How are you keeping bedrooms cool in this heat?

[Cones]

The sun shines in the bedroom from two angles from lunchtime till sunset. The walls are warm to the touch where sun has heated the whole room. This is with curtains and blinds closed, but because the walls are being heated, it’s like a furnace.

open windows about 8pm ish but the room stays too warm until around 1am.

is an air con unit the only option or is there an alternative?

Could you sleep in a different room this week? I'd close that door and pretend it doesn't exist!

Open the loft hatch?

We gave in and got a portable air con unit for our bedroom last year. Although it’s not used very often (this is the U.K after all!), we have no regrets when we do need it.

We have a ceiling light with a fan that we use overnight when it is particularly hot.

I don't know if it works but have you tried the fan blowing across a bowl of iced water trick? I sympathise, we have a similar problem, our bedroom window faces west.

Wet towel, laid over you with a fan blowing towards you. You'll be shivering in no time.

Open every door and window and try and get a draft through the house.

Sleep under a damp sheet.

I’ve been sleeping on the couch in the living room all week, the upstairs of my house is like a furnace.

Portable air con. Mine is in the bathroom and cools all the bedrooms 1/2 at a time depending on which is the hottest and the kids bedtimes etc. it vents out of the window with a proper sealed vent. It’s in the way and annoys me in that sense but the kids rooms were getting to 26° and they were miserable at bedtime for weeks in the Summer before I got it.

What make of air cons do you have?

Hot water bottle filled with cold water and put in the freezer. Don't use it for hot water again afterwards though.

Aircon unit..bliss

Open the loft hatch

but also sleep downstairs (or outside?)

I put rescue blankets over the windows in the daytime. The thin silver type - worth raiding your car's first aid kit if you replace it immediately, or order for pennies online. They're amazing, really cut down on the heat that gets through whike still letting in light. Then in the evening, a proper American-style high velocity fan to get the cooler air in. Planning to install A/C but didn't get around yet.

I find that living in the west of Northern Ireland works a treat for this problem. It has been overcast for a fortnight (before that it was overcast and pissing rain every day) and currently 10-15 deg cooler than the south of England.

On the rare occasions that the mercury climbs above about 25deg and we're all sweltering , trying to get a through draught does help a bit

It's hotter than hades in our bedroom, blinds closed all day 2 fans and it's still boiling!

What portable air con do people have?

😂😂😂

We have some aircon. I may have moaned about the cost of it when we first got it but couldn’t be without it now.

Aaaaand it's raining again

I'll take the rain and cold please send it towards the Midlands. 31 degrees today and 34 degrees forecast for Sunday that's the first time I've known temps to get that hot out of London and the south east. We have an air con machine. We've also put in blackout blinds and tried to block out the light getting to the conservatory using thermawrap as it's as hot as death valley

Also have portable air con here. Bought it after it was 37° when my youngest was a baby. We don't have it on often, but if it's over 30°, it's a god send!

I would tape newspaper or similar to the windows as it seems your blinds and curtains aren't actually keeping the sun out?

Our bedroom is south facing with small cottage style windows, though not a cottage. The windows are open all day currently, usually it's just the little one but the big ones are open too. In the daytime I have our blackout roller blinds pulled half way down. At night the windows are left open, I pull up the blind and we just close our black out curtains. I went to the loo at around 2.30am and the hallway was much hotter than our bedroom, which almost felt chilly.

Try a fan? Mine really helps

Aircon and ceiling fans. It was about £300 from amazon, so worth it!