Can't stand the heat in my house anymore, any advice please I'm desperate!

[ColdandFrosty1]

Shameless posting for traffic sorry!

My house is ridiculously hot in this weather (currently at 29 degrees) and I honestly can't stand it anymore and have no idea if I can cope throughout the summer! It's all on one floor with open plan living/dining and 2 bedrooms. There is no shade anywhere from near by trees. The sun rises and shines directly into one side of the house and then from the afternoon it shines directly into the other side of the house leaving it all boiling. There are no big houses or buildings that can provide shade.

Fans do nothing but blow the hot air around and same with the windows (unless There is a nice breeze). I've tried white and black black out blinds which only helps a little. My front door is boiling hot to touch.

This must seem so trivial to most people but I'm spending these hot days miserable and uncomfortable and have been contemplating living elsewhere in the summer. Cooking dinner is hard with the extra heat as is running my sons bath, its making me angry and irritable too

Any tips would be appreciated so so much!

Not sure if it's been mentioned but the heat reflective film works really well. I bought adhesive one from Lidl which is fab and makes so much difference but could be an arse to get off (old windows so don't care) I have cling version on the newer windows, not quite as good but that could be just the one I purchased if that makes sense.

Makes the room a bit darker but lighter than if you had curtains shut

Our bedroom in the attic extension is like this when we have a heatwave. We had to buy an air con unit. We bought when it wasn’t the summer so slightly cheaper. I think ours was £2/300 pound. It’s unbearable otherwise.

Same. South facing kitchen / dining / sofa area with a glass roof and whole wall of windows. Sounded fantastic in the winter when I had it built
Can't stand it. Genuinely can't cook in there never mind eat sometimes. Tv area was pointless can't see the screen and I just hate it.
Funny as I love the heat - on holiday. Daily life. God no.

try a big 2L bottle of ice in front of your fan too.

@covilha that really made me laugh

Could you put an umbrella outside? I live abroad and it gets into the 40's in summer. We bought a massive umbrella and I put it up at lunchtime when the sun comes round the back of the house. It really helps. We also have shutters on some windows but they aren't cheap.
My neighbour has an awning.
Also as everyone else says don't cook, eat stuff you can microwave or do stuff from slow cooker. I also have a rice cooker so I can avoid pans and heating the stove or we eat salads.
Open everything overnight/in the morning.
Don't bath your son every day.
Do the bare minimum of housework and only first thing in the morning.
Put your wrists in cold water and spray water on your face and neck from one of those cheap spray bottles you can buy from IKEA.
Hope you get some relief.

Definitely get some stick-on window film to block the sun

Tint the windows

@Hankunamatata

www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plumbing/air-conditioning/cat840494

Screwfix have an air cooler for £60 it's like a fan but you add water and ice

We have this and I can confirm it's brilliant, my son's room is in the loft and it's by far the coolest room in the house when we use this. Life changing for him as he HATES the heat.

Our air con unit has been the single best purchase ever. It only really cools one room - but means I can sleep undisturbed, it has been life changing!

If it's unaffordable- pre air con unit I would dampen muslin cloths left over from baby & lay them on me. Not the best solution, but helps

Following all this with interest. I absolutely hate the heat and cannot tolerate it at all. Spend a lot of time feeling very ill in the sun so these ideas are welcomed.
Hope you get some relief OP x

If you have a loft, open the hatch at night. And put it back up during the day. It works like a dream in my firey furnace house.

During the day, especially while WFH, I try and get air flow with windows and back door open. Am sat here with fan in front of me right now. (Just a cheap tower fan, but it does help)

Keep the windows and blinds/curtains closed during the hot part of the day. Open them in the evening when it is cooler.

I don't drive and town is q half hour walk away with a very sleep hill each way the shops definitely help but the hill on the way back kills me off before I get into the heat of my house gahhh

Thank you so much to everyone's replies they've all been super helpful and I wish I could reply individually! Unfortunately I'm on the first floor with no/limited garden but a nice outside play space for my son (that i don't own but all the kids use it) so I can't even really put temporary structures up! If I did have a garden I'd just pur a huge umberella or gazebo up and sit under that most the day! I'm lucky as I stay with my mum a few nights a week so she can take little one to nursery while I go to work and she has a lovely big shadey garden with a kitchen extension so we can just wonder in and out.

I think with a bit of saving/sacrafise/borrowing I could get the air con unit, I do have some birthday vouchers and money to use up too!

External shutters. But pricey but if you get the ones that are a bit like external roller blinds, then no need for internal blinds/curtains. We had them on our house when we lived abroad. It was regularly over 35 degrees for several weeks in the summer. We kept the blinds shut during the day and the house stayed cool. Opened them in the evening to air the house. Didn't have any other blinds etc. They were brilliant

We get the sun in our lounge all afternoon. I know it's best to keep windows and curtains closed. But I find opening the windows and hanging a damp towel/sheet/duvet cover up over the window then pointing a fan, with a bowl of ice in front of it, at the window, really cools the room down. Bonus that it dries your towels/bedding.

I'm feeling happy about my north/ east facing flat. Freeze my knickers off in winter. Nice and cool in summer.

Please don't aggravate this climate issue by buying energy slurping aircons. Aircon is absolutely horrid for the environment, and just makes things worse, further trapping us in this downward spiral. They really are not a long-term solution. I really sympathise with you, OP, as DP and I live in a poorly insulated house, which is a total sun trap. So I understand the temptation to get one, but please try more sustainable solutions first. A lot of the ones mentioned above are very sensible, re covering the windows, airing through at night, cooling off through foot baths, etc.

See www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-air-conditioning-trap-how-cold-air-is-heating-the-world for the damage aircons do.

Ooh sorry!! It's a mix of both, its one of those ones with garages underneath it. Mine has an internal door and the garage is the only cool room its lovely! I've completely redone it with new floorong etc and its a play room now which we love. Thanks for the advice too! I don't live directly looking out onto a road but could it also not be a fire hazard?

Air con?

I loathe the heat. I am also a Celt so it’s not my fault. My advice is live on beans and save up for aircon. I have my face strapped to mine and it’s stopped me from killing everyone.