Ooh, it's a bit parky... in.

October 5, 2006 4:22 AM

Brrr. Our rented Victorian flat is getting a bit nippy. Help us insulate it.

Does anybody have any good temporary insulation ideas?

Details: We're in a small flat in a Victorian townhouse. Now the temperature is dropping and autumn is in the air, it is starting to get really rather cold. Like, almost breath-turning-to-steam cold.

Obviously we'd love to knock the walls and floors down and insulate them with bits of sheep but as we are renting our landlords will probably not be happy with this. So we need some less permanent arrangements.

We are going to make sausages to stop draughts under the door, but heat seems to be particularly escaping from the top and the side of the front door. I don't know how to make a hoversausage.

As well as the front door, the floor (hardwood) is also very cold, and as for our bathroom (a one room extension, not part of the original house), I would not be surprised if an iceberg floated out of it one morning.

Oh, and we have electric storage heaters, for what its worth.

TIA

posted by randomination to home & garden (12 comments total)

Those storage heaters are worse than useless. Can you put up a long curtain across your front door? Heavy fabric works best and is great at keeping draughts out. Shouldn't take more than a few screws to put a curtain rail up which can be filled in once you leave (or left up!) A heavy curtain on the bathroom window might help too if it's not double-glazed.
posted by corvine at 4:39 AM on October 5, 2006

also (previously on AskMe), if you're crafty/carpentery:
make a kotatsu/Japanese heater table
posted by corvine at 4:41 AM on October 5, 2006

It won't look pretty but tranparent plastic sheeting can be used inside to make effective double glazing for those big, leaky, cold bay windows which tend to dominate rooms in Victorian houses.

Rugs will mitigate the effect of cold hardwood flooring.

I feel your pain. I lived in a house which sounds just like yours (especially, the bolted on bathroom) on the Fulham Palace Road years ago and it was freezing!
posted by dmt at 4:50 AM on October 5, 2006

I feel for you. You have the worst combination of heat source, house age & floor type possible outside of a wood fire cottage on Dartmoor. The best solution is to move although it may not be the most practical. General rule for renting is avoid storage heaters. Way cheaper to install than central heating but utterly rubbish in a good ol' English winter.

To top up storage heating I've used portable gas heaters. You do need a little ventilation in the room whilst they're on but they work and are cheaper to run than they're electric counterparts. They run on LPG gas bottles (get them from petrol stations & camping shops).

For the door(s) you can get brush seals. A thin metal strip with polypropelene 'hairs' is screwed to the door edges. Check this list at Screwfix who will be cheaper than your local DIY barn - they're trade suppliers.

corvine's curtain suggestion is good too. I've seen this in many Victorian era places with a heavy velvet curtain. A combination of both will be best.

Where are you in the house? Assuming you're not in the bottom flat: If you have bare boards and are above other flats there could be a contravention of the lease due to noise issues. Not much good if the landlords own the whole building but might be worth a chat with the downstairs neighbours. In my Victorian building my floors have to be 'close carpeted' (ie not just rugs).

However, rugs are the temporary answer to the floor cold. And wear slippers too.

Try and negotiate with your landlord for getting this stuff. Depending on their attitude and the relationship you have with them they may pay for at least some of it. However, you could be better off thinking of a move. If you're cold now you're going to be bloody freezing in January.
posted by i_cola at 5:02 AM on October 5, 2006

Thanks for the suggestions so far. These are all superb.

We do have double glazing -- we're by a busy railway line, so it's kind of necessary. And we're on the ground floor, there is a basement flat below us and two flats above us. Oh, and we have no gas. Just electricity.

We've been in the flat one winter already and it wasn't pleasant. *shiver*
posted by randomination at 5:07 AM on October 5, 2006

You can get squishy tape that fits around the edge of doors and windows. That costs nearly nothing and makes a real difference.

If it gets really bad then cling-film on the windows can provide a form of ultra-cheap double glazing. I only ever resorted to this trick once (an attic bedroom with large dormer windows in a cold Leeds winter) but it does make a noticable difference.
posted by handee at 5:23 AM on October 5, 2006

randomination: Have a word with the guys below. If there are any owners above they would have a similar lease to the one that applies to your flat and that will have a clause regarding the carpeting. Making your landlord shell out £1000 for carpet might not make you popular tho'!
posted by i_cola at 6:08 AM on October 5, 2006

I second the idea of heavy curtains over the door and windows. I made curtains out of blanket fleece material and they were great for keeping out the cold. Plus the kind of fleece I used didn't need to be hemmed so it was easy. I cut fringes on the bottom instead.

Another thing to do is put as much stuff on the walls to the outside as possible. Bookshelves, hanging blankets, things like that will give you a little extra insulation.
posted by Melsky at 6:20 AM on October 5, 2006

lease=leasehold document for owners in the building. Not the rental lease that you probably signed. Confusing, I know...
posted by i_cola at 9:08 AM on October 5, 2006

All four flats are owned by the same couple, rented through a letting agency.
posted by randomination at 9:28 AM on October 5, 2006

Ah. No chance there then. The alternative could be to get together with the other tenants and make a group representation to the owners via the agency if they are having similar problems. A decent landlord will make decent tenants comfortable if it means keeping them long term - unless they have a rent guarantee with the agency and then they might not care although the agency might then.

Unfortunately it's the crappy storage heaters that are the root of the problem and that's unlikely to change. I used to rent a beautiful cheap flat and ended up moving out because the storage heaters and draughty windows made the winter a misery.

One final tip which you may know about already - make sure that the output vent is closed overnight. More info here.
posted by i_cola at 11:25 AM on October 5, 2006

The curtains (or make cheap "quilts" out of two layers of fabric, lots of batting, sandwiched together and sewn through but not actually quilted in any ornate way) would help insulate the walls a little, and you may even want to build some low fabric canopies over your bed and preferred seating area, to keep out drafts.

Silk long underwear is very effective and more comfortable, I think, than the waffle stuff.

I use a ceramic heater fan in a closed bedroom at night in the winter (damp, but generally above freezing) rather than run the central heat and can get a 10'x12' room too warm to sleep under blankets; in a roomy bathroom it gets blazing hot. Probably not in yours, but it should at least cut the chill. They don't last very long, maybe two winters with heavy use, but they're small enough to put away the rest of the year and to carry from room to room as necessary.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:21 PM on October 5, 2006