Saving energy: turning heaters off in unused rooms…

I keep the heating on low in unused rooms. Fortunately we also have a dehumidifier fitted in the ceiling of the landing which runs constantly on very low.

Our housing manager told us to open the windows for a 10 mins or so every day and to have the heating on for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. If you can afford to then keep the heating on low for longer.

You'll have to treat the walls though. We got this from Amazon.
www.amazon.co.uk/HG-Mould-Remover-Foam-Spray/dp/B01CRBEUVO/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=hg+mould+remover+spray%2C+effective+mould+spray&tag=gransnetforum-21&qid=1698079644&sr=8-6

You spray it on. Leave it for half an hour then wipe over with clean water. It's quick and easy.

Thankfully the walls are ok. It’s just the furniture and the wooden windows ( the putty in the windows is old and is always mouldy). The dresser is very old and the wood inside is very rough and unfinished. It was the first piece of furniture we bought when we got married. However even the piano has mould on it and that has a gloss finish. It’s obviously all down to lack of ventilation. I think my new front door hasn’t helped because before that the hallway was draughty. Can’t win! I’ve washed everything with bleach.

You can dig out the old putty and replace it quite easily. This will also tighten up any gaps between the glass and the frames, adding to the warmth of your house a bit!
Worth doing, and cheaper than replacing old for new windows!

I only have a small house and I have the heating on for 1 hour on the the mornings. I can boost it in the living room during the day if I need to. I live in north east Scotland. It's on in the evening for 3 hours.

Whoever suggested turning heating OFF to save money?

I do realise that British energy prices are indecently high and that proper heating is probably beyond people who are not in the absolute uppermost income bracket, but really!

If your heating suppliers or energy companies suggested this, they need their heads examined.

Everyone should know that not heating rooms leads to mould, dry rot and wet rot and if you get any of these it will cost you far more to get rid of it again than keeping all rooms at the lowest constant heat you can afford and airing them properly every day would have done.

Well, it was summer so I did assume I wouldn’t need any heating on anyway!

Lived in an ancient little house built directly on clay for 40 years. The only time I felt well was when we went camping.

Dehumidifier helped quite a lot, but oh, those spores!

You might need to go right back to basics, with a serious DPM at base and some way up the walls. Then maybe do the decontamination thing.

It depends, really, on how much you love your home. I know I loved mine, especially my garden, but I had to leave eventually or die.

I am frugal with the oil fired central heating and hate heating in bedrooms (bedroom windows always open slightly even here in the chilly north). When I do switch the heating in (probably in next week or so) it will only be on for an hour in the morning in hall, shower room, large kitchen and utility room and for an hour late afternoon in the hall, bathroom, large sitting room and utility room. Woodburner which is huge will be lit in the sitting room in the evening. Windows all opened for 30 min each morning. Simply couldn't afford to have the central heating in any more than that but will see how it goes as have only recently moved to this house and know the very dated utility room is damp and needs gutted. Although it has been freezing here recently I am fine as I wear lots of layers and snuggle up with heated fleecy throw in the evening. However if any mould appears the heating will be going on as couldn't put up with living in a house with mould. Getting utility room revamp as soon as possible.

My heating is on all the time - I turn the thermostat down when I go up to bed at night and turn them back on in the morning - I have lung problems. I’d rather cut back on something else , like new clothes and shoes.

I dry my washing in our small bedroom when the weather is poor. We have a dehumidifier running 24/7 on the landing. Yesterday it needed emptying twice. They are definately a good buy

I think, in retrospect, that the problem was caused, not by turning the heating off in certain rooms but the fact I keep the curtains closed and there is no ventilation. Other people in my family have filled in the air vents in their windows but, in the two windows I’ve had replaced I’m keeping the vents open. And I’m going to replace more windows asap although it will be difficult at the back of the house because the wasps are still very actively coming and going through the wall, especially round the windows!

