Warm feet and someone nice to sleep

It’s cold outside – very cold. This weekend I went for a walk over a nearby hill and got a little lost. It took me a long time to find my way back to where I’d parked the car, and I have to say that I felt frozen half to death! From the moment I realised I’d taken a wrong turning I was longing to find my way back to the car, drive home and take off my rather soggy walking boots. Wet feet - yuck!

Unfortunately, when I did finally make it home (which probably didn’t take half as long as it felt) my desire to curl up in front of the TV in a nice warm house was not going to happen. Despite having the heating turned all the way up as high as it would go, and despite the boiler doing its valiant best in a never-ending struggle against the plummeting temperatures outside, the house was *not* warm. In fact it was cold – very cold.

This came as something of a surprise. The heating was working; the windows were shut and sealed as best they could be. There was insulation in the loft – and on top of the insulation were piles of boxes filled with junk that I’d accumulated over the years (which had the added benefit of providing a second layer of insulation!) However, the temperature refused point blank to rise a degree above what, to me, felt like freezing.

Giving up on my plans of watching the latest films on Freeview, I walked determinedly to my local public house where I knew there would be a roaring fire. Of course, as I soon learnt, rather than spending the money on a rather over-priced beer with a fancy name, my discussions with some of the other locals caused me to learn that my money would have been better spent elsewhere.

The problem, I was told, is that although I’ve shut all the windows to prevent any draughts, installed double-glazing, insulated the loft to prevent heat from escaping through the roof – despite all this it was the *walls* that were letting me down.

You see, my home was built at a time when solid walls were the norm; there are no inner wall cavities to prevent the heat from escaping through the front, back, and side of my home! I’d stopped it from escaping through the ceiling – but it was seeping through the walls instead!

considered my options. The house had only recently been decorated. Well, okay, not *that* recently, but recently enough for me not to want to be redecorating again just yet. Besides, I had everything organised as I liked it, and I didn’t want any more expenditure. I wondered if I could get away with not-doing anything. Maybe I could manage by just keeping the heating up high and hoping the summer would come early? But would I be able to cope for the rest of the winter? Did I want to put up with this year after year?

Of course, there was one option that I didn’t know about. Why insulate the *inside* of the house when you could insulate on the *outside*? This negated the need to tear down the wallpaper, to redecorate, to live in the mess and chaos caused by any bit of home improvement. Easy!

learnt more about the process. Rather than dry lining the inside of my walls, which would cause mess and make it necessary for me to redecorate, external wall insulation involves fitting thermal insulation cladding to the outside of each wall. This has another advantage; the inside of each wall remains the same thickness, meaning my rooms don’t shrink when the walls are padded!

But there was temptation. Doing nothing sounded cheaper and easier. I could just put on an extra jumper, or snuggle up in the duvet. I was starting to come around to this way of thinking until I heard the rather erratic noises coming from the boiler and noticed the way it was starting to shake. Running flat-out every day, the thing looked like it may keel over and die any minute! At least if the house is insulated I can turn down the heating, extending the life of my equipment and reducing not only my heating bill and environmental impact, but also the expensive cost of replacing my boiler!

I think I may opt for the external insulation. At least then I’ll have warm feet and somewhere nice to sleep.