Gill

@SteamyTea We have very old storage heaters and they're out of heat by early evening. We use the panels for top up and warming up a room that's only going to be in use for an hour or so.

Thanks @Sparrowhawk - I will stay away from thermal imaging until we're gone as far as we can with other options. We too have a cold kitchen with no heating in there. It's not a dining kitchen so I'm not considering heating in there as a priority. If it was a dining kitchen I'd be adding heating. We're electric only and have a couple of cheap panels that can be wall mounted and have temperature sensors as backup for rooms we only use for an hour or two. Guess it depends on how long you spend in your kitchen and what the worst case electric heating requirement /cost would be if the draft proofing didn't make any noticeable difference. Hope whatever route works out for you.

Following along on this one. You're a few years ahead of us - we moved to an old cold bungalow last year (formerly a 30s built substation until the previous owner converted in the 80s). 2023 will be new windows and cavity wall insulation, focusing on the many other heat losses and hopefully getting to a point where we have enough of a clue to decide on heating and DHW system update. Good to read about your efforts and a lot of the advise here very much applicable to our situation. Out of curiosity - did you find the thermal camera useful initially? Anything it discovered that your blower test wouldn't have picked up?

My place has them in the both bedrooms - legacy from previous owner. It's not unusual but it's far from ideal. For the room that doubles as an office it works OK but only because we don't need heat in there at night. Our bedroom - we had it on once and never again - like an oven overnight when we do not need the heat. We have gone down the route @ProDave mentioned with an electric panel / timer/ thermostat to warm briefly before bed and use economy 7 to get the overnight and morning temperature we want. That works for us as we're up and out early each day, don't use the bedroom during the day and hate sleeping in a hot room. That might not be the same for your parents if they are up later in the morning and use the room during the day. As to why no one suggested this - I've yet to see any storage heater supplier really lay out the drawbacks of the system or highlight the possible alternatives. I'd say it's worth looking at the panel approach, especially if you parents don't use the bedroom during the day. Obviously it's incredibly irritating after the outlay on the new storage heater but our cheap panel will probably payback reasonably quickly as it allows us to never switch on the bedroom storage heater for the full 7 hours.

@zoothorn I should add that the underfloor insulation has made a noticeable difference to the heat loss so if that's something your folks don't yet have it's worth looking into. Hopefully funding / grants available. Unfortunately my experience with our storage heaters is the same as yours. Old style, controls set to full charge overnight and minimum release - by evening they are releasing very little warmth & nothing near what would be required to heat the room. Doesn't help that mine are positioned on uninsulated external wall next to leaky window.

Very much my current experience. We recently had underfloor insulation but still a noticeable cold pool of air at ground level. I have a suspicion that once we've replaced windows and added CWI, this will still be an issue that won't be solved by high retention storage heaters or moving to oversized rads /ASHP.

Big ole garden then a field occasionally filled with sheep. Will be better views once we've tackled more of the overgrown garden areas that obscure the view. A space that size would definitely need more function. We're pretty good for lounge space between the sun room and the living room plus I have an aversion to TV /lounge areas in bedrooms - reminds me of shared flat days!

I have seen some lovely wet rooms in hotels and I'm certainly not adverse to a well thought out one that doesn't result in puddles on the floor & soggy bog roll.

Ageed. Having a good think about what's needed and a cosy place to kip is all. Getting wardrobes and drawers etc out that space would make a very relaxing room. I'm not one for a TV in the bedroom either so more likely to go with a smaller single purpose space.

That is currently the 'damp' room. Tiles have been letting in water in the shower area. We had hoped we could put off layout changed for another 6 months or so but I'm loathed to spend cash fixing something we'll rip out. Other half loves the wet room. Me, not so much. That's probably more due to the nature of our current one. Horrid hospital type flooring, no floor separator stopping water from shower and tiled floor to ceiling in black. Grim.

This is a bit of a curve ball but I like it. Plumbing would be by big concern as we're on septic system /attic water tanks & immersion heater in the cupboard in the hall. No idea if it's feasible but I suspect if it would crank the budget right up. Would give a massive bedroom though which might let me move my wfh setup in there from the living room.

Two baths definitely overkill for us. The sunroom exit is actually on the wall that the wardrobes are on in this design. (The schedule has it on the right wall but not quite in the right position).

Can quite wrap my head around that - I think that would need to internal bathrooms, neither with natural light? Does sound more practical for guests & visitors to have direct access via the corridor but I think that might have to be the compromise.

This looks to make the most sense. Ticks every box! Thank you very much for putting this together. Agreed - showers is what we would use the most, day to day morning. The tub is currently not used at all but that's because its a big ole sunken blue monster and it wipes out the water tank in half a fill! A normal size tub would be used more bute probably weekend.

