It makes no sense to waste energy on internal insulation as long as there is no proper heat distribution.
Fix the radiators under the windows, always at the coldest spot.Extensions for the plumbing are cheap, can be done on a DIY base.
Run the return pipes-if possible- behind the skirting boards all along the external walls.
Once you're bussy with plastering consider wall heating-of course at the external walls.
Close the holes like chimneys, vents.Make the structure airtight, insulate the attick as good as you can.
Ventilation can be done via the doors and windows as in the rest of continental Europe. Get a proper (combi-)condensing boiler.
The curtains mentioned do make sense. But these should not cover the radiators.
Many County Councils will offer energy advise, be it directly or by giving you contact numbers.
Check the yellow/golden pages for energy advisors/heating engineers. These should be able to give you independant and guaranteed advise and can be hired for supervising energy saving meassures done by yourself or thid parties.
There might be grants available as well.

It almost always makes sense to spend money on insulation and draught proofing. Any heat you then generate will be made better use of.

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Try logic , Julian, it mightn't be easy for you but it answers everything.
The colder the sourroundings of a body are(here:the radiator) the more thermal energy it will release. Therefore a radiator releases more thermal energy when placed under the windows, which is usually the coldest spot of a room. Plain logic, but not everyones ...
 
Or try it the other way around if this is too complex for you: what sense does thermal insulation make, why is it used at all....If a radiator was exposed to the same temperature as it's surface has already-would it release thermal energy?
Why not?
 
PS
Radiators do not produce energy, b.t.w..
 

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Thermal insulation makes sense in almost every case. It can be used to reduce significantly the heat loss of a room when combined with adequate draught proofing measures. It is something that can be done by the householder fairly easily depending on what materials are used. An obvious way is to fix battens vertically and place insulation (rigid or wool-type) between. Rigid insulation placed over the battens will give better performance than insualtion between. Plasterboard and Fermacell (gypsum and cellulose fibre boards) are bother available laminated to insulation (PUR and polystyrene for plasterboard and aerogel for Fermacel) and can be fixed directly to the wall without battens. If you search on Green Building Forum there is a good deal of information about techniques, vapour barriers and use of plastic fixings to reduce thermal bridging.

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One good reason to have radiators under windows is that windows, especially if single glazed, will generate a descending current of colder and therefore denser air. This will tend to accumulate in a layer across the floor, giving you cold feet. Radiators on an internal wall do the opposite - produce a hot layer at ceiling level.
 
Radiators under windows disrupt the cold downflow, and provide a less stratified, more comfortable even temperature.
 
I don't know enough about internal insulation to offer advice, other than that I know to be careful to avoid situations that cause condensation. Like you I have some heat-leaky walls, so I'll benefit too if you get some good sensible help here.

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Insulating the walls will conserve the heat that is put into the room. And thought needs to be given to preventing moisture vapour travelling through the lining and condensing on the cold side of it. I have used internal insulation where external was not possible / practicable and it is very effective. Some recent discussion of this topic over on GBF http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum114/comments.php?DiscussionID=5090&page=1#Item_0
 

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Concrete is a poor insulator so it is definitely worth adding some insulation. I suggest adding sufficient to bring the wall up to current building standards. I think the vapour barrier is worth considering, but put it some distance behind the surface out of reach of picture-hook nails.
Heinbloed says that the rad will release more heat if it is in a cold zone; this is true but not significant or relevant. Once the insulation is improved, you will be turning the radiator down. I would leave the rad where it is, then the heat going through the wall will be usefull in the adjacent room. If your room still has cold spots after the insulation is done, then a further upgrade to the window may be in order.

Internal insulation is a specialists job.
Condensation will be caused at cold spots, for example under floors and over ceilings where no insulation/vapour tight membrane can be placed. Water vapour will move through the timber joists, hitting the cold wall it'll condense. If these walls are wrapped in non-breathable materials it will acumulate, causing rot. This is inevitable. And this will usually happen with DIY projects.
 
