Insulation/heating options 1900 Villa

[Chemiss]

Hi there,

We have recently purchased a 1900 Villa. The villa is heated by a wood burner which is brilliant when going (for hours on end). I am looking for a quick heating option and your thoughts and/or experiences.

The floor is insulated with Expol (have been told by heating guys they would not have used this. Besides the fact it is flammable, any one know why all the trades men would have disagreed with using Expol?).

The roof is insulated with insufluff which has deteriorated and in need of replacing. We have had different business come in an quote us, all saying their insulation is superior. Grrr. Does anyone have a strong option on the best option? Our house is not retaining heat. I would have thought polyester would be the best option due to it not possibly breaking down as fast? But there are all kinds of insulation options nowadays and my head hurts.

Wool? Glass? Green stuff? Polyester?

The other option after we insulate is instant heat. We have gas and an old Rennai gas heater on the wall by the front door which i doubt would do much to heat the home. Could we possibly replace it with something modern? Or is a heatpump the best option? I prefer the fire and would like to keep using it, but neeeeeeeed instant heat in this cold house. I would assume gas ducted central heating would be too costly and a bit of a time waster when we have sash windows and wooden floors?

Thank you guys. Any opinions would be much appreciated.

[Gladdynook]

expol isnt very good in old houses where the joists aren't at a constant distance apart. Almost impossible to get an airtight fit. a small gap here and there, and all the benefits are lost.

Ceiling insulation will make a bit of a difference, however the biggest would be by ensuring all windows/doors seal/close properly.

Your walls are unlikely to have ANY insulation in them either.

Gas or heatpump will perform about the same, so the choice is yours. Ducted is best, but if you just want to heat the main living area quickly then the standard heatpump or flued gas heater will do the job.

What about laying carpet?

[Scave]

My experience with Expol is that it is not particularly well suited to old villas because installation is difficult when floor joists are neither straight nor at the same pitch throughout the house. The bigger problem is that Expol chemically reacts with TPS electrical wiring so you must ensure that there are no contact points. I subsequently removed all Expol from both underfloor and ceiling and replaced it with Greenstuff (which has been excellent).

Gas ducted heating is cheaper than expected (and cheaper than ducted heat pumps). That said, if you have a poorly insulated house and its cold in winter, it's probably hot in summer. A ducted heat pump would provide cooling also. The other advantage of a ducted system is that you can maintain the character of an older house without otherwise installing ugly high-wall systems.

[Chemiss]

Thank you for that! We would like to keep the wood as it adds so much character. We are yet to find the perfect big rugs, but this isn't a concern right now. The two bedrooms are carpeted.

The walls have no insulation and i am unsure if this is possible in a Villa? The house is open plan all flowing openly. We close the bedroom doors off the small hallway to heat faster, then open later on to heat rooms and this seems to work okay. It's in the mornings and during the day when we are rained off work or i work from home that we are really cold. It doesn't take long to heat once it gets going- but i would like the heat to be faster.

The windows close properly and we have big thick double lined curtains that do the job in the evening, but i think most of the heat is lost during the day through the windows. Basically we need to ensure we pick the right method of roof insulation and the right heating option for what we have (problems and all) in our home.

[Chemiss]

Thank you Scave!

I am now extremely worried about Expol... i cannot understand why they would renovate this home to such a lovely standard, only to install Expol? Perhaps they were talked into it? I am worried about installing something in the ceiling only to be let down. Our friend used to work for Greenstuff and swears by it. We were going to go with that, then were told Polester was the best. Is there a major difference between the two do you think?

I would much prefer Gas ducted heating as i am put off by the ugly heat pumps and also the placement of them. There is no point in the house that would heat both the kitchen/lounge and down to the bedrooms all at once. We would need a floor heat pump which is huge and would be installed in the most obvious place in our lounge.

We could otherwise rip the old gas heater out and replace with a modern one that filters the nasty stuff and install a similar one in the lounge out of obvious site? What do you think? Or just go for the Ducted heat throughout? I worry this may be lost and require constant running?

[Scave]

Greenstuff is Polyester!

Even with a ducted gas system, you can have dampers installed to isolate areas of the house that don't need heating. My personal preference is for ducted heat pumps, I've had these installed in my last two homes. They provide a constant temperature in all rooms and once the house is well insulated (and therefore retaining heat), they just tick over in the background and are relatively cheap to run.

[Chemiss]

Sorry i didn't mean to write polyester. We were told that wool was better... But i have just read an old post on this site and have decided to go with Polyester.

Thank you for your help