Can anyone help with hot upstairs?

[Upanddownhelp]

We've recently moved to a new house, we've been in flats before so all on one floor and ground floor so I haven't had this problem before and I hope someone will know what to do! Just before lockdown we moved to a new house, terraced and with front garden/ kitchen and open plan living room downstairs. Upstairs we have our large bedroom- hallway- bathroom- toilet (the bathroom and toilet have no windows)- large bedroom for children. The only windows upstairs are in our room and in the kids' room. The problem is, even with every window open in both our rooms all day the whole upstairs is hot. Hotter than a teapot. I've cooled the downstairs by having everything open, all windows and doors and we even leave the front door open for a blow through for most of the day and it cools the downstairs really nicely. The trouble is as the kids go to bed at 7/7.30 it's so so hot and stuffy up there. We run a fan for them but then I can't sleep for worrying about fire. After it rained this evening I thought it was lovely and cool upstairs because the temperature dropped downstairs but as I went up the heat hit me in the face about halfway up.
Any ideas as to how to cool the upstairs bearing in mind every window in the whole house is open already? Plus the back door and the front door as well during the day.

Open the attic hatch if you have one? Hot air rises so it might go up there?

Try keeping the loft hatch open, if you have one.

Curtains closed to keep the sun out during the day.

It’s not always the best idea to have the windows open during the day in hot weather.

Our bedroom has west facing french doors and we live in Portugal, so the technique in the summer is actually to keep them closed, as well as the shutters and the curtains when the sun is on them in the afternoon, otherwise the hot air gets in. As soon as the sun goes down we open them up again.

You need to keep the hot air out.

We have fans going all night in all the bedrooms , it’s much cooler tonight than last night here (SE) . My daughter has a ceiling fan in her room as well which is very good .

Curtains with a thermal lining on to keep the room dark. Keep windows closed until late evening.

We also live in a country with hotter summers than the U.K., and keep all windows and doors closed when the temperature inside is cooler than the temperature outside (unless there is a strong cool breeze). We open up late evenings and early mornings when usually the temperature outside is cooler. Keeping shutters or curtains closed when the sun is on each window also helps. This works pretty well if it's under 30 in the day and the low is in the teens. We are lucky to also have tiled floors downstairs and wooden floors upstairs, and fairly high ceilings. Our attic room still gets pretty hot though.

It's 32 in my room right now, shutters shut all day windows open now and shutters open.

Downstairs is lovely hence not being in bed yet.

We are a mid Victorian terrace. The insulation is fab in winter, our heating bills are tiny but summer is hot! Kids have a fan in their room.

Open the loft hatch. Heat goes upwards.

Awww I feel your pain. My mums house is like yours, Im currently living back at my mums. My son has his bed upstairs in my mums room and although all the windows are open it’s like a sauna and so stuffy even with fans.

Me and my partner have converted the dining room into our bedroom which has french doors that open to a conservatory the size of a family changing cubicle at the swimming baths and there lives the washing machine. Also the door to the back garden. Although the house is semi detached and on the other side of my bedroom wall is a side alley......there are no windows in here!!!! We have to have the french doors open all Night and because of stupid reasons from me we can’t use a fan (the noise irritates me and the tickling all over my face from hair) but do have them in all rooms and even double up if needed and safe

Have plenty of dehumidifiers

Only have cotton bedding on the beds it’s breathable

Remove waterproof sheets and mattress protectors from all beds/cots as the rubber/plastic causes more sweating and overheating

Minimal clothing to bed

Open everything in the early morning windows and doors and fans on for a breeze through. Then close curtains and windows all day. Once evening is cool outside open it all up again to get cool air circulating for nighttime.

Yes this. It seems counter intuitive but it really is better to have windows and curtains shut in the day, especially on the sunny side of the house. Open them only when it is cool in early morning/evening.

Oh also, on really hot nights my kids take a freezer block to bed (in a pillowcase), it helps them sleep.

Also, try to get a through draft. So doors open, and windows open in at least one other room.

@minipie yes you are so right!!!! Keeping the room shaded stops the humidity caused from the sun heating the room.

I’m doing this tomorrow!!!

Thank you so much

Yep, as others have said. Keep windows and curtains closed on the sunny side of the house, and only open windows on the other side when in shade.

It should dramatically cool off tonight though, hopefully.

Open all windows at night though, get the house as cold as possible, and then shut that cold in as soon as you wake up, and shut the curtains.

I gave up trying. Bought an air con unit for £300. Best money I've spent in a long time tbh. It lives upstairs, goes on in kids room an hour or two before bedtime, then after they are asleep, I move it to my room. My room is currently 19 degrees 😍.

Ceiling fan is better than any other fan.
We're in a town house so the top floor gets hoooot. Ceiling fan has 3 settings, it's absolutely amazing. Very very cheap to run. I don't notice an increase in my daily usage on the smart meter. I run it up to 10 hours a day

Loft hatch open.
Keep curtains shut in direct sunlight.
Open windows when it is cooler outside.
Create a wind tunnel of opposite windows, this can be more effective than opening everything and having turbulent air movements cycling around.

I'm another one that keeps windows closed & curtains drawn through the day & the loft hatch permanently open in summer.
This past few nights I've used bath sheets instead of bedding & while it might just be me I've actually been able to sleep.

We went out yesterday so we had all the windows shut and I put all the blinds down too but it was roasting and worse than it is with windows open when we got in. Could this be because it’s a newish house?

Has anyone got any suggestions to keep the bugs out if you open the windows for fresh air? It sounds so silly, but as soon as we open any windows for a bit of fresh air it feels like half of the occupants of the garden march in. The house ends up full of flies and spiders, which is horrible when you know they are everywhere, and even if it's just the loft hatch open we still get loads of spiders. I know that it's impossible to be rid of them completely, but I would rather keep them to a minimum.

@dancinfeet UK windows open outwards if I remember correctly? You can get bug screens to stick over them! Probably find them on Amazon.

Thanks for all the replies, I've got some really good ideas here. I can leave the loft hatch open as it's in the bathroom and I completely forgot about leaving the blinds down. I even used to do it in our old house as we have windows with 'cat flap' doors (I don't know what they're officially called) that open on the sides so you can get a blow through without the beating sunlight. Judging by today's weather and the forecast I might be waiting a while to try them out!

@dancinfeet all our windows have roller midge screens fitted , no bugs at all here .