To ask how are people not dying in new builds with the heat?

[icantbreathehelp]

Our new build is a fu..ing joke!! We are actually going to have to sell our house before next year or live downstairs because it is so hot upstairs at night that a newborn baby would over heat and end up in hospital without a doubt!

How the hell are people coping with the heat in new builds? We live in a redrow house, we have to shut all the blackout blinds at the back and open all the windows at the front and even with 2 metal fans on its still like sitting in a sauna! I don't want to go to sleep because I am scared DC is going to over heat.

I cant cope 🥵🥵🥵

Try sleeping on a towel - it absorbs sweat during the night so you don’t sleep in a puddle - not cooler just more comfortable.

King size cotton sheet instead of a double sized cover so that there is plenty on the bed to kick off/gather up in your sleep.

Some forty years ago, ancient rellies moved into a new build bungalow so heavily insulated that two lights & a TV on, plus two sedentary people, meant the room became intolerably hot & stuffy - compounded by draft proof windows horizontally pivoted that barely opened. I vowed not to make the same mistake.

On a really hot days & nights here, the Dyson bladeless fan we splashed several hundred quid on comes into its own. It has multiple speeds, can be tilted, rotates if required & is silent. Completely silent. On hot hellish nights here, we get a decent nights sleep.

I don’t think this is particularly a new build issue. am currently living between two homes. One is 12 years old so relatively new build. With windows and internal doors open to create draughts it’s not too bad. The other is a loft conversion in a 250 yo building and the heat is unbearable. Last night I with a fan on and under a sheet that I had sprayed with water to try and keep coolish. It was originally a very big, grand house and my flat is part of what would once have been servants quarters so I guess they didn’t care if the servants cooked to death.

I'm in a small new build. @ofred they're warmer because the insulation is so good. They're quieter, warmer and drier which is fab in the winter but can be uncomfortable in the summer heat. My small sitting room faces south too which doesn't help.
My neighbour two doors down has an awning fitted above the patio doors which offers shade and this helps a bit.

I just hope I don't have a repeat of last years difficulty of locking the back door as it wouldn't behave - WD40 had to be applied. I may have to ask my next door neighbour to slam it for me as she's strong.

Getting off to sleep can be difficult. I keep the window on a 'night-latch' (locked slightly ajar) and the curtains closed which helps. I suspect the builders and architects didn't foresee this extreme heat.

I read the title and thought - did I post this while asleep?
We are also in a new build - have been for a few years now - and yes it’s bloody boiling. Fantastic in the winter, our bedroom is so hot we never put the radiator on (think we have once in the winter of 2018) In the summer it’s like a greenhouse.
We have strong fans, open all windows once it gets cooler at night, and keep the door open too for air. Hasn’t been so bad this summer as it’s not been that hot but last year was horrendous.

I open the windows at 7am & close them before 10 & shut the curtains.

Loft hatch open to allow heat to rise & as soon as it gets cool open all the windows.

I also have 2 fans.

I live in a new build in Australia. House is not too bad in summer, air con works well, cool flooring and faces away from the sun. No issues sleeping at night.

In winter it's bloody freezing. Ducted heating that barely warms the place, no sunlight, we're all waddling around in layers with hot water bottles.

Extractor fans in kitchen and all bathrooms on, plus quick rinse under cold shower before bed.

Sounds like I need a new build. I love the heat.

We used to have a portable air cooling unit, which we stored in the garage and then bought out : I stuck the pipe out of the patio doors, and it collected water. It was fab.

Since then we've had air con fitted in our lounge and our bedroom. Dh insisted. It's good.

Most British houses get hot in exceptional weather, our houses are insulated to keep heat in! I may sleep downstairs tonight as it will be 5 degrees + cooler but it was fine last night upstairs

Just buy an air con unit. Couple of hundred pounds on amazon. Game changer and worth every penny

We always sleep down stairs with the DC when its hot!

Wow, I’m never moving then!!!!
Our house is basically concrete, I moan to buggery about not being able to put nails in the walls etc without special fixings but in the summer I can be sat inside in jeans and a jumper as I’m a bit chilly and then when I go to pick the kids up everyone is in shorts and T-shirt because it’s boiling!!!! And in the winter it retains the heat quite well also.
It was built by the military around the time of the war I think as they built a munitions factory here. Behind us it’s now a training area but all the houses/flats were sold off.

It wasn't that hot yesterday though, I'm East Midlands, temperature in house now is 19.5 downstairs and 20.2 upstairs, today is forecast hot though, I live in 1930s house which sometimes gets hot upstairs when we have a heatwave for several days, reading this thread has completely put me off a new build house. We bought a Dyson fan to have on upstairs when it is very hot, it seems very good.

We used to shut all windows, curtains and doors all day and keep it cool and dark. Then around 8pm would start to open up. Yeah it was dark but it was wonderfully cool, also we had slate floor which we would sit on! Thankfully the new house has a north facing living room for summer and a south facing play room for winter

Our back door faces south west, it's a stable door and bizarrely if I open just the window part it's far cooler than opening the full door.

I also close all the blinds and we have wooden floor which is bliss, our cat is loving the sunshine so I have to leave one blind open for him. He could go outside but obviously as I cat why should he when I can pander to his every need 😻

It seems silly that by making houses more efficient it’s means people have to use more energy with AC units

Brit houses are built with 'keep the heat in' insulation to cope with wet and cold and wind

I had no idea that insulation could be selective like that.

We had cavity wall insulation done over 20 years ago. Not only did it reduce our gas bills by more than 10%, it made it cooler in hot weather, too.

It looks shite, but hanging wet tea towels (not dripping wet, obviously) in the windows behind the curtains helps to cool the air. It was actually one of the measures suggested for staying cool in 1976 drought, and it really helped in our attic flat.

My house was built in 1985 and is exactly as you describe - I don't think it's a new-build problem!

"I had no idea that insulation could be selective like that."

It can't.

But the sun shining through a window gives solar gain which warms the room even if it's already warm, and the insulation prevents the heat getting out.

Reflective blinds or shutters will prevent the sun shining in through your windows. Shading on the outside will be more effective than indoor curtains.

If you open a loft hatch or upstairs window, and something on the cooler side of the house downstairs, convection currents will rise through the house taking the excess hot air out. This will make the house about the same temperature as outdoors, so will not help if outdoor temperatures are very high.

In Australia I was advised to ventilate the house at night, then close it up tight with blinds drawn during the day, to keep the hot outside air getting in.

Making me glad for our lovely cool 1950's semi. South facing. Warm in winter. Cool in summer.
Boiler broke winter 2018 and temp didn't get below 15deg inside.

Its crazy that all these new builds have regulations designed to make the houses super efficient in terms of heating but everyone is forced to use the energy in summer instead on air con and fans just to be able to live there comfortably so no energy saving really.

In winter we don't even have the heating on through the night upstairs

We are in Scotland, in an much older house with less insulation than a new-build and we don't have ANY heating on overnight, ever. Why would you?

Insulation isn't just about keeping you warm; it works both ways and should help keep a house cooler in summer too.

In my experience, it's more about where you live. We used to live in central |England, miles from the coast. When it was hot, it was incredibly hot and sticky at night too. Now we're further north and closer to the coast, and even on the hottest day it's cool at night.

Installing air con for the two or three days a year when it's unbearably hot is ridiculous. And an environmental disaster.

Sounds horrendous!

Our new build is fine, presumably well insulated.

Our new built flat is fine. My parents' flat-roofed 80s bungalow is absolute hell on a hot day though.