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pastelgirl01

How to make a Victorian house warm?

pastelgirl01
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

Hello Houzzers,


I'm moving within the UK to a town that almost exclusively consists of Victorian houses. Up to now I have always lived in modern (max. 20 years old) houses with double glazing, cavity walls, etc. I'm quite sensitive to the cold. I'm worried about buying a Victorian house - will it be very cold? Are there ways to make a Victorian house "toasty" and warm, or will it always be a bit on the chilly side, and that's just how they are?


I'm willing to invest in things like windows and flooring - but I don't want to throw money at something that's never going to feel completely warm and comfortable. Internal wall insulation is probably something I wouldn't want to do because of the loss of floor space and the hassle with rewiring etc.


Featured Answer
  • PRO
    Earl & Calam Design and Build Ltd
    6 years ago
    This is something we are pasionate about. We are always taking drafty, cold victorian houses and modernizing them in to cozy family homes. Its often a labour of love, but well worth it. Best to take the hole house approach. look at the whole building and work out whats best for it and you. Then diced what to do when to suit you and your budget. Find a knowlagable builder who can advise you on your options and cost. Federation of master builders are a good place to start. its all about insulation, ventilation, heating and a well maintained building. If you would like a chat then feel free to call us.

    Comments (24)

    • T Gray
      6 years ago

      I have been searching for answers to this one too Pastelgirl as we moved into our Victorian in April from a 20yr old Barratt. We have double glazing already but they plastered after fitting the double glazing (?) and there are gaps all around the windows. I am just (today) starting to clean up the windows (they overpainted on the upvc - grrr) and seal them around the edge. I also got thermal liners for my curtains from The Range.

      Experimenting with the heating too has helped. Having it on low all the time rather than turning it off keeps the house at a better temperature. We have bare floorboards everywhere so rugs are a must. Using throws and blankets to make the rooms cozy helps too.

      Good luck with your search!

      pastelgirl01 thanked T Gray
    • Jonathan
      6 years ago
      There are two ways to deal with this- firstly improve the insulation- have the original sashes renovated to remove drafts, insulation under the floor and in the loft, thicker curtains, chimney balloon to stop heat escaping up the chimney.

      The second way is to upgrade the heating. Calculate how big your radiators need to be and then go bigger and ensure that the boiler is up to the job. I like extra heat sources to help boost the heat when necessary. I think that underfloor heating in anywhere with a tiled floor is really nice. I also have a flame effect fire that I think sits very nicely in my Victorian fireplace.

      Lastly when house hunting you might try looking for houses with a cellar or space under the floor that can be insulated, avoiding any single skin extensions (thin walls) and consider if the house is exposed to the elements- my house has open space opposite and when the weather is bad the wind hits my house where others on the street are sheltered.
      pastelgirl01 thanked Jonathan

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    • rachelmidlands
      6 years ago
      Also interested in this as we live in late Victorian house (1897). It does keep toasty warm though. Exterior walls are brick with cavity, timber frame double glazed windows which are very good however the rather large front window does need thermal lined curtains purely because of the large expanse of glass. Insulation in the loft really helps keeping the heat in. Very large gch boiler on a thermostat so keeps the house at a constant temperature, turned off in summer when it’s not needed. Our utility room in the back is single brick, no roof insulation and no heating and oh’boy can you feel the difference. This time of year we use it as a second refrigerator.
      pastelgirl01 thanked rachelmidlands
    • PRO
      Earl & Calam Design and Build Ltd
      6 years ago
      We have some course notes on the subject, if anyone is interested message me.
    • T Gray
      6 years ago

      Fyi, the sealing with decorators caulk around the three windows I did yesterday has made more of a difference than I expected. Not only are the rooms warmer but the wind noise is now almost zero. Sometimes it is the simple stuff that makes the difference!

      pastelgirl01 thanked T Gray
    • PRO
      Divine Design
      6 years ago
      We work on old buildings all the time.
      If they have been like rendered abd “breathing” quiet happily since they were built. You have to be careful not to take that ability to breath away. Insulation should not be waterproof airtight or you will end up with issues. The Georgian society in Ireland has lots of information.
      That said a warm and cosy house is achievable. The first thing is attic/loft insulation. You wouldn’t go out in the cold without a hat.
      I’m guessing every room has a chimney that you are not going to be using, so get advice and block it up while ventilating the space.
      Thick inter lined curtains are another must.
      If you are carpeting. Put down paper underlay first to stop the dirt marks appearing in your Capet from the gaps in your floor boards.
      Lots of our clients instal am Aga which is on for the entire winter.
      Enjoy your new home.
      pastelgirl01 thanked Divine Design
    • pastelgirl01
      Original Author
      6 years ago

      Thanks everyone for these very helpful tips! Does anyone know anything about the 1950s terrace house? Is that a "good decade" or a "bad decade" for house quality? I'm viewing a 1950s house that has cavity walls, double glazing, and a flat roof. Rooms are obviously smaller/less well proportioned than in a Victorian house, but I am attracted to the cavity walls..!