There is now a legal demand to do a " dynamic dew point calculation ", an EU legislation worked out in the UK.
Check the www. for "wufi", the calculation tool.
Too much demage had been done to buildings and to people's health by incompetent insulation installers. The EU had to act on it since national Mafia structures (the building industry!) didn't allow for a change.
And the building industry is strong in GB, giving jobs to millions of illiterates. So don't wait until the state has changed it's building regulations, follow logic.
 
One material which insulates AND is 'breathable' as well is calcium silicate. These are boards, relativly new and propably expensive. Do not get the idea to overpaint it or to glue wall paper over it.
It is used in historic clay-brick buildings, for example in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, another damp building built on water.
Check the www. for more infos.

Kate, it is relatively easy to fix a vapour barrier to a wall. Insulated plasterboard has a vapour barrier of its own. Generally I wouldn't use a vapour open (or breathable) as in the case of your type of construction the movement of water vapour through the wall is not desirable. On plasterboard, skimmed finishes such as clay and lime plasters can be applied. These 'buffer' high levels of moisture vapour, releasing the moisture gradually as humidity in the room falls. Lime also has an antiseptic effect, reducing mould growth.

"It makes no sense to waste energy on internal insulation as long as there is no proper heat distribution."
What are you going on about heinbloed ?
Well installed insulation will reduce heatloss and save energy, making what seems like a inaffective heating system more effective , the heating system is inaffective because it cant keep up with the heatloss of the build fabric ,
as markathelpston suggests poor system design also plays a part, but I'd have thought this was a lower priority in the case above.
Like you say it make some sense to put a radiator in the coldest spot in the room , but it makes more sense to reduce the work done by that radiator
Jim
more talk here regarding the best place to site a rad. .from a while back
http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum114/comments.php?DiscussionID=924&page=1#Item_0

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@jamesingram:
Maybe you should read the OP's post again:
 
"The walls have a cavity which is insulated but the walls still feel very cold (internal as well as external) and the house feels quite cold.
The houses that are still council have got external insulation but it's too expensive for us to get done privately. "
and then we apply logic....
 
First: the walls feel cold.
That means they won't get warmer when insulated internally. Just the oposite, they will get even colder. And this causes condensation, inevitable when working on a small budget and not being able to do a proper job.
 
Second: The other houses where insulated EXTERNALLY. For a very good reason tax payer's money was spend on a more efficient but initially more expensive job. To save the structure by avoiding condensation. And to save the CC the health board bills if the inhabitants get sick.
And of course to save money on the fuel bills.
 
Plain logic.
 
But one has to be used to read between the lines. Not every information necessary to evaluate a problem is served with the golden spoon from a silver plate. So we use logic to understand each other, when reading short texts...
 
To get these walls as well as the rooms warm one can simply move the radiators to their logic position. To the coldest spot, under the windows. As it is common standard in most civilised societies where radiators are installed.
 
Imagine you where offered a car where the radiator (for cooling the engine) was not fixed to the front but to the roof or somewhere else....
Just employ logic, that's all energy managment needs to be efficient.

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heinbloed , Yes I agree external insulation is the best option when possible but
 
Do you think internal insulation properly installed in this case will have no effect in ,
A. improving the thermal comfort
B. reducing the heatload and energy consumption of the property
draught proofing and increased loft insulation (350mm+)may be easy way to improve the thermal comfort and more effective
 
It seems you are against internal insulation in all cases ?
 
What do you think of the 'logic' of this post from the link above
"I would consider positioning a a radiator on an internal wall [though not a party wall between properties] Why? because placing radiators on external walls increases the localised temperature diffential to the outside thereby increasing heat losses. Alternatively, placing radiators on internal walls allows the heat energy to be absorbed into the mass of the wall itself [for those of us who advocate the concept of themal mass] " Mike George
Is energy management and energy conservation the same thing?
cheers Jim

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Yes, jamesingram, the only energy we can save is the energy not used.
The OP did not mention that it is impossible to pay for the fuel to get the radiators warm.
But she said that the radiator does not heat the room properly, that the outside wall is cold.
Therefore the logic answer to place the radiator ( which is being used anyhow) to it's most efficient position.
 
