My eco solution to rat problems

[Valkyrie]

OH sat looking like a big space hopper in his orange fleece this evening. He whinged non-stop while I'm sitting with just my t-shirt. Oh revenge is so sweet. However my feet are now like chunks of ice (think I cut off my nose to spite my face here) so I will turn in for the night and warm them up on him - oh a double whammy! Harrrrr that will teach him not to turn the heating off in future when I am cold.

[Charlottechicken]

Forgot to add earlier that it is important when running central heating to consider the dew point of your walls; I couldn't understand why my sister's house was always cold even when the heating was on. Turns out her stingy OH (now ex!) didn't let them put it on often..... if your walls get damp then when your central heating is turned on, then heat will quickly exit the walls, so it is more efficient to keep the house dry and warm, not putting the heating on can be a false economy in the longer term apparantly.

 

How interesting, I've never heard of a dew point before, but that makes sense!

 

Two years ago, when I had building work done and it had been wet all year, the last thing to be fitted was my new boiler, and by that time (early October) all my shoes in the cupboard under the stairs had grown mould. I had to throw two pairs of boots away, thankfully they were old ones. The mould just wiped off the rest.

 

This year I'm moving stuff around in the front room to decorate and have a woodburner fitted, and pulled the parlour organ out from an alcove to find everything a little mouldy there too Front room never gets above 17c so I might have a very high dew point

[C&T]

We have Hot Air heating in our house - has lots of advantages - i.e. the house heats up VERY quickly, and your washing is dry in next to no time!

 

But one room does not have a heating vent in it, and that is prone to mould as a result . Just have to try and keep the room free of junk, and the door open to allow air to circulate - unfortunately is get used as the junk room...

[miffy]

I've never heard of an Energy Saving Consultant, has anyone used one......how much??? I'm intrigued, they would have a nightmare here I suspect

Still no heating ....maybe later

[The Dogmother]

This year I'm moving stuff around in the front room to decorate and have a woodburner fitted, and pulled the parlour organ out from an alcove to find everything a little mouldy there too Front room never gets above 17c so I might have a very high dew point

 

 

CC, that might just have been due to lack of airflow behind the organ. Or does the organ have an airvent on the back? An output of warm air would also cause the same problem.

 

My utlity room was built by the previous owner and is a bit of a botch job, but it's gonna have to stay like that as I can't afford to rebuild it. It has single thickness walls from what I can see and is prone to condensation. I leave the UPVC window in there locked in a slightly open position to increase airflow, but it doesn't do a lot of good

[CatieB]

Gosh I'm amazed at the response to a question about heating.

 

We don't have ours on yet (oil fired boiler) but we have had our stove on nearly every evening, not just because we like being toastie in the lounge but because of the ambience it gives. Further to some of the posts above, both me and DH husband agree that it is probably one of the best things we've ever bought (and we don't often agree!!) We have a MORSO stove and our fitter told us we would not regret buying it and he was very right. Apparently in the world of stoves you get what you pay for. It can make a difference to most of the house if we leave the doors ajar. Last year our oil consumption went down massively.

 

As a side issue we can aquire quite a lot of free wood where we live but its building up as we don't have the means the cut it (other than an ordinary saw). We are both very wary of getting a chain saw they seem so scary to me. Anyone got any tips in confidence building or how to start and be safe? Or is a matter that should be left to the professionals- are there people that will come and cut wood?

[The Dogmother]

Why don't you just collect wood from skips and pallets?

 

I have tree wood (chainsaw and large axe) but most of my wood is scrounged from s"Ooops, word censored!" and a lot easier to cut with just a bow saw. I have scrounged enough free wood (never, ever pay for it) this year to last about 2 winters!

[Olly]

Pallet wood is good, but time-consuming to cut up and it burns quite quickly. If you've got access to another source of wood, then I would invest in a small electric chainsaw. I know what you mean about it being scary, and you are wise to be cautious. I cut most of my wood for the first year with a handsaw, it warmed me up and was great exercise but it's a bit slow!