    • PRO
      Croydon Window Company Ltd
      6 years ago

      Hi, have a look at out windows on www.croydonwindows.com we do lots of different styles from victorian sliders to secondary glazing for victorian homes.


    • PRO
      The Sash Window Workshop
      6 years ago

      Hi, we have over 20 years experience improving the thermal efficiency of timber windows and doors in Victorian homes. Depending on the condition of the existing windows, they may not need to be replaced. Draught proofing and double glazing the existing windows can make a large difference to the warmth of your home.

      Below is a link to an article we wrote which may also be of interest to you:

      How to improve energy efficiency in a period property

      If you would like a free, no obligation quotation we can be contacted on: 01344 868 668.

      The Sash Window Workshop, www.sashwindow.com

    • PRO
      Active Builders London ltd
      6 years ago

      Hi , A good way of improving the house heat efficiency is to have it insulated externally(polystyrene with silicone render). It's not very popular method in UK but works perfectly. You won't loose and inner space and can improve the house aesthetics too. You should also upgrade your attic insulation and if possible floor insulation.

      pastelgirl01 thanked Active Builders London ltd
    • jamiethepony
      6 years ago
      we live in a Victorian house and while I wouldn't call it a warm house there are some things we have done to make it better.
      Lined curtains for the bay windows, there were wooden blinds already when we moved in but the curtains make a big difference. the windows are double glazed already.

      chimney balloons in all unused chimneys. this made a massive difference, no cold drafts blowing in.

      sealing all gaps in floors and external doors.

      also consider orientation of the house. ours is east / west facing. we put glazed doors between east and west downstairs rooms to even temperature. west facing rooms much warmer. south facing rooms are ways most toasty so bear in mind. we've tried to maximise benefit from sun coming in through windows / roof windows.

      to warm up rooms faster oversize radiators and make sure they're not hidden by furniture. we replaced downstairs radiators including moving them and rooms now heat up faster. fora quick boost in the lounge we have an electric fire, much easier than messing around with log burners.

      built in cupboards / wardrobes on North facing walls provide an extra layer of insulation.
      pastelgirl01 thanked jamiethepony
    • pastelgirl01
      Original Author
      6 years ago

      Those are all fantastic and very useful tips, thank you so much, everyone!


    • PRO
      Fitter Windows
      6 years ago

      It's always tough with these more traditional styled homes to modernise without breaking any rules or ruining the look of the home. "Heritage Windows" are a great way to achieve this, keeping with the traditional style but using modern materials and triple glazing to give the best possible energy efficiency.


      Here are some examples - Heritage Windows

    • PRO
      Cormar Carpets
      6 years ago
      last modified: 6 years ago

      Hi there, we would recommend investing in carpet that feels welcoming and inviting. Carpet not only feels warm underfoot but is also a great insulator too, which helps on the heating bills over the winter. Experiment with a wool rich, textured carpet to add extra dimension to a room and team with a statement chair and furnishings in shades of burnt orange and crimson reds, coupled with natural accents, to add the illusion of warmth into the space! The Malabar Two Fold collection, pictured in colour Tungsten, is perfect for creating that snug, warm feel in the home. https://www.cormarcarpets.co.uk/product_malabar_two-fold/product_malabar_two-fold.php


      Malabar Two-Fold · More Info

    • pastelgirl01
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Hello everyone. I thought I would write an update to this old post. We bought an Edwardian house (1911) with, unusually, cavity walls (very small cavities though). We replaced the windows with timber double glazed sashes, insulated under the floor boards and the loft. We fit angled vent covers on the vents on the external walls. We upgraded all radiators to high spec ones as well. Now, one year on, I have to say our home is wonderfully toasty! When the nights are cold in the winter it does cool down quickly. But most of the time it’s lovely and balanced.

      In case anyone would like to know more about the practicalities of doing some of this insulating work (especially the floor, which was a bit of a nightmare!) then please do get in touch.

    • HU-311734236
      2 years ago

      Hi,

      We have an 1850's Victorian farmhouse which is bigger downstairs than up. It also has a large, concrete carpeted over hall that is open to the second floor and has a cellar underneath it and mostly a concrete floor (carpeted). Cellar also under dining room which is another nightmare to heat by rads and woodburner.

      The problem we have is trying to get a balance of heat with a cold hall and variable warmth in rooms. Also, the heat doesn't seem to travel well to the further reaches of the ground floor - one room is which is converted from a barn and so has much thinner walls (rest are 9"). Real issue is trying to improve the warmth but without encouraging more damp to appear and ensuring the house is well-ventilated.

      Loft is insulated, have thick curtains (not much help during day-time though). Underfloor insulation is something we never tried - so more info would be much appreciated. Mindful of the need for airflow. Also need help on insulating the cellar which isn't tanked.

      Any thoughts/help would be very much appreciated.

    • pastelgirl01
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Hello!

