Heating God

Late on a Winter’s evening, you decide to venture outside to the woodstore. In the corner, in the dark, your central heating oil supply gurgles and spits as the boiler runs. Following the torch beam, you stumble over the cat then bump against the tank to be greeted by a depressingly hollow ‘boom’. Brush away the dust from your last measured level and you find another 100 litres of fioul has magically evaporated - which is curious as your house still feels like an industrial fridge.

Other than a handful of newer properties, most houses in our corner of the Dordogne are stone built and, whilst great at keeping the Summer heat out, unmodernised they have all the thermal efficiency of a portaloo .

So insulation is the key – not least since the duty regime in France is less generous on heating oil than the UK. Starting in the attic, a 200mm depth of paper backed glassfibre roll will make a big difference. Unless you need the storage space, or are going to strip the roof and fit a membrane, better to put this on the floor than directly below the rafters, otherwise you’re heating the cubic volume of the loft as well. Even if you’d prefer to insulate the underside of the pitches, remember that most clay tiled roofs are designed to let their timber frames (usually a mixture of Poplar & Oak) breathe and, without the airflow, moisture can build up and ultimately lead to rot. Downstairs, consider sacrificing some of your exposed stonework too  –  pre insulated plasterboard inner walls needn’t cost the earth, will cut down on dust and let you lose the fleece that doubles up as a dog bed in Summer.

Ideally, you’d put some expanded foam sheet under the floor too, but if it’s old tiles on an earth base, then this is pretty effective anyway. And if it’s concrete, it’s likely to be steel reinforced and have electrical conduits running directly beneath. So as you can’t dig down, any insulation is going to cost you head room. Probably best to invest in some slippers instead.

And don’t be without a wood burning stove – a few (relatively inexpensive) cubic metres of aged Oak will see you through the cold nights, provide you with somewhere to file your EDF bills and give you something to look at when your Sky subscription gets too expensive. Best of all, you get a credit on your income tax bill for installing one as well.  So buy two.