To think buildings in the UK need to be adapted to this heat?

[Glaceonn]

I know I’m not alone in this, I wonder how it is in high rise flats? My flat is 40 degrees plus in some rooms. What is the answer though because air conditioning as standard would make environmental issues even worse.

There’s no air conditioning in hospitals, care homes, on the tube, buses as far as I know.

Some people simply can’t cope in this heat, I know I’m speaking from a biased viewpoint but I’m not the only one. I can’t remember the last time I wore a jacket in the day, so it’s not just ‘a few days of heat’ where I am.

It’s making me have panic attacks, there is barely any air. If it was extremely cold but we had no heating, we’d be able to expect our landlord to make the place warmer for us.

I’ve had one hour of sleep and can’t articulate my thoughts very well!

@Glaceonn
yes definitely. You really have to keep the hydration up and still avoid the heat of the day/close curtains and so on but at least you can get cooling by sweat evaporation.

[quote VanillaSpiceCandle]@Glaceonn fair enough. I read it as though you thought it should be mandatory! I am obviously concerned about the environment like most people are. But lots of people forget the hidden environmental costs - I learn something new every day.

You should definitely mention it to your GP. You really shouldn’t feel this ill in this temperature. It’s not normal and makes me think it could be really dangerous to you. Also having panic attacks because of it is a medical issue so you should be offered some help as it’s not fair to feel like this. If you’re not sleeping either you could have an accident. The list goes on.

Anyway my tip would be a wet t shirt sitting in front of a fan. Also a cold wet flannel on the back of your neck helps you cool down more quickly.[/quote]
When you say feeling ill in this temperature, do you mean outdoors or our indoor temperature? Because indoors it really isn’t pleasant at all in this flat, it’s much much hotter than anyone else’s house or flat I’ve been in before. Yes I’m already dropping things and not concentrating, I put a wash on last night with no washing powder or conditioner.

Will try the wet T-shirt and fan, I forgot about that it sounds amazing.

I hope you're feeling better soon, too, @Glaceonn. When the rain comes, we can all go and dance in it.

Do stick your hand out and feel if the air is colder outside than in. If you need to open them and the sun is on your windows, you can keep the curtains drawn but the window open. Obviously if it's hotter outside, keep them shut until the evening.

You can also put the fans in front of the windows to exchange the air more quickly, just face the fan inside or outside depending on where you want the air to move.

If the humidity is bad, I would avoid drying washing inside, make sure to air out the bathroom after a shower, and always put lids onto saucepans when cooking (you may already know). If you have extractor fans make sure they are working and switched on.

Also lots of cold showers, put ice cubes and water bottles in the fridge/freezer and do stick your feet in a washing up bowl with cold water if you're really suffering - hopefully it'll pass soon.

Aircon is a BAD idea because it will make it hotter for everyone (unless exclusively powered by renewable energy). Then you get the haves and have nots who cannot afford it etc.

You need shutters, smaller windows, paint houses (and roofs) white to reflect heat, green roofs, more trees to shade homes and streets, close curtains and windows when hottest. We need to accept that a midday break is needed like in Spain, and do more things early and late when it is cool.

My house is an old 16thc stone cottage and it stays cool all day. As does my partner’s brick 50s ex council house. We used to build for thermal comfort far better than we do now.

We're looking at getting air con. We've been quoted around 1.5k so have a bit of saving to do, but I have a heart condition that's exacerbated by heat.

People always say we only get a day or two so it's not worth it but I'm definitely I'll more than once or twice a year so to us it'd be worth it.

We're south east so do get a lot of warm weather. (anything over 25 is a problem for me)

Trees make a huge difference so stop cutting them down!

@Amdone123

I hope you're feeling better soon, too, *@Glaceonn*. When the rain comes, we can all go and dance in it.

Thank you! Yes, can’t wait for some rain!!! Maybe this afternoon, not sure if it’s the same where you are but we can hope 🤞

@housenerd

Do stick your hand out and feel if the air is colder outside than in. If you need to open them and the sun is on your windows, you can keep the curtains drawn but the window open. Obviously if it's hotter outside, keep them shut until the evening.

You can also put the fans in front of the windows to exchange the air more quickly, just face the fan inside or outside depending on where you want the air to move.

If the humidity is bad, I would avoid drying washing inside, make sure to air out the bathroom after a shower, and always put lids onto saucepans when cooking (you may already know). If you have extractor fans make sure they are working and switched on.

Also lots of cold showers, put ice cubes and water bottles in the fridge/freezer and do stick your feet in a washing up bowl with cold water if you're really suffering - hopefully it'll pass soon.

This is great advice, thanks so much.

for best relief put a wet towel on your feet and point the fan down to your feet.

@SisterBeaverhausen

We're looking at getting air con. We've been quoted around 1.5k so have a bit of saving to do, but I have a heart condition that's exacerbated by heat.