 

This spring I bought a small Bosch chainsaw and it's been really easy to use. I only cut wood when it's firmly fixed in my Black-and-Decker workmate, for safety - so it's not been used on logs yet, but I have cut up no end of construction timber which I also got for free. Do wear goggles, but if you use some common sense then it is no more dangerous than most other power tools.

 

I've got a friend with a chainsaw licence and access to a petrol chainsaw, and she is going to cut the logs up for me - ask around, you might find someone who has one and wouldn't mind using it, especially if you offered them some of the wood in return.

 

Charlottechicken, I was going to say exactly what Claret has said - is the parlour organ on an outside wall? I suspect lack of airflow, I had mould in my spare bedroom last year and I've now moved the furniture so that the outside corner is opened up.

[ali-s]

 

we have had our stove on nearly every evening, not just because we like being toastie in the lounge but because of the ambience it gives.

 

I missed the glow from the stove in the Summer when we didn't need any heat in the living room. I placed 3 church pillar type candles in the stove and lit those in the evening.

[Chicken Licken]

Just 2 degrees here this morning - Brrrr. But I am refusing to put the heating on until October - until then it will just be extra jumpers and early nights uder the snuggly duvet!!!

[The Dogmother]

If you have logs, then I'd recommend a log grenade and a 7lb long-handled hammer; I've had hours of fun busting logs apart.

 

I've had lots of pallets, slow burning wood (seasoned first) from when my eucalyptus is lopped, old household joists and rafters. Also the lathes from old plaster and lath walls, which makes great kindling, as do old fence panels.

[Blackrocksrock]

Been laid up all day so have had to have electric convector heater on - its coming on and off and I am toasty = the oil boiler goes in next week I hope =- he put the pipe in today so its going to happen soon - we have had no heating since march - brrrr. Next year its a wood burner in the lounge - no chimney so need flue pipe to go up and out but it will happen and cannot wait.

[The Dogmother]

If you're able to burn coal in your area, may I suggest that you look into getting a multi-fuel burner? Mine is and I use just a tiny amount of stove nuggets, but they really help to keep the fire in and increase the heat output.

[Valkyrie]

I see someone has brought a sleeping bag downstairs to snuggle in the armchair - that would be DD!

[Jennifer Jane]

I won't put the heating on until October and luckily it has been quite mild here. I did get a bit cool last night and we tried to put the gas fire on - it would ignite but not stay lit . So had to wrap up instead. Will have to service it.

 

Where did the summer go? Two weeks ago I was sitting on a beach in Normandy!

[Charlottechicken]

CC, that might just have been due to lack of airflow behind the organ. Or does the organ have an airvent on the back? An output of warm air would also cause the same problem.

 

 

Charlottechicken, I was going to say exactly what Claret has said - is the parlour organ on an outside wall? I suspect lack of airflow, I had mould in my spare bedroom last year and I've now moved the furniture so that the outside corner is opened up

 

Thanks both, I suspect you are right. The organ is sort of on an outside wall, as that wall backs on to the side entry. I don't have many options of where to put the thing but it will be moving into the other reception room shortly. Maybe I should play it occasionally to get the air moving around the back? Funnily enough the understairs cupboard doesn't have any external walls so I assume everything went mouldy in there because of the cold, damp and non-circulating air.

 

Regarding wood chopping, I have a large amount of wood ready for my stove and have mostly sawn it by hand when I get it. That way it doesn't build up and become a real chore. I'm quite pleased as the stove I've chosen is wide and shallow, so will take logs approx 12" long. Just had the quote for all the work and stove and it is almost £2,400

[Olly]

That doesn't sound too bad - does that include lining the chimney? I think I was quoted more than that for installing my Charnwood two years ago, the chimney lining didn't go ahead so there was a discount, but there was a fair bit of structural work to widen the chimney breast.

