camping in concrete

[cabbron]

is how a recent visitor from blighty described a stay in our country pile here in spain. he was referencing how foooking cold it is inside our spainish homes in winter. despite woodburners,those smart electric rads,and the odd gas "dalek" butane things we are still cold,18c is the best we can do. tis true in uk you dont tend to feel the cold with central heating everywhere. pals here have oil c/h but never stop crying about the cost to run even a modest home. going to light a fire on the lounge floor tonight and cook lips eyeballs and bks on it and feel really spanish!

[cabbron]

anything is worth a try altho loathe to spend shedloads on a house we would dearly love to be out of! will try dehumids tho.those butane heaters are horrible and tend to create condensation.

[cabbron]

haha firewood,i have personally embarked on my own deforestation program. its about 18c a kilo round these parts plus delivery if you don't take 3 ton minimum. our open fire uses at least a fully loaded wheelbarrow per night.the woodburner uses about 30% less.my husquvarna 42 special chainsaw bought 15+ years ago for £80 iirc = free wood ssssssh. still cold tho.leccy bill with rads on is 200+ pm,pal spent 600 euros on oil yesterday and will use it by march so spose its just what it is. dont think people realize how cold spain gets in winter.no worry's nice warm drink-oh hang on can't do that with rads on,kettle will trip the luz. ho hum roll on the warmth.

[cabbron]

Kneetrembler said:

I have had 3 houses that I built in Andalucia, Spain to the same spec as we would build in the U.K. with Cavity wall & Insulation and they were fine in the Spanish winters with an open fire and Central Heating.
I have had a Water Mill in Galicia with some seriously thick walls, which had Oil Fired Central Heating with Radiators and 1 open Fire/Bread Oven & 1 Log Burner.
1 house in Ibiza that I bought that was an existing property and then re-furbished and I could never get warm in that even with the log burners.

If it's Spanish built normally it's crap without any insulation and poor construction, end of.
Sell up and move,in the end that's what I did last year now just getting back to the U.K.

The very best of luck.

trying very hard to sell up,got 3 to get rid of,slashed the prices and being very pro-active,just need that slice of luck!

[cabbron]

iberdrola has hiked the bills beyond reason-defo more expensive than uk for the leccy,still the same old ste service tho! 10 yrs ago when we came to spain i reckon it was about 30% cheaper overall to live here but now its neglible,leccy being just one major increase.

[cabbron]

^thats the way to do it! was it your gaggle of naked swedish girly servants that demanded warm tootsie's?

[cabbron]

Kneetrembler said:

The last year that I was in Ibiza the Electricity bills were horrendous and also direct debit, in one month once I had 3 bills taken out for €900 each time then another time a bill for €2000 it took me until I sold up to get it sorted.
This was all because I lived in the Campo up an un made road so they did everyone of us with an estimate then spanked the arse out of us all, load of robbing bastrds.

and when you out wit them on the phone(not hard)or prove them wrong they just put the phone down on you.hit me with a €1300 bill,law unto themselves. still arguing. they said they hadnt read my meter for 2 years and blamed it on the fact they couldnt acess it,when asked how they did it for the previous 8 years and told the meter hasn't moved off the side of the house since the original connection 15 years ago they hung up.hung up again when i told them they are legally obliged to read my meter yearly.fking sick and tired of spain, living the dream glol,the reality is a total fking nightmare. iberdrola/telefonica/suma office/town hall,fking jobsworths the lot of em. arrrrrrgh get me outa here. s,tts,aholes,horse fkers........still breathing.........just!