There is no budget available for external insulation. The budget for a pipe extension using maybe 20m pipe and a few fittings can be covered with 50 pounds. This wouldn't buy and install and finish 1 m2 of internal insulation....
So the cheapest (most energy conscious !) solution is the correct placement of the already existing radiator.
 
The OP has already said that the external wall is of the cavity type and that it is insulated within the cavity.
Therefore the wall itself can be used as a warm wall, storing and releasing thermal energy.
It does not get warm at the moment because it doesn't receive warmth. Because it is not exposed to a heat source.
Therefore it is cold, it accumulates moisture. Damp walls are feeling colder then dry walls.
With the radiator placed there several problems can be solved: the wall gets warmer, the wall gets drier, the heat emitted from the radiator will be better distributed.
 
And no, for the energy bill it makes no difference if some extra thermal energy is lost through the wall or more fuel energy is consumed
by running the boiler on a higher flow temperature.
The energetic balance is the same.
But the room is warmer, feels more comfortable.
 
One can still include a reflecting surface behind the radiator. At costs of 5-10 pounds extra.
 
Since energy saving is strictly the same as money saving I recommended the only straight forward step - a cheap solution to a small problem.
 
There is a logic reason why competent builders install radiators under the windows at outside walls.
And there is a reason why incompetent builders install radiators in the most unsuitable places....
 
To do a proper job on internal insulation means to renovate the entire building, incl. the spaces which are hard to access, between partition walls, under floors, over ceilings.
This needs to be done on a proper analysis, a dynamic moisture movement calculation (like "wufi" for example)is the only guarantee to get a proper plan/design to start with.
Anything else is like a journey without a map. Very likely a lot of energy (capital!) will be wasted getting nowhere.
Since neither the capital for the map nor for the vehicle seems be available to the OP, just for the fuel, I recommended the only logic solution.

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heinbloed
what do you think of the piece meal approach to IWI ?
Doing one room at a time,as and when budget allows or as you decorate, upgrade each room .
Were solid internal walls meet external walls will always be
tricky problem areas to solve with IWI
 
cheers Jim

@ jamesingram:
 
Internal insulation needs to be done on a professional scale.
Be it the intellectual or the financial input.
Too much demage is done when working in bits and pieces, too much capital is wasted.
We can figure out now relative precisely when the first condensation will appear when using wufi or some other dynamic calculation tool.
And equipped with this knowledge no one goes for an amateur aproach of insulating anymore. Be it inside or outside insulation.
The capital would be wasted,the burden increased.
Get the map first and then decide what route you take.

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The reality in Britain, as evidenced by the many threads on the subject here and on Green Building Forum, is that more and more people are tackling the internal insulation of their homes, carefully and thoughfully and with due consideration of issues such as condensation. As you say James, where external wall insulation is not appropriate internal wall insualtion can be carried out room by room as and when the budget allows it. This means that people with limited financial means can take steps (along with draughtproofing etc) to make a real difference.

Hi,
Just to clarify, all of my walls feel cold and that includes the ones that the radiators are on.
I think that I'm going to be best just getting some thick curtains to keep more of the heat in, internal insulation seems to bring too much risk of condensation.
I think having radiators under windows causes problems too as a lot of the heat must heat the window sill instead of the room (also I don't like the look of short curtains tucked behind a radiator!)
 
I only have my heating on at 17C too so maybe this isn't warm enough to make a difference to the walls as I imagine they would take quite a lot of energy to warm them up.

Not much that you touch will feel warm until it is above body temperature 37C so touching is not a good test.

It's worth bearing in mind that a certain level of loft insulation (and cavity wall insulation, if you have cavities) is often a prerequisite when it come to getting a grant towards the cost of a renewable energy technology such as Solar Thermal.
 
There is some information on grants on the Solar UK website:
http://www.solaruk.com/grants.asp