DH won’t believe that we should keep the windows closed

[ThatLassFromLeeds]

With the heatwave predicted, DH and I have come back to our annual argument about keeping the house cool.

I think that once the air outside is hotter than you want your house to be, you should close the windows. I also keep the curtains closed when the sun is shining on the windows.

DH insists that you keep the house cool by having the windows and curtains open.

He says the air coming in cools the house down. I say that it feels cool because it’s moving when it touches your skin, but after a certain point it’s actually hotter than the air in the house.

He insists on doing it his way, and the house is always boiling. One day recently was really hot and I closed the curtains before going out for the day; when we came back it was nice and cool inside, but DH still won’t believe me that that was why. He says my way just doesn’t make sense.

What would you do? Is this the hill I need to die on?

Front of our house is south facing so have everything shut during the day. At the back of the house we’ll have the upstairs windows open (including the loft room).

Just checked the forecast (met office app) and it’s saying that the wind direction for next couple of days is mainly from the north east so hoping that should keep it cooler 🤞.

Thermometers are cheap. Buy a few and do a science experiment. Loser buys some good quality fans!

I know it’s right according to the science to close blinds and keep windows closed. BUT when I do that the air just get so freaking stuffy.

so I close the blinds but then open the windows slightly and do so front and back of house to get a through draught. Somehow that keeps the house cooler and the air fresher. I also open the attic hatch to let the hot air rise.

Lots of people are commenting that they open the window for fresh air.
Do you feel the fresh air during the day when its hot?? Its stifling when i open my windows during the day when its hot.

I usually have my windows open all year round because central heating gives me a headache I actually use the car air con quite a lot in winter too... menopause is going to be brutal for me!

In hot weather I have all curtains/blinds and windows closed during the day and open the windows late evening then shut them when we get up around 6.30 pm.

That would mean assuming she's right and get DH is wrong. My point is that it's not airways true that it's cooler to keep windows shut. My bedroom this evening has been very pleasant (gets morning sun) due to the breeze. There is a possibility that OP has a fixed mentality which could actually be wrong (shock, horror) on some occasions.

From the situation she’s explained - which is not the same as what you’ve described - she is right. Because ye canna break the laws of physics.

To summarise our house set up - the back of the house has fairly big windows and gets sun from about 10am - mid afternoon at this time of year. We’re quite sheltered so there doesn’t tend to be much of a breeze even if it’s fairly windy. We’re near a river, which seems to spawn lots of flies, which also come inside when the windows are open. We don’t use the living room much during the day because we’re at work, so to me it makes more sense to keep the curtains closed all day. We have thermal linings so they’re fairly good at keeping heat out.

I can’t say for sure, but I think the house mostly obeys the laws of physics.

Anecdotal but today was 29c outside
I opened everything until I left the house at 7.15am then closed all windows and curtains
got home, it was 21c inside so big difference

Keep our windows and curtains closed til around 5pm then open

Sometimes it can be hot and breezy in which case I’ll have windows open but curtains mostly shut against the glare of the sun….if it’s just red hot and muggy there’s no point having them open.

Depends on the house too - I stayed somewhere in the last heatwave that was on top of a hill and even when there was no breeze down on street level we managed to keep it cool with the windows and doors open. Where I actually live, no chance of that.

He left the house before me this morning, so I closed all the curtains when I was going out…. We’ll see how things work out this afternoon when we get home!

Good luck! According to the BBC forecast for today, it is set to be five degrees hotter here than it was yesterday, even after we had an hour-long thunderstorm last night, so you might have a house a little hotter than you would have had if you'd been allowed to do the sensible thing yesterday.

Be grateful, though: at least he didn't turn on the oven for a couple of hours in the heat of the day, unlike the loony husband on another thread.

This. Airflow prevents the heat building up in the house so you open windows front and back of a house.

Curtains closed on the sunny side of the house.

People are entitled to their own opinions but they're not entitled to their own laws of physics

"Ye canna tamper wi' the laws o' physics, Captain."

I do think it comes down to "stuffiness".

I have a blackout blind in my bedroom so I was closing that and the curtains during the last hot spell. But it was like hell in there when I went upstairs. All the heat had drifted up through the day and just built up with nowhere to go. It wasn't any cooler than if I'd just had the window and curtains open, just more stuffy.

So probably your DH is more sensitive to that.

Logically yes, it's better to keep everything closed but I think it depends on numerous factors.

He’s a scientifically illiterate idiot. If his argument was valid, we would keep our fridge & freezer doors wide open to allow the air to circulate…

Do as they do in hot countries. Windows closed & shutters / curtains closed in the heat of the day, then open at night.

Did you consider going upstairs as soon as it was cooler outside then indoors and opening the blind, curtains and windows in the bedroom? I am in exactly the same situation with my south-facing bedroom, and what I do is open the window once the worst of the heat has passed.

We have thermometers inside and out. It’s currently 27 degrees inside and 37 degrees out side, on the shady side of our house. Windows are shut, shutters are shut on the sunny side. On the shady side windows are still shut, shutters are open.

if he wants that cooling feeling of a breeze, use a fan inside.

Update: I came home and most of the house was nice and cool (apart from the conservatory, which currently doesn’t have blinds or curtains).

Then DH came home and opened all the doors. I could physically feel the heat coming in. But he’s refusing to close them.

Again today I did the same. It’s 29c outside and 22c inside today. I can feel the cool as I get inside

ask him what the logic is for letting all the heat in, you wouldn’t turn on the heating and open the windows

He’s now sitting outside (in the shade), so I don’t think he’s even aware of how hot it has got inside. He came home from work early as well, because it was so hot in his office (it has a lot of windows and no working curtains or blinds).

@ThatLassFromLeeds wow he's this kind of stupid ?

He can feel it's cooler but he won't have it. Oh dear.
@DancingLions you need to stop the sun hitting the glass on the outside.

Drape sheets or whatever outside.

I think it’s just become a “thing” now. I know he doesn’t like how it gets a bit stuffy with the doors etc closed, but this level of heat is making it stuffy either way. We’ve no breeze coming through, just heat.

And he isn't even in the house to get the non-existent benefit from his dumb actions.

Man's a nitwit. Tell him I said so!