Heating an attic bedroom

[Juju]

There are a few threads on the go about heating so rather than hijack them, I'll pose my problem here. We have a huge attic bedroom. It has a large fully functional radiator, carpet and secondary glazing on the windows but it is FREEZING. I've put some of that reflector foil behind the radiator (makes no discernible difference...) and we need to insulate the loft hatch and plug a few gaps under the skirting boards. I think probably the previous owner who renovated it didn't put sufficient insulation in but obviously now it's beautifully plastered, we can't change that. The dormer windows are a bit small for curtains but I guess thick lined curtains is another option.

Any other suggestions? (we've resorted to using a fan heater for extra warmth but I'm conscious of electricity usage and costs).

 

[Me!]

Does it also get baking hot in the summer? If so, then yes I agree it is lack of insulation, if not then I'd look for drafts.

 

[skier-hughes]

Won't insulating the hatch make matters worse? Assuming by loft hatch you mean the entry to the attic bedroom, rather than yet another hatch into another loft!!

 

[Juju]

Entry to the bedroom is up the stairs with a very ancient door at the bottom of the stairs. I've always assumed the house was built with this stair case/attic access. Yes, there is a loft hatch through to another loft which is above the back part of the house, probably a later (18th century!) extension. This loft hatch is at floor level in the side wall and then you crawl through and down (rather than up!) some rickety stairs into the loft (back part of the house is lower ground level than the front). The loft hatch is by the bed and a gale blows through it at times! So probably we are losing heat through it.

 

[chuckey]

This "loft hatch" ,door?, needs to be 100% insulated and its surrounding wall, which is the back of bedroom wall. This bedroom, has it got skeilings?, that is sloping sections of the ceiling that follow the roof line? Also you mention it has a dormer window, does this mean that it has vertical side wall that run between the skeiling and the floor, cos this needs to be insulated as well, along with the total surround of the dormer window. Shame it's decorated, sounds like a large amount of exploratory work is required just to find out what is insulated and what isn't.
Frank

 

[Juju]

Thanks Frank - yes as you can see from the photo (which shows one-third of the room - not a good photo as I was trying to avoid showing all the rubbish piled up ready to go in the loft!) we have lots of sloping ceilings etc. I think it's been insulated as I can see a thin layer above one of the dormer windows but it's probably inadequate. As you can imagine, it's too late to rip out plasterwork and start again unfortunately...