Draught proofing

[mrsmastiffs]

Hello all, hope you had a lovely xmas. Can anyone help advise please. I have a c.15th century timber framed thatched property with later additions. The original part of the house is just haemorraghing heat :evil: You can feel the draughts not only coming in at the side of the beams but through the beams as well - is there anything we can do ? It is costing us an absolute fortune in heating oil in an attempt to heat the garden :x as indoors it is pretty cold no matter how m uch we turn the rads up

 

[biffvernon]

Basically, you have to aim at building a tent within the house using draught-proof but not water-vapour impermeable materials.

Is it the thatched roof that is particularly leaky? And the ceiling has exposed beams (that you want to keep exposed) and plaster in between, but with draughty cracks where the plaster meets the timber?

 

[mrsmastiffs]

Thank you for your reply. The walls and ceilings are heavily beamed and yes it is between the plaster/beams where there are cracks that the draughts are most noticeable, but also in some cases through the beams themselves. The thatch itself is extremely thick (one of the thickest a local thatcher has ever seen :? ) and doesn't seem to be a problem. We do want to keep the beams, indeed we have to as the property is grade 2 listed. On the outside, the property is weatherboarded and we had hoped that that would keep the draughts down but sadly it isn't. How do we go about "building a tent indoors " please ?

 

[biffvernon]

Tricky - if you want to keep looking at the beams. There's a thatched cottage near me that has just this same problem and they haven't really solved it. More plaster, sand/linseed oil mastic round the beam edges as this sticks to wood better than lime plaster. Maybe stuff it into holes in the timber as well - use a candle flame to detect where the draughts are coming from.

 

[mrsmastiffs]

Thanks, we were actually going out to buy mastic tomorrow. It would seem every beam is "leaking" so will need loads. It would be easier to just plaster board over the lot but don't think we could do that as the whole house is heavily beamed, even the newer parts

 

[thiambal]

Just to emphasise the post said linseed oil mastic rather than the decorators stuff.

I used some 18 months ago following posts on here. Mixing silver sand with boiled linseed oil. I put the sand in the oven for half an hour first to make sure it was completly dry and then mixed in enough linseed oils to make it applyable (not sure how else to describe it but you will know if it too dry or too wet.)

I used it to fill gaps between brickwork and timber windows. Marvelous stuff, takes forever to dry hard so patience is the key, but does not crack, shrink or dry out. Also dirt cheap to make yourself from cheap materials.

I commend the idea to the house!!