There’s a reason abandoned houses decay and fall apart. It’s lack of heat, causing damp which rots everything. It’s all very well economising and only heating one room but it’s so bad for the house.

We have put those long, thin tubular heaters on our north facing walls in the bedrooms that aren’t used much. They are fairly economical to run and seem to do the job.

Lots of people might have suggested keeping heating off in unused rooms and the door shut but Martin Lewis has mentioned it more than once. Silly idea.

We have a ventilation system. It draws the stale air, plus the warm steamy air from kitchen and bathroom. Goes through a heat exchanger and warms the air being taken into the house. We have taken up the floor boards downstairs and filled the open space with insulation. 40 cm in the deepest, down to 30 cm in the other rooms. No need for air bricks and no more frozen feet. Also put 10cm insulation boards on the walls. Took out radiators and light the logburner at teatime. Best thing we have ever done. No more condensation, no damp patches and definitely no mould. It's taken best part of the year to do it all but we are now reaping the rewards and enjoying being warm.

Sarahr
Our bungalow had been empty for some time when we bought it. Bare floorboards throughout so that was easy to insulate.
Recycled wool under wool carpet. We put 4” of insulation down the complete length of the exposed wall ( semi detached) you can actually feel heat coming off the insulated walls.
Our heating is never turned off. It is set to 21. It switched on at 06.30 this morning for about half an hour and hasn’t been on since.

Back to basics, sorry if teaching granny to suck eggs.

Mould grows best when there is cold and damp, remove one of those factors and mould will not grow.

Houses could have damp from several potential causes eg damp penetration through walls from wall ties, across bridges into internal walls, cavity foam insulation, single skin brick, imperfect damp courses and so on. Sealed houses could well be a source of damp as in drying washing inside, steam from cooking, breathing from animals and people. If there is mould then search for the damp and where it comes from. Houses are meant to breathe and some paints act to seal walls so they cannot breathe

Warm air holds more moisture, cold air releases moisture which condenses onto cold surfaces offering ideal conditions to mould spores

As a basis, a dehumidifier will help a lot but warmth is what is needed as well as keeping damp out

A timely reminder. The dresser with the damp had mould years ago because I’d placed things directly against the outside wall next to it which I then moved which seemed to solve the problem.However today I read this and pondered on the fact that the dehumidifier in the living room was extracting loads of water. When I checked the outside wall next to the dresser it was very damp so I need to get to the bottom of what’s causing it. When we first moved into this house fifty years ago we had a terrible mould problem and it was caused by non breathable vinyl wallpaper that was popular back then.

Pippa22

Lots of people might have suggested keeping heating off in unused rooms and the door shut but Martin Lewis has mentioned it more than once. Silly idea.

Just watching the Martin Lewis show now, and once again , he is advising turning the heating off in unused rooms.

🤷‍♀️

I think it’s a false economy to completely switch off the heating in unused rooms - they’ll get cold and damp. A low, steady temperature will be best. The cost of repairing rooms ruined by damp will be far higher than having heating set to come on when a certain low temp is reached , I think. I suppose if you have a big house, it’s more of a worry trying to keep it warm than if your house is smaller, but nevertheless, permanently unheated rooms will suffer damp issues over time.

I forgot to add, that ventilation is important, too.

Ziplok

I forgot to add, that ventilation is important, too.

Yes. I had an old chest of drawers that I bought at the same time as the dresser. They both had a woodworm problem at first and then a mold problem. But the chest of drawers has been moved into my porch which is far more damp than the living room where the dresser is but hasn't gone moldy because the porch is very draughty. I checked it today just to be on the safe side and it's fine. I was planning to move it back into the house but I'll keep it where it is.

@MayBe70
The damp in our walls was caused by rubble bridging the narrow cavities. What made it worse was having cavity wall insulaion put in the walls - all the banging and spraying dislodged more rubble which made more bridges and we had damp in all the walls in the old part of our house. We've had the insulation taken out (the company went bust) but still have odd patches of damp!