To ask how you are keeping your house cool in this heat

[ER1992]

I live in a mid terrace house which holds the heat well in cooler temperatures so in the current heat it is ridiculously hot.
I have a 9 month old who's bedroom thermometer is currently reading at 28 degrees. Has anyone got any tips on how I can cool this down before his bedtime?
I have kept the curtains shut all day with the window open and have just set a fan going for the afternoon

I keep the blinds closed when not at home, luckily our house lies back slightly so we are quite shaded.

I think people are confusing windows shut with curtains shut. I definitely agree with keeping the sun out via curtains, but you need the air to circulate through open windows.

No they are not. Windows must be shut when it is hotter outside than in. Open when sun is down and temp drops.

If you have dark curtains lined with a dark backing then I am afraid the sun shining on them will make the room warmer. We have all windows shut and blackout lined curtains drawn. I do however have the kitchen bifolds fully open all day. Kitchen is hot, rest of house feels much cooler inside. But otherwise fans. Move around air - it's better than nothing.

Slate and quarry tiled floors, blinds and windows open, constant cross breeze from the sea :) it’s warm but comfortable.

My life changed since getting ceiling fans. We got them at the start of this summer, only £30 from Argos. They’ve been a lifesaver. Not much help for you now but you may want to consider getting them in the future.

For now, freeze some bottles of water and put them in front of the fan to cool down the room. Also, fill the sink wi5 cold water with some ice chucked in. Soak a towel and drape it over the fan. Also helps to cool a room down

Windows and curtains closed until the air temperature is cooler than the house and the sun has gone down. Then open all the windows.
Consider sleeping downstairs if you can (DC sleep in the dining room when it's really hot).

Windows closed from 9:30am -ish on the sunny side, curtains closed.

Only reopen when air feels cooler outside. Windows opened on the other side until air feels warm.

If one bedroom really gets too hot, I would relocate the baby for a few nights. My kids bedroom barely reaches 24 at the moment.

It's a balmy 31 degrees in the bedroom today [/sarcasm].

The floorlength black curtains have been shut for weeks, as have the dark wooden blinds downstairs.

The back door is open. I've had two cool showers already and gone back to lie down in front of the fan with dripping wet hair - some moisture has been absorbed by the (cheap foam) pillow, so that is staying slightly cooler.

I've had an iced coffee and I'm floating about in a silk dressing gown turned inside out for the shiny surface to be against my skin.

I will not be setting foot outside the house until much later or earlier tomorrow - and the most appealing place at present is either an airconditioned server room or in a supermarket by the chiller cabinets.

Tonight, I will be doing something I discovered purely by accident last night - I had an awful, burning, deep itch on one of my insteps and the only thing that stopped me wanting to amputate was wrapping a freezer pack in a T-shirt and placing it against my foot. Not only did it stop the burning feeling, it kept the rest of me so much cooler, I actually slept for around ten hours for the first time in years.

If it gets any worse, there will also be standard freezer packs under our pillows.

A cool breeze only feels cool because it is moving the layer of heat around your body, the air is still 30deg.

But 25 deg stale air, feels worse than 30 deg moving air.

I left curtains and windows closed this morning. Came back at 3 and the house is boiling hot. Opened all the windows and the warm breeze moving through makes the house a nicer place to be.

Cieling fans are nice but need installing, A small rotating, thats the one that moves around whilst staying still, can be very effecitive, and dont cost that much and are pretty cheap to run too:)

Definitely windows shut.

Keep the warm air out, cool air in.

Passiv haus tip...

In France. Currently 40 degrees.
All shutters and curtains and WINDOWS shut.
However if your house is already as hot as outside, you may aswell keep them open. Try and find a path to let air blow through house.
Tonight, once outside air temperature drops; open all windows; let hot air out. Fill house with coool,air; then tomorrow keep windows shut.
Read on a previous thread a few years ago to open the loft hatch and let the hot air go in there.

Justaboy

True ceiling fans need installing, but most fit on to the existing light fixture. It’s relatively simple. Took dh about 15 mins and he’s not great at diy!

I never understand why we haven't got shutters in this country!

Most places are still not so hot, and they cool down at night. That's when you want to open the windows fully, don't wait for mornings.

I do feel sorry for people living near motorways or very noisy roads who can't open their windows because of the noise. It must get quite unpleasant at this time of year.

It's not that hot to be honest.

Our bedroom is in the loft as well.
The problem with having windows wide open at night is unvisited furry visitors, ie cats. It's hard to tell who is more alarmed when NDNs cat thumps in through the window, me or cat.

Keep the curtains shut but close the windows between the hottest hours of the day- opening them in the evening and through the night to let the cool air circulate.

Try not to go outside, cool water play indoors!

Not being funny but how does keeping your windows closed during the day help. Sounds absolutely horrendous. I don't want to sit in a hot dark house all day.

We have kids sleep downstairs when iys mega hot x

i live in wales on a mountain with forests all around and the mountain behind so we do get fresh clean air

its been 32-35 degrees here and ive all the windows and doors open but even though the air is fresh its hot air

i bought a £60 5ft tower fan off amazon the other day and its great as it spins 360 and is fast cold air which is great

my village and the surrounding ones are being plagued by big fat house flies the last few weeks

All sash windows wide open & slatted blinds three quarters of way down l, tilted so no light thru that bit. Noticeably cooler than outside when I came back from corner shop.

It's a very pleasant 23 indoors at the moment with all the doors and windows shut. Curtains open. The weather station is showing 37 outside.

Not being funny but how does keeping your windows closed during the day help. Sounds absolutely horrendous. I don't want to sit in a hot dark house all day

It stops the hot air coming in. It's not dark either, our windows are transparent.

Not being funny but how does keeping your windows closed during the day help

Because you should have had them open all night, when the temp drops to about 20c, then open all the downstairs windows and doors early and leave them open until about 9.00am, or when the temp starts to rise, then close all windows and curtains, and the ambient temp in the house is still around 20c, when the temp outside is then 30c. It works. Honestly.

Badly. I shut the south facing dini g room curtains and open the north facing windows. Ds2 Comes down, turns off the washer, ope s the curtain and closes the window. He goes back up so I put it all right again until the next time he comes down.

DS1 meanwhile, refuses to close the curtains in his south facing bedroom. This reminds. E that I need to change the ice block in front of his fan.

I live in Spain. We're upper 30's at the moment and last week was 42 one day. It's shit. Having a fan on is just like sitting in front of a hairdryer. As of last week we have aircon, but in the years before that we just have the blinds down in the hottest part of the day.
We had DT's here and when it's hot we just had them in nappies all day every day.
Ice bottles are good and we keep a few in the freezer to put on our backs.

‘Not being funny but how does keeping your windows closed during the day help’

because you’ve circulated cool air inside all night and then when it’s absolutely boiling you’re not circulating that air around your house as well as your house being heated up by the sun.

Oh and keep moisturiser in the fridge. I keep a big bottle of cocoa butter in there and when it crazy hot put a good amount on my legs and arms. It definitely helps.