 

It is still money well spent - one of the best investments I've ever made, I don't suppose I have recouped much on the heating bills but it gladdens my heart every time I light it!

[Charlottechicken]

Thanks for that Olly, I thought it was a bit steep so that's made me feel better. Yes it includes double walled chimney lining and infill, plus laying my quarry tiles and making up plaster, also possible lintel insertion etc and all associated stove parts. The stove I've chosen is not the cheapest either. There's not too many people round here who are qualified to do this sort of work and the person nearest to me happens to be one who travels nationally to do this sort of thing so he is probably not the cheapest.

 

I'm doing a bit of prep now, have to get the bricks exposed to see if I can have a natural brick back to the area round the stove.

[CatieB]

I think that price seems really reasonable for all you've just specified.

 

We are about to have our chimney replaced from our rayburn (there isn't an actual chimney - I mean the black thing that goes through the house, is it the flue sorry its been a hard week and the name escapes me) Anyway just for that there is a little change from £3000. We had two quotes and they were very similar.

 

Anyway it will be worth every penny to be able to get it on, and in the mean time I have given in and put my heating on today!

[batcatz]

My heating came on twice this week when the thermostat kicked in as it's set to come on below 20c. I didn't expect it to! Must be cold. Unfortunately, I was out both times and my cats were in the cat run so only the parrot got the benefit of it. As soon as I realised the heating was on I turned it off. I'm an extra jumper person, and a throw or quilt over me on the sofa, but it was lovely and cosy so it's very tempting to turn it on early.

 

I wait for as long as I can to put the heating on and only have it on for a couple of hours in the evening, and gradually increase it to come on more often as needed e.g as it gets darker earlier then the heating goes on earlier. Is it really better to have the heating on low all day? I would love that.

 

I really want a wood burning stove too.

[Charlottechicken]

Well, 20th of September and still no heating on! I don't think I've ever lasted this long into September with no heating. Had to concede and put the heater on in the bathroom for half an hour whilst I had a shower though, it stopped a lot of condensation too.

[ali-s]

Switched off the kitchen storage heater last night as it got slightly warmer over the weekend. The bathroom storage heater I left on and it was like a sauna in there this morning, far too warm so that one is off now, although it will be a couple of days before all the heat has gone.

 

I like to open the windows wide to left fresh in every day especially in the steamy bathroom but resent doing so when the storage heaters are on and pumping out heat, and once the heat is lost that is it until the next day.

 

Storage heaters are rubbish

[The Dogmother]

I had the stove lit a couple of evenings last week, but we're due a few days of warm weather this week - think 22-23deg!!! So I shan't need to do that again for a while.

[Aunty e]

What are stove nuggets? We have a multi fuel burner, and although our rather damp wood from last year is now burning beautifully (to the point where the stove is still warm ten hours after the fire went out and the cheap fireguard melted the other day!) we're getting through it rather quickly! I'm going to order a dumpy bag of logs when we've emptied out the wood shed, but I'm open to other ideas...

 

Waiting on some rotters to pay OH for the work he did in August, and until they do, I've had to put my scrimped and saved eBay money into our mortgage account and haven't been able to buy the new sofa so that we can move our living accomodation to the end of the room by the woodburner. Think that this will make it much warmer at night, but we're going to have to get a better fireguard to keep the Mogling away. We have a lindam playpen we never use, and I was thinking of buying the adapters to turn it into a huge fireguard by attaching it to the walls. Grateful for any other fireguard recommendations though!

[The Dogmother]

They are nuggets made up of compressed coal dust - they burn harder and hotter than regular house coal, are more expensive but last a heck of a lot longer. There are various brands and shapes around, but they are all much of a muchness price-wise. I only get 1-2 bags each winter and use it v sparingly. A couple of nuggets at a time will keep a fire in for ages.

 

Don't use house coal though - it's fine for slower, cooler burning open fires, but not for the intense heat in a stove... it just burns in seconds and leaves you with lots of clinker in the ash pan.