Makes sense - guests could use main bathroom for showers as they'd not be accessing from our bedroom. Not sure I'd want to give up the only bathroom window to a loo and sink room though.

Thanks @ETC Hadn't considered the window being part of the other bathroom. Toilets /sinks close to a wall that has the bed is something I was avoiding but I think they could flip with the bath. Seems no way to avoid a corridor somewhere but it does give us both bath and shower access without reverting to an overhead. I'll need to get exact measurements as the schedule can't be trusted. Only just noticed it has the sunroom set back from the bedroom wall when it's actually a continuation!

I have indeed...and my research tells me it wouldn't be the world's first 😁 I omitted one of the key points and that is that my cats are incredibly stupid. Hole in the door they might just about manage, eventually. Flappy thing embedded in door = impenetrable barrier = howl until door is opened. Maybe I need outdoor cats.

That would certainly tick a lot of boxes (cats, doors, noise etc) - is it strange to get to a bedroom through a bathroom? I really wish I was able to visualize from floor plans.

The cat factor is problematic. If only they could reliably do doors. The sunroom is a fresh 9 degrees C at the moment so that's open only when the sun is shining. The bathroom in the hall is currently a wetroom so not litter box friendly - maybe if we refactor it could be an option.

@ETC Suspect that's my inexperience with smart draw and my attempts to measure solo. Sorry. That said the plan on the schedule isn't right - the sunroom doors open in the way and are 40mm from the wall. The window in the bedroom is 870mm from the wall and not right up in the corner as the schedule shows.

Thanks all - I'm not blessed with spacial awareness or a flare for these types of things so appreciate the input. Back to the drawing board. @Adsibob - Boxy / claustrophobic was a concern Walk in wardrobe - not an essential but I keep different hours from the fella so not having me clatter around early morning in and around the bed is something he would appreciated. Re the sun lounge - it's 50 cm lower floor level from the bedroom so was avoiding going near that. @ProDave My attempt to fit in a separate shower resulted in the sink position. Have stayed in a few hotels with sink just outside the bathroom but i think those were better designed than my attempt! Either we'll keep the bathroom size large or will go with shower over bath and put the sink back in a standard position and rethink a dressing space. We do have people staying over so 2nd bathroom needed - the Jack and Jill idea is interesting and not one i was familiar with. Maybe access from master bedroom & hall instead of the 2nd bedroom. No space for a 3rd toilet and wouldn't want visitors to only access a toilet through a bedroom. @Jilly Because of the cats - our bathroom door is rarely shut. The 2nd door was to give privacy. The cupboard area was more for reducing noise for the other half as I clatter around in the early morning. Think it's safe to say I need to re-think some fundamentals. @Radian Not fussed about it being syntactically an "en-suite" but I'm sure something can be done with that strange bed/en suite hall space.

Would love some feedback on my first shot at rearranging our bedroom / en-suite. I suspect plenty of rookie errors and / or missed opportunities. Here's some of the factors that led me to come up with this. En-suite doesn't need to be as big as it currently is Corridor to the current bathroom / bedroom feels like wasted space Would like a shower and bath in the en-suite (possibly the design is too cramped and shower over bath will be needed) Got house cats litter trays in the bathroom so currently have to leave the door to the bedroom open. I want a bedroom door to reduce noise from the living area without locking the mogs out of the bathroom Generate some separation between the bathroom and the bedroom to reduce noise Can't move the bedroom door as the lounge area is a different level Wont be moving or creating any new windows Not concerned with adding (or removing) value - not planning on moving again Walls between bedroom / en-suite / bedroom hallway aren't structural Appreciate any input.

We're living with a fresh 15 degree daytime temperature. It's jumpers and blankets till the windows get replaced and the cavity walls insulated. Running our ancient massive storage heaters even on eco7 is stupidly expensive. @TempAlso curious about the running costs of MHRV as that's on the 'too research' list.

From my recent experience... Request plenty of of the quotes. Most of my enquiries went unanswered even from smaller locals. Gave up with web enquiries and answer phone messages. This may have changed in the last month or so as things start to slow. Give as much info as you can up front - we didn't want trickle vents and that wasn't an option with some places. Have an idea of what performance (frames & glass) level you want and avoid anywhere that can't give you specifics. Check the quote has glass and frame performance detail. Flexibility can assist in price negotiation. Are you prepared to have the work done early Jan or at a point when the company is trying to fill their job book? Extras - colour cost, If you've not got existing cavity closures probably an extra cost. Check what's included and what's not. Other random things to ask - lead times, guatentee - do you have a single point of contact for any failure. Good luck. I'll be happy when I'm done with windows - it's been a slog but hopefully I'm finalising our order on Friday.

Impressively vague project dates for my postcode - Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband Build planned between now and Dec-2026. 😁