Old ways may be best after all.

[Cato]

Interwar brick built (9"), two storey side extension, double glazing, central heating, no condensation.

Ventilation is via the permanently open first floor bathroom window for the cats to come and go, and the ground floor broken cat flap in the kitchen door which the little ****s smashed when they sat one each side trying to brain one another as they tried to enter/leave. So we have cold air entering the cat flap, rising through the house as it warms and exiting through the bathroom window. Proving that no special technology or equipment is required for ventilation and air circulation, just a couple of cats.

 

[Gritineye]

Hmm.
I'll take my 1960s insulated, relatively draught free, double glazed bungalow heated with a stove or central heating, over the draughty, cold, ice on the inside of the windows house I grew up in. As would my other half - she doesn't want to return to the days of lugging turf in to burn (she's from the back of beyond the other side of Ireland) simply to feel the heat attempt to warm the outside up!

I grew up in a cold draughty bungalow with ice inside the windows too.

I think what has made the difference between that one and the one we have now is not having open chimneys in every room, and being build on a raft instead of suspender wood floors.

The much reduced draught required by the Rayburn and wood stove mean we don't notice any draughts, although air flow though the house is constant.

 

[Gritineye]

Interwar brick built (9"), two storey side extension, double glazing, central heating, no condensation.

Ventilation is via the permanently open first floor bathroom window for the cats to come and go, and the ground floor broken cat flap in the kitchen door which the little ****s smashed when they sat one each side trying to brain one another as they tried to enter/leave. So we have cold air entering the cat flap, rising through the house as it warms and exiting through the bathroom window. Proving that no special technology or equipment is required for ventilation and air circulation, just a couple of cats.

Yep just that and the occupants being of a sensible disposition is often all it takes.

 

[Gritineye]

Whats odd is we have solid brick walls (1930s) so we should have issues....but the house has always been very dry and we've never had condensation issues....not even in the bathroom (which doesn't even have an extractor).

In the evening I can switch the heating off at midnight....in the morning it's still 16 degrees....and gets back up to temperature in half an hour!

Maybe wrong, but I would guess you have decent eaves, softish red brick, lime mortar and lime plaster, all of which help a lot.

 

[DAPPH]

Bit of a fallacy me thinks , that nicely heated moist air is leaving your dwellings before it can condensation /condense much on the windows. If you were able to truly discover how much heat was produced by your wood burners etc I think you would be quite surprised at the actual genuine heat losses involved

 

[DAPPH]

None required on 130 year old sash windows.

They are as good as leavinght back door open .

 

[Pond frog]

I like the pink colour of your window frames

 

[Gritineye]

Bit of a fallacy me thinks , that nicely heated moist air is leaving your dwellings before it can condensation /condense much on the windows. If you were able to truly discover how much heat was produced by your wood burners etc I think you would be quite surprised at the actual genuine heat losses involved

It's not a fallacy, it's what's happening.

What is a fallacy is thinking that we're unaware of how much heat is being lost and that we even care about it!

It has to be easier, cheaper and less trouble to leave it as is, than sealing it all up and spending large amounts of time and money on technology that, judging by most threads on the subject on here, all seem to end up with the owners tearing their hair out sooner or later. The fix for each new problem usually extends the predicted payback time.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Maybe wrong, but I would guess you have decent eaves, softish red brick, lime mortar and lime plaster, all of which help a lot.

Its definitely the best built in our street (first house built on the streetI think)...rest are post war and falling apart...local rumour is that the post war bricks were made with war rubble mixed in to extend the clay!

You're spot on with the brick and mortar...also the whole downstairs was fire boarded which might help (including all the walls!). One thing we did was kingspan under the floorboards....then seal all the floor boards with mastic and then put an oak floor over the top. It's a terrace too which really helps a lot of course.

 

[dobbslc]

@AVI_8 have you tried blocking up the 3 chimneys? I wonder if all your heat is just shooting up them into the sky!
At those costs it's got to be worth a go.

 

[AVI_8]

@AVI_8 have you tried blocking up the 3 chimneys? I wonder if all your heat is just shooting up them into the sky!
At those costs it's got to be worth a go.

I have thought about it, probably worth doing at least for the coldest winter months, these vents are about a foot square.

 

[mtt.tr]

I keep questioning if I should insulate further and focus on air tightness.

Then install an mvhr system.

 

[reb78]

I love my AGA - and the woodburner. It has been below freezing every day here - roof still covered in frost. Down in a valley sun never reaches us.
Living room is now at 19C and the Kitchen 16C - refuse to put the boiler on - it runs 23 rads! AGA is oil fired and costing me around £25 to £30 a week even with our crazy prices. Humidity in the kitchen 35%.

Get yourself a Rayburn. Mines doing the rads and keeps the whole house at 19C not just the room its in. Logburner in the lounge for an evening top up!

No condensation either!

 

[minimutly]

Maybe wrong, but I would guess you have decent eaves, softish red brick, lime mortar and lime plaster, all of which help a lot.

Hah, yes, and no horizontal rain like we get most of the winter here... I wish

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Toasty and warm in here, -5degC outside.

Relative humidity low in the room. Lowest I've ever seen it.

Plenty condensation, that's the moon through clear glass.

Not worried about it as it only just shown up over the last couple of days with the extreme cold nights.

 

[Wedg1e]

Seventies 2-bed bungalow made from yak droppings and llama spit here... ok, brick/ ash breeze blocks, 2 by 2 and plasterboard.
Fully double-glazed, three 56 foot square patio doors, trickle vents, gas central heating and gas fire that is rarely lit, dehumidifier running 24 hours... and so much condensation the place is dripping like a Leicester granny at a Boyzone concert.
It's 14C/ 53%RH in the lounge at the moment... might be warmer in bed.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

For the first time this morning 7 radiators in unused rooms which have their TVRs set to the frost settings were all on.

Hopefully this cold weather will break down at the weekend.

 

[reb78]

For the first time this morning 7 radiators in unused rooms which have their TVRs set to the frost settings were all on.

Hopefully this cold weather will break down at the weekend.

Much warmer here this morning. Some of the frost is actually thawing!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Hopefully this cold weather will break down at the weekend.

According to the BBC forecast (at least for up here) another week of the same.
Now, where did I put those battens for the hatches?

 

[armalites]

I'm not sure it's down to the old ways are the best, one of the biggest factors is people lead completely different lives now.

In times where a massive portion of the population did manual work in unheated places coming home to a house with just a coal fire felt pretty warm. If you spend plenty of time outside in winter then a house obvisously feels warmer.

Nowadays people leave their heated homes in their puffa jacket, get in the car wearing the jacket, heated seat,seated steering wheel, heating flat out then go to work in a heated environment. That way you feel no differentiation.

I totally understand the totalled sealed house from a heating effeciency point of view but as far as I'm concerned that only works properly if you have a proper ventilation system.

I'm sure if you live in a cold damp environment and you have financial constraints then your health will suffer but I have to say most of the people I know who are always ill seem to live in houses that are way too warm.

I always chuckle when people believe that going outside and getting cold and wet means you'll wake up with a cold, it's just nonsense. When I was at school in snowy periods we used to spend the entire week soaking wet