Solve Those Frosty Toes – Heating Solutions for Your Home
Winter. Is. Here. In one week, the temperature has dropped, Halloween is over, and it won’t be long till the Christmas adverts start appearing on the telly. With the plunge in temperature, your thermostats might start being cranked up, your fires turned on, and woolly socks making their debut.
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However, is your home efficiently keeping the heat in and cold out? With many of the terraced houses in London built in the Victorian era, some renovations may need to be considered to make your home as energy efficient as possible and set you and your family up for the winter months and years to come.
Terraced homes work well for keeping heat in on the sides of your property. But, sash windows and gloriously huge loft spaces, as beautiful as they are, do not help heat sustainability. There are many solutions however.
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Heat rises, and as Independent Living states, 25% of generated heat can be lost through your roof if it isn’t insulated properly. With nu:projects having installed many loft conversions; a lot of people don’t realise that their roof needs re-slating and nailing. Even the tiniest crack is a portal for heat escaping so it is worth having your roof checked.
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If your roof is in tip top condition, maybe think about reinsulating. Materials have updated with time, becoming both environmentally friendly and a lot more effective. Wood wool, sheep wool and recycled paper and plastic fibres are all now used. nu:projects’ contractors will indicate which material is best suited for your home.
Heat can also escape through the gaps between your window frame and glass. Place your hand at different places around your window and see if you feel a slight draft coming in. Window sealing can decrease in effectiveness with age, wear and tear allowing hot air to escape. Draught proofing strips are an excellent answer. Coming in plastic, they are incredibly cheap and work wonders. However, if you want more year uses, metal draught proofing strips are the way to go!
Boilers! Boilers are that one piece of equipment in the house that you don’t really think about but in reality can make you lose or save a lot of money! New boilers like condensing boilers are expensive, yes. But, the yearly saving benefits means you will gain your money back from your old rusty money-spender very quickly. Condensing boilers recover the wasted heat from vaporisation and turn it into more heat, therefore being highly efficient.
And finally, fireplaces. Gorgeous Victorian ornate fireplaces. You could be wasting, it is researched, up to £2000 a year on heat escaping through your chimney. Chimney balloons are cushions that you place inside the chimney vent and will stop any cold air coming in to your home - genius! But do remember to take them out before turning the fire on. They won’t cause harm, but they will disintegrate and can’t be used again.
Hopefully this will help solve those frosty toes and set you up for the winter ahead! Drop nu:projects a call on 020 7731 6841 if you have any queries relating to your home and construction needs.
