In article , Hywel Jenkins writes
Although we have central heating that merrily heats other rooms to an
>uncomfortably warm temperature, we can never seem to get the living room
>warm. The radiator is 20% beyond the capacity for the room, but seems
>to be losing the battle. I dont want to add another radiator as there'd
>be pipework all over the place.
>
>My cunning plan is the take up the carpet and lay some sort of
>insulation on top of the chipboard floor. As it's a suspended floor
>with a two-foot gap I could probably fix Rockwool between the joists. >
>Laying insulation under the floor is, I imagine, a fairly big job (and
>there may be spiders under there), so what options do I have? Anyone
>with an experience to share? How effective is it likely to be? The
>room has a fireplace (which we like to use occasionally) and a bay
>window (original sash), heavy curtains and a well draught-proofed door. >
As one who has already done this, it is a huge ball ache, but for me worth it. I was unsure of the gain until I walked barefoot across the hall and noticed a really cold patch; it was where the trapdoor was and I had yet to insulate it.
That said, try this first:
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you're likely to be losing a lot through that window you have half open all the time, sorry meant to say chimney ;-)
Also check for gaps/draughts between floor & skirting. All my carpeted floors have hardboard laid under the carpet (rough side up) with joints sealed by gaffa tape. Hardboard is sealed as it joins the skirting too, as are any gaps.
I used 150mm fibreglass for the floor insulation supported by a hardboard subfloor between the joists. Details are in a previous post, try googling.
For similar construction methods, floor heatloss is reckoned to be about
50% less per degree temp diff than ceiling heatloss, but the underfloor is likely to be a lot colder . . .
HTH