A topic purely about a new front door wouldn't really have many discussion points so we can discuss the energy crisis as well and what we think the new PM will do about it, beyond the existing help.

Regarding our new front door though... Our stone cottage was built in 1904 so it is far from energy efficient. It has been modernised with UPVC double glazing, UPVC rear door and loft insulation, but still lags behind new builds. More character and built like a tank though.

Anyway, it had a wooden front door which must have been at least 30 years old and was going rotten in places, probably due in part to poor maintenance by the previous owners. It was draughty, slightly warped at the bottom and clearly let lots of heat out, despite the thermal curtain we had.

Back in Feb, the storms made it worse and rain got in at the bottom which we mopped up as we have hard flooring. I decided to put an insurance claim in and they paid up quite quickly.

We now have a UPVC front door which is in a cottage style with a small diamond shaped frosted window and it's a lovely pastel green colour with a grey frame. So the big test is going to be will we notice a difference in heat loss this winter. The biggest tell will be how warm the room is on a cold morning. Used to be cold with the old door.

Anyone had any experience with going from an old school door to a modern one and felt a noticeable difference? LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Yes- my daughter had a mid-terrace in Skipton. We had a new front door and internal wall & loft insulation installed - it made a big difference to the warmth inside the house and reduced the heating bills.. The new door reduced the drafts considerably because the UPVC seal so much better.

FWIW we have an old property; some bits circa 1650, wooden frame & single brick. Its got external render all over, and much is in need of repair. So we have decide to have it thermally clad. Hopefully, it will be a bit warmer in the winter. Jules

One benefit of an older well built property is it is likely to be nice and cool in the hot weather, mine is
The other benefit from my perspective is a log burner which greatly reduces the use of electricity and oil (mine is oil central heating) and we tend to just use the log burner and only have the central heating on twice a day 4-6am and 4-6pm.
Have you kept your solid fuel capability?

^ that's a good point re the heat and was noticeable during the heatwave

Thanks for the input. Looking forward to noticing a difference this winter! Re solid fuels, one of the previous owners installed a gas fire at some point but I would have loved a log burner instead. My mum has one and they are immense. We just can't afford it at the moment.

One of the best things I got for SWMBO was a heated throw. They don't use much electricity but as she's always cold, it's great for her to hide under and keep warm without having to resort to blasting the heating out. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Like AT 1963 we also live in a cottage with solid Cotswold stone walls, oil central heating and a log burner. The later is a godsend in winter and as our son was gifted, by his late grandfather, 6 acres of woodland we get free wood. For those having to buy in seasoned wood they will be paying a premium this coming season. Heating oil peaked earlier this year to about £1.50/l but is now back to c£1.00/l. Not that long ago it was c£0.35/l. Tough times ahead for many but do you really need every room in the house toasty and what about wearing a jumper and thermal vest. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Good point about heating every room
I am fortunate with wood also and have approx 2 yrs stored.
Recently a local landowner sold me a felled ash tree for £100
Had to cut it, split it and remove it but looking forward to burning that

Not a front door for mine but a new roof.
My house/cottage is approximately 110 years old, previous owner had good quality UPVC doors and windows fitted but the roof was the original slate roof, with no internal lining of any description. The loft is fairly well insulated.

Earlier this year noticed the roof was leaking when i sent my son up there to check things and he fond the insulation was very wet in places.

New concrete/fibre slates put on with membrane as per modern methods and the difference between old & new is massive.... less noise, less draft, warmer, and obviously drier.

Even with just the membrane on mid changeover it felt warmer (of course this may have just been a placebo effect )

Downside is all the upstairs rooms now have horrendous ceiling cracks from where the rafters 'exhaled' and then 'inhaled' so they all need skimming

Do you put insulation under the floor.

I put in R3.1 (In Australia, Bradford 110mm Soundscreen), held it up with some 1.6 x 20 x 200mm custom aluminium (avoiding rust as we are metres from the sea) strips under the joists with 316 stainless steel screws.



No point having vacuum panels or Aerogel in the front door if other large surface areas are losing heat. Single glazing loses 6 watts per square metre per degree difference in temperature.


If you haven't done so, it may be worthwhile looking at reverse cycle air conditioning, very popular down under. If you don't get sub zero temperatures it works really well.

Look up Daikin airconditioning. Now that you will be getting summers hotter than the Simson Desert, you will be prepared year round.


Now let's not get onto windows, to put it mildly it is a total disaster down under. I have relatives in Germany who have changed all their double glazed windows for triple glazed windows.


I insulated our 1950s roof tiles without lifting off the roof tiles with building bubble wrap, more of a summer product than winter product (tip, vacuum the roof space thoroughly first, it is worth the effort).









Another thought, you could use heat pump hot water systems to store heat from solar & radiate that heat at night. I have relatives in Surrey who have installed a ground heat pump system. It works well but needs a bit more help when there is snow. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Not sure if heat pumps are the answer in UK they were borderline before the huge price increase, if you were on oil I suggest that runs the cheapest unless you have an unlimited supply of wood with the best wood burner boilers.
Regarding insulation, I found when residing in Scotland that insulating the external walls internally with plasterboard backed by 25 or 35mm Kingspan or similar plus if you can securing 100mm rockwool roof insulation using netting to the underfoor floor joists, I more than halved the flow to the radiators in those external rooms. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

We had our “new” house fitted with UPVC double glazing when we moved in as the original,bespoke wooden double glazing was rotten as a pear in virtually all window, an issue living close to the sea and facing Atlantic “breezes” in Winter like Bear Grylls would wince at

Point is the front door was a normal door and at the same time replaced it with a quite expensive insulated UPcV type and the difference is outstanding. Well,worth the bit extra on the bill. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......