I've just bought a late victorian end of terrace and would welcome thoughts on the following;
1.Woodfibre boards for insulating below floors and in the loft. If I fill the space between the rafters with warmcel or similar and then cover over with 100mm thick woodfibre board, I get approx 200mm insulation and a surface that will support my weight, and can be used for storage.
2. The house has a small extension at the back with a tiled roof and a crappy cheap set of aluminium patio doors which look as if they have all the insulating properties of a collander. They let in lots of light and air which is great at the moment but come winter? I would like to replace them with a wooden single door and side window, preferably triple glazed, any ideas on where I might get such a thing made?
3. Chimneys. There is a lot on the forum about making your house air leak free but I can't find anything on chimneys and the best way of reducing their contribution to leakage. They need ventilation to stop damp etc but how much do they need and how can you reduce the subsequent heat loss. Three of mine are boarded up with ventilation holes, the fourth has a gas fire in it.
Thanks for any advice.
arnold w
posted on 24-07-06
Whilst not wanting to dampon your ideas, what U value are you looking for in your new door and window I also had that problem and ended up importing them from Canada made in Fibreglass to get a decient U value
of 0.26
They look great you may come and have a look,Chester 0779 1958983
I WOULD NAME THE COMPANY BUT,,,,
I was trying to get 1.1 in this country you must be JOKING was the responce,
My experience was that doors are are only made in standard thickness's and I must admit I was not impressed with the options I could find although now.
What for instance is the U value of a piece of Pine /Oak etc. and then the glazing units going in them
arnold w
posted on 24-07-06
Whilst not wanting to dampon your ideas, what U value are you looking for in your new door and window I also had that problem and ended up importing them from Canada made in Fibreglass to get a decient U value
of 0.26
They look great you may come and have a look,Chester 0779 1958983
I WOULD NAME THE COMPANY BUT,,,,
I was trying to get 1.1 in this country you must be JOKING was the responce,
My experience was that doors are are only made in standard thickness's and I must admit I was not impressed with the options I could find although now.
What for instance is the U value of a piece of Pine /Oak etc. and then the glazing units going in them
Matt Robinson
posted on 24-07-06
Try a local joiner...the issue really is getting triple glazed panels - i dont know of a UK sealed unit manufacturer who does triple glazed, but there are a few who can make very highperformance double glazed. Get calling from yellow pages for one - aks for a soft-coat, argon filled, warm edged unit with 1.1 U-value (or better).
Local joiner - we have ones in Sheffield who have made a few sets of windows for us and when asked could a) tell us the wood source (fsc certified) and b) get some really good draught-proofing going on and c) were happy to use natural paints etc.
Both the above are quite rare - we are in Sheffield and know of two companies and one-onsite joiner who 'get' the above and work to such standards....
Matt
Tony
posted on 24-07-06
Ref your question about chimneys, nice one! If they are not on outside walls then the risk of condensation is greatly reduced and some have segested that there is no need to ventilate. It is better to open the flue in the loft and bung it up with insulation at the top ( ceiling level) then cap the pot and leave the removed bricks out in the loft. You can then just leave the air vents in room open and there should be no air leakage path there any more.
In most homes the air vent to the chimney flue only forms a very small part, a few percent, of the total air leakage loss so other places are more urgent to get sorted out first.
Tom W
posted on 24-07-06
Thanks for replies so far;
arnold W: I had not thought in terms of U values, but feel free to e-mail the name that must not be spoken to; t.warner at tesco dot net. I would visit but am in Suffolk so not so easy.
Matt Robinson: thanks for the ideas, I will look locally. I just assumed there must be someone in the country making windows and doors to this standard. Apparantly not.
Tony: I like the idea of ventilating the chimney into the loft, but not sure how I would block the flue at ceiling level, how on earth would I get to it? I would have to get someone in to cap the chimney as the thought of prancing around on the roof at my age is a bit too much!
I take your point about other sources of leakage, these will be dealt with in due course.
Apologies for not replying to any future posts over the next few days as I am going away
