General Works

October 2021 - April 2022 was the first cricket off-season of living back in Scotland. There were a number of things we needed to do to make our new home more comfortable for living in and less costly to run. Heating for the winter, stopping running water coming down the chimney in the lounge, resolving the damp under the kitchen floor, patching a hole in the exterior wall of the kitchen, clearing the driveway and garden to get off-street parking for all our vehicles, insulation under all the floors downstairs, painting the exterior white again and replacing three very old Velux windows were just some of these general works that were required. We also had the electricity meter changed away from Economy 10 to a smart meter so that we could use electricity during the day without it costing a fortune. 

Insulation

Before building work started Ray had insulated under the flooring as much as possible. I cut the lengths and Ray flew up and down under the floor on one of those carjack trolley things that someone let him have, stapling the strips to the underside of the floorboards. That made it a bit cheaper for the following winter.

When building started we found that the insulation was appallingly thin and it was no wonder we had been freezing. During the winter we moved to a downstairs bedroom (Bed 3, now a Dining Room) as it was SO cold upstairs. We put a big curtain up at the top of the stairs and didn't bother trying to heat up there at all. The wind whistled through from one side to the other through the eaves and the eaves cupboards too so not good at all.

As Sandy progressed through the house he put insulation in. So much insulation came into the house. He couldn't use the best, Kingspan, on old walls as the measurements changed in the 70's when we went metric and the previous wall spacings are not big enough to take the rigid Kingspan insulation blocks without putting false batons throughout, which would have meant rebuilding the house in effect. We decided to go with the second best insulation which could be 'stuffed' into the available space and still is FAR better than what was there previously. 

Where Sandy was building new walls and ceilings though he did use Kingspan so the new utility room and kitchen extension and very well insulated.

Infrared Film Underfloor Heating

There has never been any central heating in this home and so there are no radiators. The previous owners had an open coal fire (and a waterfall of a chimney) and a few storage heaters, one of which exploded on me! We were looking at heating solutions that would be practical for where we live. We are many miles away from a gas supply and that, along with oil, is being phased out in Scotland. We only have electricity unless we want to spend over £10k to have a woodburner put in to heat one room, and even those the Scottish Government is trying to kill off. An Air Source Heat Pump would not work for us as our home is not sufficiently insulated, nor ever could be, to the standard required to make those work for us. I did some research and we decided to use Infrared instead and hopefully the insulation will help drop our annual £3k electricity bill down. 

We tried out some infrared panels initially in the lounge. We had been using 3 ceramic heaters at 2000w each just to keep the room warm enough for us to sit in. The lounge is 10m long by nearly 4m wide so it had taken a fair bit to heat. The first winter we were paying out over £600 a month for electricity and we were only using the one room during the day and one room at night. Once we installed 3 infrared panels on the ceiling at 700w each they kept us warm for a third of the price. We then plugged a panel into the hallway and a small one in the kitchen. The bathroom was still freezing and the towels would never get dry. It was a delight when Sandy came and renovated one bathroom (ensuite 3) for us in Nov 2023 before the major renovation started in August 2024. We then had underfloor heating and a hot towel rail - woohoo!

When we looked at what we could do for the long term solution we agreed on infrared foil rather than panels. Infrared foil is a new sustainable solution that is like a thin plastic sheeting. I had intended that we would put it between the ceiling rafters as we had a solid wood floor that would become warped with the heat but in the end we have put it across the solid wood floor and installed new flooring throughout the downstairs. This was done for several reasons but essentially the solid wood floor could not be matched for where the fireplace had been taken out and the lounge being extended into the dining room. The foil could have been put into the walls or the ceiling but the floor made it easier to install, the labour costs came down and paid for the flooring to go over it. 

Sandy and the electrician, Robert, had never come across infrared foil before and were slightly nervous about the task. I provided You Tube videos showing how to install it and made sure I was also available for questions. I also redesigned the layout provided by the supplier to make it easier to fit and use less product. Sandy and Robert worked to these drawings and in they found it was really easy and flexible to jigger with and install. 

We are still getting used to getting the rooms the right temperature for living day to day. It is easy to ramp up or lower down, using an App, and we are keeping the whole house warm, including several bathrooms, for less than we were paying that first year.