Is there some truth to this method of keeping your house cool?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

By keeping your windows and curtains closed? We live on top of a hill, no shade on the house, we're in full sun all day and our bedroom is south facing so it gets absolutely baking. Our house retains heat very well which is marvellous in winter, not so great when it's hotter than satans ass crack. Will keeping the windows and curtains closed help at all? Or am I better off doing as we've been doing and opening the windows wide and closing the curtains?

Curtains and windows closed. Only open windows when outside temp is cooler than inside. We usually keep curtains / blinds closed and have windows open but today have had everything closed and it's made a huge difference. Just come to bed (in loft bedroom) and thrown open windows and there's a nice breeze. Will be closing everything up in the morning!

Only open your windows if the temp lowers significantly or there is a cool breeze at some point in the evening. Close the windows and curtains and doors otherwise.

you need to know what your indoor temp and outdoor temps are.
you only open the windows and curtains when the outside temp is colder than the inside (often after midnight) then you open it all up and get a draft coming through.
in the am as soon as the outdoor temp is warmer than the indoor temp you need to shut everything down and pull down the blinds/shut the curtains.
yes it does work.

Yes. I live in Europe where’s its regularly very hot.
Windows are opened between 9pm and 7:30 am
Curtains shut in day. Really helps.

Keep windows closed. Raid your car's first aid box for an emergency blankets to put in your window, silver side out, to reflect heat away before it even hits the window.

I do that. Windows at the front, south facing are closed or on the latch if there is a breeze and curtains closed. Ones at the back are latched open slightly with curtains open.

Absolutely close the windows except at night. As others have said, as long as it's hotter outside than inside keep them closed. Also, ideally you should stop the UV rays from hitting your window in the first place. We have an outside blind and a sun umbrella positioned to shield the French door on our south facing living room and this has worked quite well. It kept the room at 23-24 when it was 31 outside. If you can put some kind of screen on the outside of your windows, you should notice the difference.

Yes. It will slow down the warming up.

Try to get the house cool first.

This sounds crazy but if you have a fan / fans, first thing point them towards the open windows, this is to get the hot air out of the house and let cool air in.

I currently have my windows open but they will be closed at dawn.

It works better if you have thermal blinds.

Yes this is standard in hot countries. We close our shutters and windows as soon as the temp is hotter out side than in / sun is shining directly. Then only open them again in the evening / nighttime when the outside temps are lower than inside.

there is no point in a ’breeze’ if it is bringing hotter air inside your house. If you want a cooling effect of moving air, use a fan indoors plus everything shut up.

we basically live in the dark indoors for a lot of summer: it’s nice for a siesta. It Leo’s our place at around 25-26 inside when it’s 37-38 outside.

Yes it does work - my house didn’t get above 23C yesterday and it was 30C outside. Unfortunately it’s trickier to stop the sun hitting the outside of upstairs windows as most U.K. houses aren’t equipped with shutters so curtains have to do. Downstairs I shut towels or sheets into the window so that they hang over the outside and it works well

Yes to all the above, Ive done it for years, game changer. Mum always used to close all the curtains in their north facing room at home and we would go lay in there on hot days.

early morning I open all windows, blinds, doors and let the cooler air run through the house. I’m laid in bed now with everything open. In an hour or so when I feel the cool air come to an end i batten down the hatches. Every window closed, every blind down. The house is in darkness but it stays lovely and cool all day. I sanctuary.

the cats will come in and lay outstretched on the cool beds.

I live on a hill where it's usually breezy even in the high heat and actually find it cooler to have curtains closed but windows open, and to have all internal doors open so that the breeze is pulled through the house.

I also open the curtains at the front of the house after lunch as by then the sun has moved round.

Yes, absolutely. I am sitting downstairs with all the windows wide open at the moment for the cool breeze, but in a little while I’ll be closing the windows at the back of the house (sunny side) and the blinds. Windows at the front don’t get the sun until a lot later in the day so they can stay open, but as soon as the sun moves around those curtains get closed and the back ones opened a little. Then all the windows get thrown open in the evening once it cools down again. It really helps.

Of course keep curtains closed. It’s a very well known and long standing technique for keeping your house from heating up in hot climates. Windows closed if the breeze or air outside is warmer than inside.

mM mother was born and raised in east Africa in the 1930s. This was standard.

Yes definitely. However the only room it doesn’t seem to work for is our bedroom which is a loft conversion. All the heat from the house seems to rise and get trapped in there due to the insulation. Hotter than the devils ass in there! Think I’ll be sleeping outside tonight!

I have two portable air cons and a fan.

I have managed to set them up this morning that cool air is circulating.

Then I heard my pipes and realised the central heating had come on - my CH thermostat was at 18 degrees, I've changed it now.

The only room I struggle to get cold is the kitchen, so I just won't go in unless I have to.

I live in a hot country. Absolutely keep your curtains and windows closed - any sunlight you let in warms your house as well as you.

Open the curtains/windows when there is a cooler breeze to let back in.

Yes, it works well, especially blackout curtains/blinds

Don’t let the breeze in until the temperature is lower outside than inside. Otherwise you’re just letting hot air in!

It also helps to keep the doors to upstairs rooms closed during the day, so that warmer air doesn’t rise up into those rooms. This is especially true if you have to be in and out of the house for some reason.

Yes. I visited my dad yesterday and he's been very careful to keep windows and curtains shut. As soon as I walked in (it was pretty hot outside), the air was lovely and cool indoors. He has several health conditions and needs to keep cool. This is really working for him.

I worked for us yesterday, went out for the day and came back to a cool house in the evening, it was refreshing stepping in the door.

we did leave the attic windows open a fraction to help the heat escape

Yes, it's making our Edwardian house not cool, but manageable.

One other tip, if you can open the man hole cover tot he loft, any hot air is going to rise so let it rise past your ceiling.

One other tip, if you can open the man hole cover to the loft, any hot air is going to rise so let it rise past your ceiling.
But only do this if it's cooler outside than inside. Any draught, extractor fan etc needs to pull air in from somewhere.

yes, absolutely it works. We keep the windows wide open from 9pm to about 730 am. We also have no shade and are in an exposed situation. Shut the shutters/curtains, put out sunshades so the sun doesn't hit windows and sit in a cool house for the day. We can keep it about 10 degrees cooler than outside like this.