Low or no cost suggestions for ground floor tenement

Home Retrofit
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A good friend as recently moved into a ground floor Glasgow tenement flat, and I’m going to be staying there with her for a few weeks.
It’s a great flat, but there is a bit of a chill with the current low temperatures. I’m looking for suggestions for quick wins to make the place feel cosier at low or no cost.

  • The windows are good - recently fitted double glazed PVC, with trickle vents.
  • The floor is laminate on top of concrete (I think) - the underlay seems thin in the one or two spots I can see it.
  • In the kitchen there doesn’t seem to be any insulation (or even plaster) behind the cabinets - pulled out the washing machine for a look and there is definitely a cold spot there. How to treat this?

Any other low hanging fruit I should check for?

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Rugs and if the styling allows, rugs/drapes on the walls.

are the cabinets fitted directly to the bricks then?
If the kitchen is that poorly insulated, it might be an easier solution to insulate the kitchen from the rest of the flat (if possible). Shut the door and make sure theres no heat leaking into it, you can use a towel as a temporary draft excluder

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I saw an interesting presentation on the retrofit of a Glasgow tenement (Achieving net zero: decarbonising the UK housing stock webinar - YouTube - first presentation about 2 mins in). The measures were much more invasive than you are thinking of but the Prof mentioned that the stone they were built from was often porous leading to high humidity. I’d suggest taking a hygrometer and thinking about a dehumidifier, it may make it feel warmer without improving the insulation/heating.

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Thanks - I don’t think high humidity is the issue in this flat (current humidity at 64%) but will start to monitor it in a few different places.

The floor is definitely the biggest issue for the cold “feeling” - what’s the best thing to do there medium term? Lift the laminate and improve the underlay?