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Article outline & interview questions

Do heat pumps work in old Devon houses?

Rob Problems Small search numbers, huge trust value — the first question every old-house owner asks

The article for everyone in a cottage, farmhouse or barn who has been told "heat pumps don't work in old houses". The honest answer is yes, when the system is sized to the building, and Rob is one of very few people who can prove it with real jobs. Already on tape and woven in without re-asking: the barn conversion story, the watts-per-square-metre rules, the airtightness saga and fabric-first.

The article, section by section

  1. The straight answer in the first 60 words. Yes, when sized to the building — and here's what that actually takes.
  2. Why old houses need more heat. A modern build might need 30 watts per square metre; a listed farmhouse can need 70 or 80. Same floor area, double the heat. (On tape.)
  3. How each old Devon house type behaves. Cob, granite, stone, solid brick — what each wall does to the numbers.
  4. Do heat pumps work in listed buildings? What you can and can't change, and where the outdoor unit can go.
  5. What to sort out first in an old house — and what's honestly not worth doing. Fabric first, old-house edition.
  6. The breathing question. Old houses need to breathe; heat pumps like airtightness. How those two truths fit together.
  7. Radiators and pipework in period homes.
  8. What it feels like to live with. Constant gentle warmth versus the roaring-fire-and-cold-corridors pattern old houses know.
  9. Real old-house jobs — the barn conversion (on tape) plus the new stories from this session.
  10. When we'd say not yet. The house Rob would turn down, honestly described.
  11. FAQ, CTA, sources, author bio.

The interview questions

Story-led — this is Rob's favourite ground, so let him run. The sizing rules, the barn and the airtightness story are already on tape; don't re-ask, just build on them.

The broad ones — let him talk

  1. Talk me through the oldest or trickiest house you've ever designed for. What was it, and what happened? Get two or three of these. We have the barn conversion already; new stories are the gold.
  2. Someone rings from a 300-year-old cottage already convinced it won't work, because a plumber or a neighbour told them so. How does that conversation go?
  3. What do old-house owners worry about that never turns out to matter — and what should they worry about that they don't?

Devon's housing stock

  1. Cob, granite, stone, solid brick — how does each behave when you run the numbers? Which is the hardest to design for?
  2. Single glazing, suspended timber floors, thatch — how does each change the job?
  3. Old houses are meant to breathe — damp, lime plaster, all of that. How does that square with wanting the place airtight?

Listed buildings and conservation

  1. What can and can't you change in a listed building — and what do you work around instead?
  2. Where can the outdoor unit go on a listed or conservation-area property? Ever had planning push back?
  3. Did the barn conversion get warm in the end? What's it like now? Follow-up on the story already on tape — the ending is what's missing.

The practical advice

  1. Someone in an old house has a few thousand to spend before the heat pump. What order do they spend it in — and what's honestly not worth doing to an old house?
  2. Radiators in period homes — how often do they need changing, and what do you do when the owner cares how they look?
  3. Old pipework — what do you find in period homes, and when is it a problem?
  4. Does an old house cost more to run on a heat pump than a modern one the same size — roughly how much more?

The honest section

  1. Describe the old house you'd turn down — or tell to wait. What disqualifies a place?
  2. What does heat pump warmth feel like in an old house? People know the pattern of a roaring fire and cold corridors — what changes?
  3. First winter feedback — what do old-house customers say once they've lived with it through January?

To close

  1. What would you say to someone in an old Devon farmhouse who's been putting this off because they've been told it'll never work?
Worth grabbing: photos of any old-house installs — a heat pump against a stone or cob wall is exactly the picture this article needs. And if any of these owners are happy, they're a Google review waiting to be asked.
Elevate South West · Prepared by The Ambitions Agency