what to buy..stone built or modern ?

[Toddy]

Why not ?

Ours is literally fitted into a bedroom cupboard with an outside vent through the wall of the house.....the entire street is like that, though some folks fitted it into the pantry in the kitchen intead. The older houses round the road just run the vent pipe up the old chimney stacks and many fitted the boiler into the old fireplace, hiding it behind modern electric or gas fires. Ours used to take up most of the hall cupboard and the flue pipe neatly heated my linen cupboard on the upstairs landing and the loft too.
I wish I'd nagged more when the gas board fitted the new system, but we were changing from hot air to radiators and I just let them get on with it. I think the older flue system was better organised to use the waste heat.
We live and learn.

M

 

[santaman2000]

Not many homes over hear have or need air conditioning, Hot weather isn't that much of a problem in the UK......

Fair enough that you don't use AC. However, the energy efficient rating still depends on the design I referenced. In either case, the point is to prevent heat transfer, Whether you're trying to prevent it from coming into the house in Summer, or from leaving the house in Winter, the principles are the same. To be perfectly honest, a house here (even a modern one) with a fireplace would be difficult to get and energy efficient rating due to the chimney, even if not used. Mind you, I said difficult, not impossible.

Like most here, I dearly miss windows, fireplaces, and other amenities from days gone by. I miss the weekends we used to spend freezing in my grandmother's farmhouse when I was kid (or broiling in the Summer) Timber framed, corrugated metal roof, no insulation, the only heat was a single fireplace in the living room, and AC wasn't added until a small window unit cooled her bedroom in the 1970s. The bathroom was only added in the early 1960 and was added onto the back porch. That said, I was still a kid and very resilient.

 

[santaman2000]

Why not ?

Ours is literally fitted into a bedroom cupboard with an outside vent through the wall of the house.....the entire street is like that, though some folks fitted it into the pantry in the kitchen intead. The older houses round the road just run the vent pipe up the old chimney stacks and many fitted the boiler into the old fireplace, hiding it behind modern electric or gas fires. Ours used to take up most of the hall cupboard and the flue pipe neatly heated my linen cupboard on the upstairs landing and the loft too.
I wish I'd nagged more when the gas board fitted the new system, but we were changing from hot air to radiators and I just let them get on with it. I think the older flue system was better organised to use the waste heat.
We live and learn.

M

I really don't have an answer as to why. Sorry.

 

[santaman2000]

A quick call to the gas company reveals that they are allowed indoors now. Unfortunately I still don't know why they weren't allowed earlier. The price hasn't gone down either

 

[santaman2000]

Rather than hijack this thread further, I'm going to start a new one on what any of us might want in a new house if any of us might were we to build now.

 

[robin wood]

I spent 20 years living in cute National Trust cottages, chocolate box pretty and I loved them all. I heated with wood on a rayburn, which was the heart and soul of the home. If I went away for the weekend it was cold and damp when I came home and took three days to properly heat through. I burned a wheelbarrow of logs every day just to keep it acceptable jumper wearing temperature. Whilst we had fantastic views you could only see them from outside because the pretty little windows always ran with condensation. Now I live in 1970s stone cavity wall house with double glazing, I can choose how much ventilation I want but the insulation means that with half a barrow of logs a day I an T shirt warm, in fact much of the year I don't even bother lighting the stove the place just doesn't get cold and it never gets damp either. It's not as pretty but I spend more time looking out the windows than looking in at them. If I had to choose again now I would be hard pressed old and cute has it's place as does modern, warm with big windows, the latter is certainly far cheaper to run if that is an issue.

 

[cranmere]

A double garage is a big plus point. We currently live in an old stone built place and whilst it's got character it has all of hte usual problems of old houses, and has no extra space.