Can You Make an Old House Comfortable without Ruining its Character?

Can You Make an Old House Comfortable without Ruining its Character? Which is honestly a fair question, because a lot of people already know that older houses have this issue of being cold houses the second that autumn kicks in. Now, when it comes to a good chunk of people buying houses, usually, they just fall in love with the personality first, and get to the whole inconvenient aspect, like freezing rooms, later on. Those old ornate doors, patterned tile flooring, stained glass windows that throw colored light everywhere, original hardwood that creaks in a nice way, even the layout with bay windows and odd little alcoves, all of it feels special. 

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It’s perfect, like you literally can’t get most of this stuff nowadays, well, most at least. Again, most people buy due to the character, especially since cookie-cutter homes nowadays just lack these gorgeous aspects. So yeah, nobody really wants to strip that back just to be warm. The whole point is that it’s not a plain box. The trick’s getting actual comfort without turning the place into something that could be anywhere. 

So, can you keep the character while actually making this place liveable?

Why Do Old Houses Tend to Feel So Cold?

Which, honestly, is a really fair question here too. So, for starters, historic homes were built for different heating habits and very different expectations. Like high ceilings, big single-pane windows, uninsulated walls, open staircases, and chimneys all made sense at one point. Honestly, just describing them sounds so pretty, too, right?

But now they mostly mean heat escapes faster than the radiators can keep up. Again, things were just different. But even houses with insulation, well, it could be thinned out, and you could very well need a home insulation company to come in and replace the old insulation (if there’s any there in the first place).

It’s All About Keeping the Best Bits and Fixing the Rest

The fear’s always the same. Basically, touch anything, and it’ll “ruin the character.” That’s fair, because a lot of quick fixes really are brutal. Nope, think about it, things like ripping out hardwood to throw in basic laminate, replacing stained glass with standard double glazing, chopping off decorative plaster so insulation can go in from the inside, all of that hurts. Again, it’s entirely understandable.

Instead, look into the roof spaces, exterior walls, crawlspaces, and basements since these all actually have a bigger impact compared to replacing a door or a stained glass window, for example. But even if the stained glass windows are culprits, there are usually weatherproofing things you can do, like sealing gaps and just using thick thermal curtains in the winter. 

Choosing Upgrades that Keep the Character Intact

So, it helps to think “supporting act,” not “main event.” For example, you could consider secondary glazing on stained glass, for example can sit on the inside and protect the original window without changing the way the house looks from the street. As you already know, heavy curtains were already mentioned above. For creaky floors, you could look into rugs, lots of rugs (you can’t go wrong with an ornate Turkish vintage rug either). 

This is a contributed post.

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