kird14

@TonyT we have a combi boiler, that much I know. Would any other specific details be helpful? We didn't even have a thermostat when we first moved in! We got one after a couple of years so I can't say during those two years what temp we reached. Since then, we tend to rely on our log burner on cold days so it's hard to say. T&e heating alone takes hours and hours to get even close to feeling warm, so we just stick the fire on. E.g. we can be at 11 degrees and go up half a degree, maybe 1 degree with the heating on for 3 hours+. I have to say I haven't tried leaving it on set to a "low" temp all day/night but I don't hold out much hope that it would work for us. We can get the room to 20 with the log burner in an evening, then in the morning it's back into single figures with the door kept shut all night if it's been a cold night. It just doesn't seem to retain heat. So I imagine the boiler would rarely "click off" and would cost us a fortune when we are both out of the house from 7.30/8 til 5ish. Happy to be told I'm wrong!

Thanks for your reply. I heard from energy company that "A&M Energy Solutions" will be coming out "soon" to assess our property but after reading their trust pilot reviews I'm mildly concerned. We fitted the secondary glazing to our original sash and it looks much better than the clingfilm type stuff and I think it's warmer on the landing and stairs now too. Radiators in our living/dining room is a strange one! I've attached a pic of our radiator (screenshotted from a video when we sanded our floor back), whilst it's big, it's the only one in the long room (see floorplan). Which baffles me as on an old rightmove pic (attached), there was once a decent sized radiator under the window at the other end too which somebody removed!

Thank you @Ferdinand @Andehh and @IGP and I'm sorry for the very late reply to all your helpful advice! I hope I have answered all your questions/points below: I am pretty sure that I have established that there is only a very small cavity on the wall where the second skin has been added (seen from back garden pic) which wouldn't be enough for any cavity wall insulation based on your advice. The other walls don't seem thick enough for there to be a cavity, or again only a very small one. I applied for a government scheme some time ago where they send somebody out to assess for wall/loft insulation and then assess how much you might need to contribute financially but am still waiting to hear back. From memory, the criteria was council tax band a-c and EPC rating D or below. I am too short even on the top rung of our ladders to see in the loft (haha) but am told there is some insulation, however, not as much as there could be. I was holding out for the gov. scheme but I applied in April and am still waiting for an assessment. Mine appears to be the only one rendered, any ideas what it could be hiding? Am I being naive in hoping it was just for decorative reasons? We have now ordered some secondary glazing with magnets to fit to our one original window and it should be with us in a couple of weeks. I believe our floors downstairs are solid. I know very little about floors though so not entirely sure what this means for us. We have a beautiful original Minton tiled hallway (as do many around here in Stoke, as it's where they came from) which I would hate to remove. We also have a nice parquet floor in our dining space (other half of the room is the living space and is only carpeted). So really I'm not sure anything could be done flooring wise. We have a log burner in the living/dining room but it only heats the one room. We can get the room nice and warm but by the morning, it can be as cold as 8° again when it's frosty outside.

Hi. This is my first post. We bought a house around 4 years ago. I'm not sure of the exact year it was built but we have records that somebody requested to turn it into a pub in 1905 but was denied permission. A survey estimated it was built between 1875 and 1900. It's detached but very close to one neighbour and all the other houses in the street are terraced. When we had a survey completed, we were told that the house was originally built with a single skin but a second skin was added at a later date, and the surveyor said he'd not seen anything like it before but spotted the same on some other houses nearby. I'm not sure if this is the case for all 4 walls which I need to try and establish. My house is horribly cold. It takes a long time to heat and it doesn't retain the heat. Today for example, its 10 degrees outside and only 12.5 degrees in my living room. In the recent cold weather its been as low as 8 degrees with the heating on. We have loft insulation but our EPC report assumes there is no wall insulation. We have upgraded all windows (except one original sash which has the clingfilm type cover over whilst we get around to ordering some plastic glazing and magnets). We changed the front door which was in poor condition with a hole in it. Has anybody here seen or owned a house like this? Is it likely we will be able to install cavity wall insulation? I'm not sure how wide any cavity is and whether there are width requirements when considering insulation. Any advice at all is welcome. I work in healthcare but do a bit of DIY and anything I can't do myself I like to research before contacting trades people, hence this post. Thanks!