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Hi all,
We moved into our house earlier this year in March, and at the time we obviously had the heating on. However, at times when the heating wasn't on, I noticed that our two storey extension (one large lounge, one hallway with skylight and stairs, and one bedroom) was absolutely freezing compared to the rest of the house (particularly the lounge). One morning before the heating came on, I noted that the Hive thermostat registered 12.6 degrees centigrade in the lounge! As this wasn't an issue for long due to the time of year, we ignored it, but obviously with winter now approaching, I am doing whatever I can to ensure the house is as warm as possible with as little heating as possible. However the extension is just unliveable. The main house itself is 140+ years old (with solid brick walls) and the extension is roughly 15 years old (with cavity walls). The lounge extension is always a minimum of at least 2.5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. In the mornings recently, whilst the main house has been about 17-19 degrees, the lounge extension has been 13-15 degrees.
I have had someone come and check the cavity walls with a camera, and he said the cavity walls have wool board insulation in them (in good condition), and a gap between that and the bricks to ensure damp doesn't transfer across. I know EPS bead and blown wool insulation is used frequently now to completely fill cavity walls, but obviously replacing the current insulation isn't possible without basically taking all the bricks out of the walls. And that wouldn't even necessarily resolve the issue and could obviously potentially cause damp if not done well.
Basically, I'm wondering if anyone can give any advice as to what might be causing the extension to be so cold (although I appreciate it's quite a vague request)? It is north facing so obviously it doesn't get as much solar energy throughout the day, but equally even first thing in the morning the rest of the house is a much more pleasant temperature. The lounge extension has 2.5 exterior walls (half of one of them is covered by the neighbour's own extension), and it has a gable roof covering half of it and the other half is covered by the bedroom extension. I have noticed a few tiny gaps that need sealing around the inside of the windows and patio door. One of my suspicions is the external sealing of the windows isn't right and that somehow draughts from outside are going through the cavity walls through these holes? I've uploaded some photos of the lounge extension (both inside and out) and a couple of others in case it helps build a better picture of the condition of everything: https://mega.nz/folder/NToDyDaY#cncEPM3ujI8fReTmXn-ZJw
I did also have someone come round to do a thermal survey at one point, and on the report he stated that the cavity wall insulation isn't doing it's job at all. Then again, he also used a camera in the wall, and stated it was blown wool insulation and he could see some rubble in the walls, so I'm kind of on the fence with his conclusions! I do have someone coming round on Monday for a third opinion, so I'll see what they say.
I'm a proper amateur when it comes to these things, and I guess I probably don't fully understand it all properly. So really I just want to know if there is anything that I should be looking into here, in terms of fixing the temperature. Should those gaps around the exterior windows and patio doors be filled, and if so with what? Expanding foam?
Apologies for the long post, but I wanted to give as much information as possible!
Thanks in advance.
We moved into our house earlier this year in March, and at the time we obviously had the heating on. However, at times when the heating wasn't on, I noticed that our two storey extension (one large lounge, one hallway with skylight and stairs, and one bedroom) was absolutely freezing compared to the rest of the house (particularly the lounge). One morning before the heating came on, I noted that the Hive thermostat registered 12.6 degrees centigrade in the lounge! As this wasn't an issue for long due to the time of year, we ignored it, but obviously with winter now approaching, I am doing whatever I can to ensure the house is as warm as possible with as little heating as possible. However the extension is just unliveable. The main house itself is 140+ years old (with solid brick walls) and the extension is roughly 15 years old (with cavity walls). The lounge extension is always a minimum of at least 2.5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. In the mornings recently, whilst the main house has been about 17-19 degrees, the lounge extension has been 13-15 degrees.
I have had someone come and check the cavity walls with a camera, and he said the cavity walls have wool board insulation in them (in good condition), and a gap between that and the bricks to ensure damp doesn't transfer across. I know EPS bead and blown wool insulation is used frequently now to completely fill cavity walls, but obviously replacing the current insulation isn't possible without basically taking all the bricks out of the walls. And that wouldn't even necessarily resolve the issue and could obviously potentially cause damp if not done well.
Basically, I'm wondering if anyone can give any advice as to what might be causing the extension to be so cold (although I appreciate it's quite a vague request)? It is north facing so obviously it doesn't get as much solar energy throughout the day, but equally even first thing in the morning the rest of the house is a much more pleasant temperature. The lounge extension has 2.5 exterior walls (half of one of them is covered by the neighbour's own extension), and it has a gable roof covering half of it and the other half is covered by the bedroom extension. I have noticed a few tiny gaps that need sealing around the inside of the windows and patio door. One of my suspicions is the external sealing of the windows isn't right and that somehow draughts from outside are going through the cavity walls through these holes? I've uploaded some photos of the lounge extension (both inside and out) and a couple of others in case it helps build a better picture of the condition of everything: https://mega.nz/folder/NToDyDaY#cncEPM3ujI8fReTmXn-ZJw
I did also have someone come round to do a thermal survey at one point, and on the report he stated that the cavity wall insulation isn't doing it's job at all. Then again, he also used a camera in the wall, and stated it was blown wool insulation and he could see some rubble in the walls, so I'm kind of on the fence with his conclusions! I do have someone coming round on Monday for a third opinion, so I'll see what they say.
I'm a proper amateur when it comes to these things, and I guess I probably don't fully understand it all properly. So really I just want to know if there is anything that I should be looking into here, in terms of fixing the temperature. Should those gaps around the exterior windows and patio doors be filled, and if so with what? Expanding foam?
Apologies for the long post, but I wanted to give as much information as possible!
Thanks in advance.
