Do you leave loftroom Velux open at night in your mid-terrace home?

[Teapleasemilknosugar]

Just that really.

If you have a loft conversion with Velux windows in your mid-terrace home - do you leave the Velux open at night?

Would it make a difference to your answer depending on who occupies the room or the room's purpose?

No. Plus it sounds more like the Milk Tray man.

Are you aware that there’s a sliding catch, so you can keep it open a little, but stops it being pulled open from outside?

We leave it open during the day, but rarely at night because the light then floods in in the morning and wakes us up. I would have no concerns at all about birds getting in - there are loads around and we have never even seen one through the window, though we hear them dancing on the roof all the time.

Also unconcerned about burglars - our velux is at the front of the house, highly visible to everyone walking past. And no other houses along our row have velux windows so no easy dipping in and out of houses - it’s pretty steep as well, not at all easy.

Depending on the height of windows and accessibility, I’d be more worried about a preschooler trying to climb out of a widely opening window than a burgler trying to get in.

The world of Mumsnet is a continual education experience for me!

Why do people think spiders live on roof tiles but not on wall bricks? Or do other windows stay closed too?
Do burglars really scurry along terrace roofs?

I live in a detached house with 3 velux windows... They stay open all summer when it's warm, whether we're home or not! Spiders don't come in, nor do burglars...and I pull them slightly closed if it's raining hard (still a bit open though) and the carpet has never got wet...

Perhaps I'm using my skylights all wrong?

Dying.

We've never had birds through the Velux. We had one that took shelter from wind in the outside ventilation duct (or got blown in) and clawed the tubing to pieces before we got it out. That had absolutely nothing to do with the Velux though. And birds generally aren't flying in the night.

The idea of an opportunistic burglar crawling along a line of roofs in a terrace is so ridiculous it's funny. A burglar wants to get in and out as quickly, safely, and quietly as possible. He has no idea what he'd be dropping into if he has a little saunter across the roof, quite possibly an angry large awake man, he's liable to fall off, and he's in full view from the street.

We can leave ours open a little and the rain doesn’t come in.

They are, and the opportunity they want is ground floor.

I'm an ex burglary unit detective from a major city. Not once was a burglary via a 2nd storey velux window.

I can think of one where scaffolding was used, but only to access a church roof where they stole the lead. Not a home.

Only one other where a 1st floor window was used and only because a ladder was left up adjacent to it.

All other entries are via ground floor windows and doors. Breaking the window pane, removing the glass, and the most common - walking in through unlocked doors.

You're creating a fear where you don't need to. By all means be alive to it as a weaker point in your house, but burglars are not climbing the roofs of terraces when they are trying to pay for their next hit.

We used to leave ours open unless it was torrential rain or really strong winds because it was always boiling up there.
After a pigeon got in and scared the shit out of me and itself all over my bed, I got insect nets installed.

Not unless it’s absolutely wide - I’m not even sure if it would then. Mine is open the entire summer to vent heat out of the house. Never had rain get in.

I’ve lived in two houses with windows in attic conversions. One was a semi and the current one is a mid terrace. I’m concerned by all the concerns…mine have been open a reasonable amount all summer so that the attics don’t get too hot and heat up the rest of the house (night and day, whether I’m in or not) for almost 25 years if you add the two together. Never got rain in the house. No incursion of spiders. No birds. Definitely no burglars. As with any open window, curtains need to be shut if lights are on to avoid insects, but I don’t have stupid velux blinds fitted. Totally useless as you can’t open the window at night or else you are woken at dawn. I hang curtains with a pole to keep them to the ceiling shape.

We do, but are reconsidering as our cats have noticed the open velux, started climbing up on the fence to the roof at night and popping in to see us when they think it's early breakfast time! Theyre usually in the kitchen with a catflap at night.

Even had nextdoors cat come in last night to check us out so word has got round the feline locals!,

I’ve put yes. But I hadn’t considered it from a pigeon or bat point of view.

From a burglary point of view I wouldn’t have an issue.

I lived in a mid terrace house with a loft conversion and I left veluxes open when I was in the house, including at night. The only reason I closed them when I went out was rain. I was once about to leave the house with velux open, got delayed by 15 minutes and a rainstorm blew up in that time. If I'd been out the loft would have got pretty wet so I didn't risk it again.

Just beware rain -we did this and awoke to a flood 😂

My Velux is not able to be seen from the road and across a complicated roofline. It gets left open in hot weather. It can also be locked open a small amount with a bolt in the frame so it proves ventilation.

We have had both enter via the velux. Bat only once, but several bird incursions as they nest in the underdrawing outside our bedroom and occasionally overshoot their landing 🤣.

Fly screens would stop birds, bats, cats, and large spiders.
There are DIY versions with netting and Velcro, or you may need to have them made professionally depending on which way the windows open. (I don't have Velux so don't know.)

I very rarely close mine completely. They are always slightly open, more so in the warmer months but even in winter I like to feel the air circulation. I only ever completely close them during high winds in case the wind pulls them completely open.

I’m totally perplexed by the rain issue. Are you opening yours to completely horizontal? Literally never had rain come in with open velux (and I used to live near the sea where high winds blew straight off the water at mine…)

Yes because otherwise it's like sleeping in an oven.
Why wouldn't you?

We have a loft conversion in our bungalow with velux windows (so equivalent height to a first storey window). Our bedroom one is open day & night from pretty much now until it gets too cold (oct/nov), DD1 rarely opens hers and DD2 has hers open at night but sometimes closes it during the night.

We’d close them all if we were away, but realistically someone would need a ladder to get up there and I can’t see many opportunistic burglars carrying one of those around!

Most burglaries are via the doors, it would be an exceptionally acrobatic thief who could get onto a roof

No as the bed and floor would be soaked if it rains.

Why? I keep saying this and nobody has expla8ned. My veluxes (25 years of use) have never let rain in. Are yours open to horizontal? I can see that might be a hazard. Open a little bit - like up to quarter of the way? Never been an issue. 3 different veluxes, 2 different houses.

I don’t really know how to explain it other than it came in through the gap, regardless of how open the window was. Obviously more came in if they were really wide open. My bed was right underneath and I was frequently woken up by rain.