a higher ratio of sand to cement?

The silicone looks fine. From the photos it looks like someone has patched up with quite strong sand and cement in the past. Lime mortar is likely what it was originally pointed with, so it would be good to put that back, but might be a question of where do you stop. I would go for something pre-mixed in a tub if only doing small areas, as you don't want bags of cement and lime lying around with just a tiny bit used. There are better informed people on mixes but 1:1:5 (cement, lime, sand) is a mix I have seen recommended.

pangolin

Cheers, very helpful

photonic69

pangolin said:

Another approach here that doesn't involve you actually getting underneath

https://youtu.be/rXJDwjkoEkQ

Both of these examples are fine if you are doing a complete refurb as things such as skirting has to come off to lift some boards etc. It's much easier this way despite the apparent faff. If you already have a finished floor i.e. stripped and varnished boards as we did then underneath is the only way. TBH I'm glad I did it but if I had to do it all over again I'd probably burn the whole house down and claim on insurance

veronese68

photonic69 said:

TBH I'm glad I did it but if I had to do it all over again I'd probably burn the whole house down and claim on insurance

Thanks for the tip, I'll tell the trouble

rjsterry

veronese68 said:

I think I'm going to have to rip up the floorboards and insulate under them 🙄 sounds very tedious.
We are in a Victorian semi, similar issues to many above. Loft is well insulated and we have double glazing, but solid brick walls are not good.
A friend down the road had the side of their place rendered with an insulating render. But the render is ugly and the brickwork looks so much better.

External insulation is easier to install, but can look a bit ugly. There are also products designed for internal insulation of solid brick walls (they are vapour permeable to avoid trapping moisture inside the wall build up, which is an issue with conventional insulated plasterboard). The outside of your house will look a bit better but you will lose some floor space.

johngti

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

I think I'm going to have to rip up the floorboards and insulate under them 🙄 sounds very tedious.
We are in a Victorian semi, similar issues to many above. Loft is well insulated and we have double glazing, but solid brick walls are not good.
A friend down the road had the side of their place rendered with an insulating render. But the render is ugly and the brickwork looks so much better.

External insulation is easier to install, but can look a bit ugly. There are also products designed for internal insulation of solid brick walls (they are vapour permeable to avoid trapping moisture inside the wall build up, which is an issue with conventional insulated plasterboard). The outside of your house will look a bit better but you will lose some floor space.

Do you have a link to the type of stuff you mean?

masjer

Great info/effort rjsterry and others.
I just thought I’d add something that might help reduce bills/co2.
Upgrade old analogue (bimetallic strip) thermostats to digital. The digital ones keep room temp far more stable (within one degree). With the old analogue ones, the room temperature might swing between 23C-18C to average 20C, probably using more fuel doing so.
They also have a `logic` system to learn heating patterns and an eco button to lower room temp.
7 day programmable one might be useful too, depending on your house use.

rjsterry

masjer said:

Great info/effort rjsterry and others.
I just thought I’d add something that might help reduce bills/co2.
Upgrade old analogue (bimetallic strip) thermostats to digital. The digital ones keep room temp far more stable (within one degree). With the old analogue ones, the room temperature might swing between 23C-18C to average 20C, probably using more fuel doing so.
They also have a `logic` system to learn heating patterns and an eco button to lower room temp.
7 day programmable one might be useful too, depending on your house use.

Yes, was going to add this. A lot of heat wasted through poor system controls.

rjsterry

johngti said:

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

I think I'm going to have to rip up the floorboards and insulate under them 🙄 sounds very tedious.
We are in a Victorian semi, similar issues to many above. Loft is well insulated and we have double glazing, but solid brick walls are not good.
A friend down the road had the side of their place rendered with an insulating render. But the render is ugly and the brickwork looks so much better.

External insulation is easier to install, but can look a bit ugly. There are also products designed for internal insulation of solid brick walls (they are vapour permeable to avoid trapping moisture inside the wall build up, which is an issue with conventional insulated plasterboard). The outside of your house will look a bit better but you will lose some floor space.

Do you have a link to the type of stuff you mean?

https://www.pavatex.com/en/application/wall/internal-wall-insulation/

https://www.calsitherm.de/en/applications/internal-insulation/climate-boards.html

Jezyboy

We have a hive radiator valve in the home office to avoid heating it excessively past 6 in the week and at all at weekends.

Given their expense, I'm not sure it's a good money saving tip though.

webboo

Jezyboy said:

We have a hive radiator valve in the home office to avoid heating it excessively past 6 in the week and at all at weekends.

Given their expense, I'm not sure it's a good money saving tip though.

I’m sure I read somewhere that having double glazing installed may make your house warmer but it doesn’t save you any money.

TheBigBean

Jezyboy said:

We have a hive radiator valve in the home office to avoid heating it excessively past 6 in the week and at all at weekends.

Given their expense, I'm not sure it's a good money saving tip though.

Does it have a separate thermostat? I would like to replace my TRVs with ones that have thermostats somewhere else in the room.

masjer

Balancing radiators is a good idea too. I set the bedrooms cooler.
https://job-prices.co.uk/radiator-balancing/

Jezyboy

TheBigBean said:

Jezyboy said:

We have a hive radiator valve in the home office to avoid heating it excessively past 6 in the week and at all at weekends.

Given their expense, I'm not sure it's a good money saving tip though.

Does it have a separate thermostat? I would like to replace my TRVs with ones that have thermostats somewhere else in the room.

No, although it seems to work fine for the small room it's in.

Was on sale when I purchased, rrp seems excessive.

ddraver

https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1501851784549216258?s=20&t=rCWWrgBQuxBaId7N-wWBUA