The chilly nights will soon be upon us and the household thermostat wars will undoubtedly commence! As we naturally start to consider turning the heating on to keep us snug over the winter months, you may be looking for ways to conserve as much heat in your home as possible to save cranking the dial up so much that your energy bills become too hot for your purse strings to handle.
If you own a listed property, you may think that making your home more energy efficient is near on impossible, but in this blog we explore some ways that we can help improve the energy efficiency of your listed home sympathetically, without compromising its historic character.
Double glaze your windows and doors
As a listed property owner you may be thinking that approval to double glaze your property will likely be rejected by planning officers, but modernising a traditionally-built house is easier now than you might think. Historically, requests for replacement windows and doors with double-glazing have typically been dismissed due to their inability to preserve the character of a building as much as possible, leaving owners of listed buildings with no option but to put on extra jumpers when it’s cold and rely on chopping logs all day to keep themselves warm!
Thankfully, the Wandsworth Sash Windows team are approved installers of a new kind of glass technology that not only boasts an ultra slim profile that can easily be retrofitted into all timber windows and doors (so the original historical frames are maintained), it will also save time going through the lengthy application process – no planning approval is needed.
With the width of single glazing but the warmth of triple glazing our new glass technology for listed properties is well worth considering.
Draught proofing your sash windows
Draughts in your home are an uncomfortable business and are generally caused by unwanted gaps in windows, doors with letter boxes or keyholes, loft hatches and other accidental gaps found around the house. Draughts are commonly found in historic/older properties which have sash windows and draught proofing them will ensure that less heat escapes and little to no cold air comes in. Although it isn’t always possible to draught proof all sash windows, it is worth seeking advice on whether this procedure can be carried out at your property; it will not only rid you of cold draughts, it can save you money on your annual energy bills too. Eliminating the possibility of hot air escaping from your home, means you can turn down your thermostat and reduce your heating temperature – saving you money. Imagine if every household in the UK carried out this procedure on their home, the UK would save millions of pounds – enough to heat thousands and thousands of homes.
Typically, about 25% of heat is lost from windows and draughts so double glazing and draught-proofing can make an enormous difference to the energy efficiency of your property, and therefore, your general standard of living.
If you are one of Britain’s 400,000 listed building owners, you will be aware that keeping your home in a good state of repair is vital in maintaining or even improving the heritage value of your home, and more importantly, preserving the character that you fell in love with in the first place. If we can help you in your efforts to repair, or conserve energy in your home this winter, please don’t hesitate to give us a call 020 3993 3217.