      We have done two things which relate to some of the issues you describe. However, I should point out that we don't have a cellar; we have ground around 30cm below our ground floor joists. We have wooden floorboards rather than concrete - but I would imagine concrete would be easier to insulate, perhaps from below, in the ceiling of the cellar? Anyway, this is what we did:


      We insulated under our floor borads on the ground floor. (Note that not every single one has to be lifted, you lift a few every foot or so). Celotex was inserted between the joists. There is a risk the insulation will fall out onto the ground below, so they cut it slightly too big and then hammer it in. It's wedged in very tight and we have had none fall out two years later. As I wrote in my post above as well, we added angled vent covers outside to reduce the draft coming in under the floorboards. We were very concerned about air cirulation when doing all of this, but we have come to the conclusion that the air circulation is already so large under our ground floor, that the celotex and vent covers aren't really an issue. It's not like we have sealed everything shut, there are still plenty of tiny gaps everywhere. We haven't had any issues with mould or anything like that.


      The other thing we have done more recently is to balance our radiators. We had the problem that our front room was extremely cold relative to the rest of the house (although we had high spec/high BTU radiators in all rooms). We thought this may have been due to low power on the radiators, but in fact after doing a big rebalancing exercise, it's now the warmest room in the house. We're quite surprised how much of a difference rebalancing makes. There are plenty of guides online which we followed; essentially, what you do is you first check how open each radiator is (check the lockshield valve, not the TSV!). We wrote this down on a piece of paper for each radiator in the house (e.g. "fully open", "3/4 open", etc). We then put the heating on from cold and ran around the house checking which radiator fires up first/last. Made a note of this on paper. We then realised that in our case, although the front room radiator was fully open (which would suggest it should get the hot water first), in fact so were many of the radiators that are closer to the boiler. As a result, the hot water was going to those closer ones first (it takes the easiest route). The solution was to close the lockshield valves on the radiators closer to the boiler (not completely, you do it 1/4 of a turn at a time and check the effect). After a few runs we were able to get to a point where the hot water was filling up the front room radiators first. Now it's great.


      I hope this can help you! Good luck!



    • Sarah U-S
      2 years ago

      Hi Pastelgirl - I’m interested to read your post about under floor insulation between your joists. Who did you get to do the work? (Just wondering what kind of trade I need to Google ?). Also, how much disruption / damage did this cause to your floor? (Can you see where they were lifted? Did the boards have to be cut? Did it have any impact on your skirting?). Thanks!

    • Mary Ketchley
      2 years ago

      Also interested in the underfloor insulation, though our house is 1970s.

    • HU-102611582
      2 years ago

      We have put these up our unused chimneys https://www.chimneysheep.co.uk. Pads made of sheep fleece. More environmentally sound that chimney balloons which are plastic. Agree with heating ticking over. You can get thermal underlay for rugs too.

    • nmlondon
      2 years ago

      Hi Pastelgirl, the link attached - does it sound similar to what you’ve done? We need to insulate under floors and my husband was planning to stick the insulation boards between the joists but then we read this and thought it was too difficult

      https://www.eco-home-essentials.co.uk/underfloor-insulation.html

    • pastelgirl01
      2 years ago

      Hello everyone,


      Let me respond to a few of your questions about underfloor insulation.


      We did this right at the beginning of the renovation of the house. I posted an advert on MyBuilder and got a response from a trader who works on insulation in general (mostly external insulation and rendering, if I remember correctly). Though I think any competent carpenter would be able to do the job. Most of the tricky bit is taking up the floorboards without damaging them. One trader that came to quote was very negative and said "at least 50% of the floorboards would be lost" and essentially deterred us from doing it. (That was funny because he was a builder specialising in "eco-renovation"...) Needless to say we didn't hire him. In fact, we didn't lose almost any floorboards. It's probably hard to say how difficult it will be until you get a board up - but once we started to get the first few up, it was clear that our boards were in good condition and were coming up easily. Yes, they cut around 3 or 4 boards, in the corridor, next to the stairs. This happened on a day when we were not in the house, and it's our mistake really. (I think they took the easy route there and we weren't there to stop them.) No other cuts were made. For info, our ground floor is around 65 square meters and we paid around 3k (southeast, 2 years ago) for the job including materials.


      I think it's worth pointing out that we had our floorboards refinished (sanded and oiled) afterwards. I'm not sure how the floorboards would look if you took them up to insulate, but didn't refinish them - possibly not great. Obviously, if you have carpet over then it doesn't really matter.


      On skirting - again hard to say, we had it removed because we were renovating anyway. My husband thinks you could do it without taking off the skirting board.


      nmlondon - yes, that's an accurate description. I wouldn't be too put off. It is disruptive but so are most house renovation jobs (IMO). The only thing is to take care when lifting the floorboards - that's the main challenge. Cutting insulation boards and wedging them in is less about skill and more just manual labour!


      Hope this helps.


      Pastelgirl

    • nmlondon
      2 years ago

      Thank you!

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