To think that heatwaves are a big deal?

There are lots of short-term cooling down tactics suggested here, but ultimately, the only solution to unbearable heat is lowering humidity, and that's where a dehumidifier or AC unit comes in.

If neither of those fixes is possible, you can shut your windows during the day, and draw your curtains/ close your blinds. At night, open all of your upstairs windows and leave all bedroom and bathroom doors open, and create a cross breeze with fans. You can also draw the air through your home by placing a fan in your window blowing air out.

It's also a good idea to avoid cooking on a normal stove or using the oven. Buy cold cuts and salad ingredients, eat sandwiches, etc, or reheat food in the microwave.

Heat rises, so consider sleeping downstairs if opening downstairs windows is an option, and also leaving your attic entrance open.

In the long term, both for your own comfort and for climate and environmental reasons, consider planting shade trees on your southern and western exposures. Creepers are another green option. The priority accorded to lawns and sunny gardens should be questioned.

have to laugh at those saying 30+ degrees is not hot.

We are all different in how we feel in a heatwave, there was another thread on here talking about how strange that people think it's normal to heat up a house but not to cool it down, I'm with them, looking at getting aircon installed before next summer, even if it's only used for a handful of days each year.

If climate change gives the UK more extreme hot weather events then the price of air con will rocket, hence why I'm investigating it now.

Buy an air con unit if it’s that bad. Yes, they’re not great for the environment, but right now there are hundreds of thousands of towns around the world where air con is completely standard in houses and businesses. We’ve almost reached peak puritan in the UK.

Also running cold water on your wrists helps you cool down quicker.

Put some ice cold water in a hot water bottle. That will cool you down.

Not RTFT but our houses are well insulated to keep the heat in in winter but that also helps them stay cooler in summer. I've found it manageable by doing the following:

• Open all windows and set up fans near the window facing into the room (helping to pull cool air into the building) only when the temperature outside is lower than the temperature inside - Try and get it as cool as you can in the morning and enough time at night before bed. If you have a loft hatch, open it when outside is cooler.
• As soon as the temperature outside is the same as temperature inside, close everything, all doors, windows, curtains, etc - and keep it closed.
• Keep fans running and try to keep the air in the house circulating - put a bowl with ice in front if it's v warm or just mist in front of fan (or on yourself!) with water from a spray bottle.
• Properly insulated blinds/curtains make a difference (and good for winter too). You can also put reflective film on your windows (it just adheres with water).

If it's 30 degrees in the sun outside, my new build house will stay at least 4 or 5 degrees cooler all day. It may also help that I have tiled or laminate flooring for almost all of my downstairs (cosy rugs in winter!).

Spent a large amount of my youth on the Mediterranean, including during some proper heatwaves, and none of us had aircon - just kept the windows and shutters closed and had a lot of fans! Many a night I'd spray myself down and lie on top of the covers under a fan (probably with a damp flannel for good measure). If it got too hot, they'd round up all the old and/or vulnerable people and cool them down in a local sports hall. Running your wrists under a cold tap or sticking your feet/ankles in a washing up bowl of cold water cools you down pretty fast too.

Aircon units are expensive to install, require maintenance and will go against any organisations drive to meet their environmental targets.

OP, it is cooler outside so you need to use that.

In the morning, leave east-facing curtains closed to block the sun, but open all upstairs windows to create a through-draught. Downstairs too if safe.

At noon, open those curtains and close the west-facing curtains. Leave the windows open.

At night, turn out the lights and then open some windows to create that through-draught.

For yourself, drink lots of water, no alcohol. Wear shorts and a light top in linen or cotton. Avoid synthetic fabrics. Move slowly. Avoid eating carbs - lots of salads instead. Sleep without covers. You'll soon be cooler.

Myasthenia (there are different types). Heat makes it extra hard to get signals through to my muscles so I feel very weak

Absolutely. Air con just makes the local environment hotter, and increase climate change. It really should not be used for 32 degrees!

ARE YOU COOKING SAUSAGES ??

Yes I have the same problem with my 'eco' flat - thermostat inside shows 29 degrees, even when it's dropped to 19 outside. I have the windows open in the evening but it barely cools off - maybe to 27, and then heats up again when they're closed. I have a ventilation system thing that does nothing to help the heat. I have parasols outside to shade the glass (there is a lot of glass). It's not just the few days a year that are 30 or more, but weeks and months on end. I think people really don't understand/believe what the heat in new builds can be like! And if you're on the ground floor, you can't even leave the windows open all night anyway. But it's the fact that it won't cool down even when it's cooler outside that's really frustrating.

Shut the windows if you have aircon!

So many people have no thought of personal responsibility anymore, why is it the governments responsibility to sort this out. You're an adult open the windows get a fan, the fact that your first solution is someone should pay to sort this out for me just tells me you expect everything to be handed to you.

It's meant to be 15° outside here just checked on bbc weather and my baby monitor was showing my bedroom as 27° just before. I'm a bit scared to have the windows open as don't want mosquitoes coming in! And i can't sleep with the fan blowing all night. Just going to lie here and sweat for a bit!!!

I've just spent a week in the heat, without air con and unable to open the windows at night due to the noise. On balance, the heat was preferable to the noise. Being back in this country at night has been much much easier.

Surely it'd not that hot yet?(unless your house is an oven, and some are def like greenhouses).

I'm lucky, I have a bed downstairs in the coolest room of the house.

what condition is this? maybe I have it!

Remember the summer of 2022 when we had a proper heatwave! In places it went upto 40'
This is just summer.

Op could have a health condition too. I have had a condition that made very unwell in heat my whole life, but I was only diagnosed with it a couple of years ago. Prior to that I always felt ashamed how much I struggled

Good insulation should keep your house cooler in hot weather.

I have a situation here where at 5 pm the plugs all blew themselves out. I am waiting for an electrician to save me but I cannot put the fan on.
I think I will die in the night.
Or maybe I will sleep on the sofa as downstairs is cooler than upstairs.
We will see whether I make it through.

living in a "eco house" does not mean it is warmer inside than outside. It shouldn't be, you are not managing it well - the fan is heating up the air inside, for one. Open the windows when it is cool out, like now, close the windows and curtains to keep the sun out when it is really hot

It’s always like this with people moaning when you get a week and a half of normal summer weather.

OP, you can buy a desk fan for about a tenner on Amazon.

30 degrees is hot but not so hot that you need air conditioning. And especially not for just a few days each year.

If everyone goes out and buys air conditioning for temperatures like this, the planet will just be more fucked over than ever - we will make it hotter and hotter.

I've lived in climates where it would be difficult to manage without air conditioning. The UK is not like that (yet).

I've done all that today as it was 32 degrees here (and I always do this in hot weather) but my house is still currently 28 degrees with all windows open, a mobile air con unit on and fans on. It's a new build that's designed to be energy efficient and the bricks actually release heat back into the house overnight. The night time temp in this house usually peaks around 3am. I understand what the OP is meaning but definitely don't think you'll get air con in a HA house. I bought our AC unit fairly cheaply and you just have to learn to live with it the high summer temps in a new build. Hang in there and think about the winter when you rarely have to use your heating. We only use ours in December, January and February (live in Dorset). Swings and roundabouts.