Home and comfort – why it matters to me

I wonder sometimes: why am I so passionate about warm, comfortable homes. It’s so very far away from the Leadership coaching and facilitation that was my ‘proper’ job for so many years.

I grew up cold

When I look back at my life, I see that every home I lived in was cold. And I think that could be true for most people. In fact, I think we might expect cold homes in the UK! It’s just become the norm, so we’ve learned to live with it.

I grew up in the 50’s when the only heat source in the home was the open fire in the living room. Bedrooms were cold, the bathroom was freezing. There’s a reason why people only had one bath a week - at best - it was just so horribly unpleasant. Not to mention that we all had to share the water because it was so difficult to get a bath full of hot water. I remember my sister and I went first, then Mum and Dad came last. It must have been pretty revolting by the time he got in there.

I grew up in a BISF steel framed house that was built just after the war. They were quick to build, so answered the dire need of the time. I doubt very much there was any insulation, they often had asbestos somewhere in the home and, of course, freezing cold metal windows. Draughts and cold walls would have been rife, but not enough to stop my parents opening our bedroom windows at night. Sitting around the fire in the evening would have been the prime time of warm – for the bit facing the fire anyway.

Once I was adult, it was no better

My first home as a married woman (22 in those days – so young!) was just as cold. There we had ice on the inside of the windows in the morning. The bathroom was desperately cold – and having a bath was a nightmare.

Once we bought our own home, we were a bit better off. Now we had storage heaters that meant we woke up to a warm house but shivered after 4pm. And the bathroom was still a nightmare – no heating, no insulation and stuck on the back of the house downstairs.

My second house – the one I still live in after 47 years – was a marginal improvement. Now we finally had a boiler and a radiator in each room. So the basics were there. The bathroom was a bit better, but still the coldest room in the house. It’s a wonder anyone has wanted to be near me over the years!

Now the enemy was draughts. An old Victorian home with suspended floors meant cold air coming in from everywhere – through old single glazed windows, through the floorboards, down from the loft. And of course through the doors and walls. The boiler had a tough job to do, but it fought valiantly and we were warmer than before.

Finally the penny dropped

It took 42 years before we thought to take any action. Seems crazy in retrospect. How come we didn't insulate in one of the other three renovations we did? I just don't think we knew it was an option.

It was the heat pump that did it. Discovering that our home would only be 'good enough' for a heat pump, even when we'd done work to improve it, spurred us to action. Then we really got going. And we've made our old Victorian house into an eco home

And we're saving 75% of our energy usage, the house is worth 10% more than the neighbours because of the retrofit. And most important - I'm finally warm!

Where does energy efficiency factor into the homeowner agenda?

From the response I get when I talk about retrofit, it’s either low down the list or not on the list at all. Most people renovate their homes for beauty and extra space. Very few think about using the opportunity to increase efficiency while they’re at it.  Yet any form of work on a house is the perfect time. When you are back to the brick, adding in airtightness membrane and insulation is no bother. It breaks my heart when I see extensions going up with just a load of breeze block and no means of keeping out the cold.

The high price of energy has at least one advantage – it makes us think about saving energy. So I’ll keep going. Keep banging the drum for retrofit and warm homes.

And this is so much more than just being warm at home. It's also about care of our planet. 21% of UK emissions comes from leaky homes - and 20% globally. Imagine what a difference we could make it we all cut our energy usage by 75%. It's something we can all do and all benefit from, while also helping the next generations have a liveable, healthy world to live in