Keeping your home warm / heating / energy crisis / insulation etc

Guess so, you can see the build-up in that PDF, guess just cut a hole then line it with timber

Where did you get your door furniture from please? We are replacing all our interior doors and need some inspiration

Jasper Morrison for FSB. much cheaper if you have a friend in Germany who can post it over

We live in a 1930s mid terraced place with suspended wooden timber floors downstairs. There's no insulation under the floor at the moment and would like to get some under there to warm the downstairs up a bit. What do I need to consider? Assume there'd be no need to notify building control?

Assume there'd be no need to notify building control?

Nope.

This is probably the best thing to read - https://www.thepebbletrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/230814_SRG-ed2_Digital-V2_compressed.pdf

page 104 onwards (although I think the whole thing is really useful!)

I've found this page very useful, we're actually planning on using the insulation featured here:
https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/post/best-practice-approach-insulating-suspended-timber-floors

I'm about to embark on this (March) and insulating from underneath as access is good.

We're installing 150mm omnifit insulation (depth of joists) which initially will be held by netting until we get some pipework altered and then we're adding a wind tight breathable membrane over the top to reduce the "wind washing".

I'm hoping we're doing it right! Budget is limited hence the omnifit vs anything more spenny. Ideally we'd get the pipework done before but again budget is non-existent for upgrading the heating and we're trying to make the place as comfortable as possible within our means.

we're adding a wind tight breathable membrane over the top to reduce the "wind washing"

This should go at the bottom but I suspect you're getting mixed up. If you are suffering from wind washing above FFL I'd be concerned!

Top layer keeps out moisture and warm air from your living space.

@spotter if you don't we've got a friend in Berlin who might be able to help.

Yeah so as we’re going from underneath omnifit in between joists, held in place with netting, then finished with membrane once budget/pipe work alterations allow

@andos are you going to seal the membrane to the masonry in and insulate pipes too?

Yes! Airtight tape (at eye watering prices!!) around edges and overlaps. Luckily all pipes are insulated already but I'm going to double check for any gaps etc as assume it will be colder down there once we have the insulation done.

I’ve used XPANDA tape, seems identical to the expensive German stuff we used before.

Re keeping the humidity down indoors, avoid drying clothes indoors if you can. Best solution is a heat pump tumble dryer if you can afford one and have the space. Ordinary tumble dryer is OK too but more expensive to run and you need to vent it out a window or keep it in a garage or shed, still vent it out a window or door though. Other alternative is to dry clothes at a launderette. We had to resort to this year's ago in a rented 1920s maisonette which had all external walls. Luckily I was an energy conservation officer for a London council at the time so I borrowed a logger to measure room temperatures and humidity for a few days!
Also have others have said, lids on pots when cooking. If you have kitchen and/or bathroom extractor fans, shut the windows and use the extractor fans to get rid of moisture in the air.
If it's your house, fit extractor fans in kitchen and bathroom if you don't have them, try to keep furniture away from external walls, insulate the house wherever you can, in particular problem areas you could try internal wall insulation.
Finally, don't turn central heating off at night (if you have it), turn it down to 16C to stop house getting too cold overnight. It will use more energy but it takes a lot less to hold a house at 16C than say 20C. If you can fit a wireless thermostat even better as you can move it to the coldest room at night time.
Appreciate all of the above costs. Condition of older housing in the UK is a disgrace, particularly private rented. Could be addressed by insisting on minimum efficiency levels for all rented homes rent but successive governments have avoided this as, we'll, they represent the landlord class!

Got a bit ranty there, hope the kids have recovered, love to rhe family!

kids on pots when cooking

Seems a bit draconian

Cool cool. Not sure I envy you going in from underneath but at least you won't fall through the ceiling.

I did wonder if you might be in Australia :P

I can recommend the Dupont single-sided acrylic tape. It comes in a couple of different widths and you can find a box of 8 rolls for ~£100 on eBay.

Nice! Thanks

@Fox this is suspended floor, so no chance of falling through the ceiling ;-)

Remember to PVA any dusty bricks at either end and to pass your airtight layer underneath dividing walls (where possible).

I was consider rolling the tape in a batten and screwing the batten to the brick tbh.

Agree I think thats the best solution for airtightness.

@dbr @Fox many thanks, need to do some more thinking about the actual doors we're getting first. Probably Sapele fire doors, which will match the original hollow / cardboard honey comb sapele doors we have currently, but hopefully be warmer and quieter

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/british-homes-colder-heating-europe-tado-winter-b1147127.html

Brits maintained the lowest average indoor temperature at 16.6C, with the Dutch coming in second at 16.9C.

The Danes and Swedes kept their homes warm and toasty at almost 20C, while the average temperature across Europe was 18.38C.

This probably better reflects how draughty and badly insulated our homes are, so they drop colder at night and when people at work which is what this old tado map showed

Didn’t have a before comparison but after internally insulating (70mm kingspan K118) and low-E secondary glazing the tado stats gave a 2 hour 2° drop from 21° with an outside temp of 0° which I’m happy with considering we have no cavity wall insulation in a 1960 flat and a huge 5m long crittall window in a single skin brick wall in the lounge.
If we changed the draughty front door and were allowed to do the cavity then it would improve further.
The flats here with no improvements are not cosy unless you have massive heating bills.