Keeping the house warm this winter

[Bones]

I just moved out at the beginning of summer and now live in a pretty old house on the thames. The floor i spend most my time on is under ground level and has 3 large windows/doors that go out into the garden. These are only single glazed and the doors aren't exactly perfect fitting. This causes alot of cold air to be sucked into the ground floor as the heat rises up through the house.

I have a big long bean bag thing blocking the drafts from the doors, but i was wondering if there is anything else i can do to keep the cold out? I can't afford double glazing at the moment, any ideas for some makeshift double glazing? or any other ideas at all welcome.

 

[Jono]

Round up all the witches at halloween... save them for a cold day, then burn them?

 

[tisonlyme]

Shove some newspaper/kitchen roll up your jumper and down your trousers for extra insulation

 

[Marky]

Shove some newspaper/kitchen roll up your jumper and down your trousers for extra insulation

She's not lying! I've seen it in The Day After Tomorrow

 

[tisonlyme]

She's not lying! I've seen it in The Day After Tomorrow

Guaranteed to help you survive the next ice age - FACT!

 

[Bones]

I knew i was going about this the wrong way, insulate myself! screw the house

 

[StevenRaith]

Shove some newspaper/kitchen roll up your jumper and down your trousers for extra insulation

There's some freudian gems in there, but I'm too lazy to tease them out

As for the chap with the grout problem earlier today, I'd suggest fire.

 

[WillyNelson]

You can (or certainly used to be able to) get a sort of film that you stick to your window frames which acts like secondary glazing. Get some draught excluding tape/brushes to seal the gaps as much as possible and some heavy lined curtains to keep the heat in in the evening.

 

[Dark_Angel]

Shove some newspaper/kitchen roll up your jumper and down your trousers for extra insulation

If you light the news paper after it is placed in your clothing, it keeps you warmer still!


*If you burn alive using this advice neither OCUK or Dark_Angel are responsible.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Get a lippi selkbag and wear it at all times in the house.
Problem solved.

 

[Angilion]

You can create very efficient draught exclusion with film, which could be seen as the makeshift double glazing you refer to.

You can buy kits at many shops. It's basically a large sheet of thin plastic film and some double-sided tape. You tape around the frames, stick the flim to the tape and then heat the film with a hairdryer. That causes it to become taut. It's a bit of a fiddly job, especially with larger windows, but it's pretty straightforward and does an excellent job of blocking drafts from the whole of the window. The film also adds some degree of insulation.

That will reduce heat loss through the doors themselves, but it'll do nothing for any heat loss through gaps between the doors and frames. You could film over two of the doors, I suppose, leaving you one to use.

For the doors, stick-on insulating roll can work well to block drafts. Open the door, stick a strip inside the frame, cut to length, job done. The drawback is that if the strip is too thick it will make it difficult or impossible to close the door.

I've bought both from Wilko's. They should be fairly common at this time of year.

 

[Jono]

Serious answer - you could make (old fashioned) some draught excluders yourself... bit o' fabric and some heavy stuffing... You just have to remember to put them back into place when you've opened the door.

 

[Angilion]

Thick tights are the easiest thing to use as the start of a draught excluder. They're already the right shape and size, so you just need to stuff them carefully enough to not rip them.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Useful door stuff...

Never knew about the door things, think I'll be looking into that.
I demand less door draughts!

 

[Vonhelmet]

You can buy makeshift double glazing. It's like thin sheets of plastic and double sided tape. You cut it to size and tape it to the window frames. That might help a bit.

 

[spoonz]

i grew up in a house in the north with no double glazing or central heating. We used to get ice on the inside of the windows

Anyway, clingfilm and sellotape was the cheapest solution. Went over every window october to february, fiddly but effective.

Also, all internal doors had the brush things fitted to the bottom, also the letterbox

 

[Angilion]

Never knew about the door things, think I'll be looking into that.
I demand less door draughts!

I got yards of the stuff from Wilko's for not much money and did various doors. I now have to lean on one door to close it fully, but that's not a big deal. It still works as a door.

 

[Fenris]

It still works as a door.

At what point does a door stop working as a door? More to the point once it stops what does it start working as?

 

[CatMangler]

Nip down to B&Q and buy a coupla bags of quick drying post mix concrete. Also buy some timber shuttering and create a template around your window/door into which you can pour your freshly made gloup.

If the above fails to work at least you've kept warm and entertained by the above labours.

 

[Beren]

You have to be really careful with sealing off all your doors and windows with film. If you stop any air circulating you can suffer from oxygen deprivation as the CO2 in your room rises and isn't being replaced.

I'd sugest a tin foil body suit, it reflects all the heat in and stops the lizard men talking to you...