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 🥵🥵🥵

Our living area has 15m (linear) of floor to ceiling glass, plus a very large roof lantern and it is south facing. It's 9.30am here and it's already 27°C inside. Yesterday it got upto 34°C inside, and it was only sunny in the afternoon.
Last year it went over 40°C on some days as we were unable to open the windows.
Now we're able to open them I'm hoping it won't be so bad. It is ridiculous though.

My house is 20 years old so technically not a new build, its a chalet style so our bedroom is in the middle third of the roof, with massive amounts of insulation either side (they originally didnt put the correct stuff in so came back and doubled up)...it's like the whole bedroom is covered by a massive duvet

Coupled with a stupid 115cm wide dormer window in a 23ft wide bedroom...yes it get's stifling hot and we have no luck with any of the suggestions, leaving curtains shut etc

I previously had an attic bedroom before I moved (both newbuild ish) and I will never complain about being hot indoors ever again. Sometimes that badly built attic room was over 40degrees you would feel it as you walked up the stairs hit you and you would sweat all night

My house doesn’t face the sun head on it is side on and my lounge and back bedrooms are pretty shaded but I keep the blinds closed most of the time in summer and this really cools it all down

I know someone who got environmental health involved because their new build was so hot. They went through some kind of lengthy legal process and as far as I understand it (this is all via Facebook rants), they moved and were compensated in one way or another. I can’t remember the exact temps but I remember seeing a photo of the temp recorded and being extremely shocked! I wonder if there are legal Max temperatures that you can use to show that the house design has caused it to be uninhabitable?

A friend of mine’s gets very hot too, and they pretty much just don’t go inside until really late, often have dinner as a picnic in the park etc as their flat is like a sauna. Never have people over as not only is it hot anyway, but more people make more heat and it’s unbearable. She’s never used her central heating in the 8+ years she’s been there! She did a little Christmas party once and it was like that episode of Friends where the radiators get stuck and the party becomes tropical.

God yes attic rooms must be crazy. I went up to my mum’s loft for something a few days ago and came out with something like a migraine. She called up and asked me to keep an eye out for something and I had to say I was grabbing the thing and getting straight down as I felt ill up there. The rest of her house was lovely and cool, so just goes to show how slight differences in the property can cause the environment inside to change.

We coped by spending a huge amount of money on proper AC for the bedrooms. Downstairs is still hot but can sleep in 18C which is a life saver. Was FIFTY DEGREES in our loft while they were installing it.

we are the only house in the street without a driveway. Some people have half garden and half driveway. But as you get down to the bottom of the road, where all the houses have floor to ceiliing driveways and no gardens whatsoever, you can feel the heat rise off the pavements.

Gardens and trees make a big difference to urban air temperatures. Soft landscaping and the surrounding communal space makes a big difference to newbuild quality.

Previous house was chalet style built in the early 1970s. The bedrooms were hot as hell in the summer and freezing in winter.

Current house was built about 300 years ago. Thick stone walls and small windows. I also installed 12"+ of loft insulation. It was cool enough to sleep under a winter duvet in the bedrooms all last summer.

Our new build is usually freezing. It’s nice to have some warmth in it.

I feel for you, OP. I used to live in a 1970s semi, with south facing patio doors in the living/dining room. It was so hot in the summer, I used to have to take cold showers several times a day!

The house I now live in is 100 years old and built from concrete blocks. It's cold! A couple of weeks ago we still needed the wood burner lit in the evenings. I do love it though on hot days, when I come home and open the front door and the feeling of coolness is so refreshing. It's currently 21 degrees inside - and 28 outside. I'm keeping windows closed and curtains drawn until after sunset!

We have air conditioning in Australia. Or a split system heating / cooling

We live in a new build semi. Our bedroom is attached and it's hotter than the Sahara in this heat. I ended up coming downstairs and spread out starfish style on the sofa bed. I left dh upstairs with a fan.

4th floor flat here and lounge and bedroom gets the sun all afternoon
24c outside
28c already in my lounge and the sun hasn't even hit it yet ...

I think there's a lot of ignorance on this thread. Insulation prevents heat from escaping but also from entering when the weather is hot. So unless you're running your central heating or doing a lot of cooking its a good thing. The problem w a lot of our buildings is that we don't build for heat (no overhanging roofs, no verandas, no shutters, no green roofs, poor air flow). We cut down trees and make urban heat islands. So yeah, lets not do things better in the face if global warming, lets slap in ac and burn some more fossil fuels, that'll help.

Not me personally but someone I know lives in a new build, it's her her partner and their dd who is 5 weeks younger than our ds. Whereas we live in a much older house. They say their new build lovely and warm in the winter but boiling in the summer when it's hot, so much so they have to have fans on and it can affect their daughter sleeping. I'm happier with our situation, at least our house doesn't get so hot in summer, and our son has no problems getting to sleep.

My friend did midnight charity pink bra walk in London many summers ago she said the heat off the ground and buildings was awful. So glad we live in a quiet green area, it must be hell.

We have a redrow house. Ours was built to keep the heat in when it’s cold and out when it’s hot, ours is about 10 years old, it’s hot but not unbearable

Get rid of carpets, keep the curtains / blinds shut but windows open, and out a fan in the room you’re in.

actually, check with a surveyor.
sounds like shoddy work.
a new built shouldn't be hot. it should be insulated very well as per legislation and it sounds like yours isn't.

Insulation will not stop solar gain getting in on a sunny day.

Place a bowl.of.cold water in front of the fan.

Shading, shading, shading. You need eaves or something protruding to stop the sun from heating not only directly in through the windows but heating the fabric of the house.

Call a properly qualified architect, really, is the best plan.

Why is a new build hotter than a normal house?

Better insulation than old houses. We moved in after the summer and didn't need the heating that winter as they keep the heat in really well.

We have lots of fans, blinds down at the front and all windows and doors open at the back 😁 It's oppressively hot upstairs!

" all windows and doors open at the back 😁 It's oppressively hot upstairs!"

open the loft hatch.

We don't have a loft @pigletjohn our bedroom IS the loft.