How long do you open your windows for this time of year?

[SpringMeadows]

If you are in the UK, how long do you open your windows for in the morning in winter? We have dogs and I leave them open (including the back door) for an hour or two, first thing in the morning. This is because I like to have fresh air in the house daily, but also because I'm rushing around during that time so don't go and shut them. WHen I get to my desk ready to work, I go around and close them. My DP would open them for 20 minutes and then turn the heating straight back on.

It's true that the house gets rather cold during the time the windows are open but are we supposed to live in a stuffy place? So I'd like to hear what others do. Thank you.

Fresh dry air is easier to heat.

Dry? Until the current cold spell started it had been around 90% humidity outside for weeks on end.

Well, no, you don't see that benefit when it's weeks of rain, but you do on fresh, bright days. When it's rainy, I wouldn't have windows open as long but I do still like fresh air. The heating doesn't come on much when it's rainy as it's quite warm anyway.

My top floor windows are almost always open. I can’t sleep if the windows are shut.

On my middle floor I will almost always have at least one window open during the day. Unfortunately my ground floor is just a garage and a front door so nothing to open and I can really feel the difference in air.

At an hour a day, regardless of the weather. We open a window in every room as part of the morning routine.

Little bathroom window is pretty much always open a crack.

I was taught that you have to air houses daily.

I'm perfectly warm at 13. Our heating is set to 13 or 14 most of the time. Some people run hot some run cold. I'm sick of everyone calling it competitive coldness when we say we're perfectly comfortable at lower temperatures.

My dad is convinced 90% of illness is caused by not eating enough vegetables and inadequately aired houses. He was very smug when the covid ventilation advice came out.

This is so interesting! Do people who don’t open their windows at all not find their houses smell stale? Not being goady, genuinely wondering.

It's like saying my 90 year old grandmother is a competitive hot person because she likes the thermostat at 21! No, she is just elderly with an aversion to sitting with a blanket. We are all different.

We always have at least one bedroom window open while we sleep, which if it's really cold gets shut when we get up. Other windows are only opened if the house starts to feel stuffy

Mid spring to mid autumn the patio doors get opened when we get up and closed when we go to bed

Not really. I do open windows when it's warm outside, just not in the middle of winter.

Interesting to read people's habits! I open the bedroom and bathroom windows for a few hours in the day and have the doors shut. And then I will usually have the kitchen door open for a 10 mins to give the rest of the house a blast.

Had no idea that it was so popular but I suppose I've never asked anyone!

Relative humidity is not the same as actual i.e. absolute humidity. I shared a video that demonstrates this.

Bedroom window was open all night during the recent cold spell, bathroom open all morning after showering. Kitchen open while cooking then during supper. But the vents are never closed.

Our bedroom windows are always open all year. The size of the opening varies though, when it's very windy I tend to close them to just a crack. Bathroom window is usually cracked open all year too, there is an extractor fan in there but we've never used it.

I tend to open the front and back doors for a bit and let fresh air in that way, it does make it a bit colder, but our heating thermostat is set for 21.5 degrees so when it gets a bit lower than that Nest runs the heating on for a while.

I also believe in good ventilation and fresh air. I do feel the cold but stuffiness is worse, so I'd rather let fresh air in then warm it up.

It’s fresh don’t get me wrong. But if you look up Skandi/cold country ways of living they all open the bedroom window wide open and shut the door to make the room super cold and then pile blankets on the bed so you’re warm In bed but the room is fresh.

i hate the feeling of not having fresh moving air in a room.

My bedroom window is open all the time, except in extreme wind. Ditto the bathrooms.

DC bedroom windows opened in the morning until they get home from school. DS2 also sleeps with his open.

Living room we usually open for a couple of hours.

Never. I never open windows unless it’s very warm.

Opening windows in -3 degrees is very much something I’m happy being a thing other people do

Nope no stale smell here either. I don’t dry clothes inside, we have high ceilings too

I love MN.
Competitive under heating and under eating is the hallmark of this site 😂

I agree with a PP absolutely I body is ‘toasty’ when their house is 13 degrees

It’s like BO; much less likely to smell your own mustiness. So people don’t notice.

Visitors to stuffy houses notice.

One half of MN have their windows open for bracing fresh air in minus temperatures and the other half are under heated throws as soon as September starts.

Visitors to cold houses notice too.

They can wear a jumper, I can't hold my breath

@LeviOsaNotLeviosaa @Kalevala

i have a very sensitive sense of smell. I can definitely smell a lack of fresh air in my own house and others. Yuck!

And no competitive coldness here either! I open the windows every day for a minimum half hour. Heating is permanently set to 18degrees and boosted if needed. Old house with crappy, busted double glazing. Heating / electricity bills seem to be less than average if I go by what I read on MN. We are warm and smell fresh!

If you are burgled whilst out and your windows have been open you void your insurance. Shut them when out. Doesn't matter that they are upstairs.

As for us, bathroom window is open when in use, otherwise everything is shut to keep the heat in / cold out.