People always say we only get a day or two so it's not worth it but I'm definitely I'll more than once or twice a year so to us it'd be worth it.

We're south east so do get a lot of warm weather. (anything over 25 is a problem for me)

Oh I hope you do manage to get it, it sounds like it will really help you. Maybe air con as standard is a bad way to go, so maybe instead there could be grants available if someone has health issues make the heat worse.

Buy an old house, ours was built in 1730 and has foot thick stone walls

The problem with older houses is that they get hammered for energy efficiency. Unfortunately, their ability to stay cool without wasting energy on air conditioning isn’t taken into account.

@MrsPnut

Buy an old house, ours was built in 1730 and has foot thick stone walls and high ceilings. It’s cool in summer and warm in winter.

This is exactly what I’d like to do, if only it was in any way possible! 😁

@Sparrowsong

Trees make a huge difference so stop cutting them down!

Wow that photo is very revealing about the way cutting trees down is affecting things.

@Sparrowsong

Aircon is a BAD idea because it will make it hotter for everyone (unless exclusively powered by renewable energy). Then you get the haves and have nots who cannot afford it etc.

You need shutters, smaller windows, paint houses (and roofs) white to reflect heat, green roofs, more trees to shade homes and streets, close curtains and windows when hottest. We need to accept that a midday break is needed like in Spain, and do more things early and late when it is cool.

My house is an old 16thc stone cottage and it stays cool all day. As does my partner’s brick 50s ex council house. We used to build for thermal comfort far better than we do now.

I will admit to buying a free standing air con unit this week, I have covid and can't leave the house and the though of having a fever in the heatwave tipped me over. My energy supplier is allegedly 100% renewable - Pure Planet - does this offset it

@WorldsBestBoss

Depends what part of the Uk - south of England could definitely do with air conditioning in homes. Scotland never really gets hot enough for it to be worth it. Can't comment on other areas as not lived anywhere else long enough to know.

It does get hot sometimes in Scotland when they built the new eri in Edinburgh it was boiling and no air con. I went in for monitoring for a few days at 37 weeks pregnant and it was awful. Not enough fans for all the patients either. I think new builds should have ways to cool down as well as retain heat.

Ceiling fans. Especially in bedrooms. Silent and an utter godsend. Plus point is they keep the Mozzies off

Oh and you can put ceiling fans on winter mode. They pull the heat from the ceiling

Didn't have a choice but to get a new build flat with huge glass windows, and supposedly all very eco-friendly, which is a joke as it gets so hot in here as a result (30 degrees even when outside it's 16!) that I have to use a portable air con. Even that doesn't seem to make much difference - I turned it on yesterday when it was 27 on the thermostat, and it didn't change that at all, although it did feel nice and cool when I stood right in front of it.

Leasehold, so can't put up shutters, external blinds, awnings, etc. I have a parasol covering one of the windows but it seems to make no difference. I tried some of the films but that didn't help either and just peeled off and looked awful.

I would love to get proper air con, but I can't see that being allowed either because of leasehold. They'd rather we suffer in temps that are above health and safety ideals! I don't know what the air con would cost either - I think it's less the installation cost and more a problem with the ongoing electricity cost, too. And environmentally I know it's not great, but neither is the portable one - in fact that might even be worse as it's on for so long to try and make any difference (and it's noisy).

Very little cross ventilation, and as I'm ground floor, it wouldn't be safe to leave windows open at night anyway. I do keep the blinds closed as much as possible, all day in some rooms, which feels like a cave.

We need to be allowed to do things like external shading, or have that built in to new building, if they don't want us to end up using air con. And fewer of these floor to ceiling windows!! Or just let us install air con now that we have no choice, and just hope that we can get eco friendly energy companies - and do better for future new buildings!

@Sparrowsong

Trees make a huge difference so stop cutting them down!

Yeah. This is why there has been an uproar few years back when city let developers demolish park and trees between taller buildings.

You can see this in a garden too. The patio, if it's tiled, will always be considerably hotter than grass area.

I really enjoy seeing pics of the green buildings, with plants incorporated.

For anyone saying it only a few days try doing a 12 hour shift in full
PPE in a hospital that has no a/c.

I love the tree photo. Astrotrurf is a big culprit, too - if you've ever had your bare feet on it, it's scorching! Lawn is much better for our environment for so many reasons.

I'm chuckling a little at the thought that all older houses are more energy efficient or well-insulated. I think the thick walls just pass the heat through more slowly in the summer so you don't notice it after a few days. They can definitely be retrofitted to be more efficient though, and because they're often poorly insulated to start with, the difference can be quite noticeable for not a lot of investment.

I think in an ideal world our regulations would be strict enough to stipulate that all new houses must be passive houses. They work completely without heating or cooling, and can be calculated to be comfortable all year round. And yes, you can open the window in a passive house - no problem at all.

It does get hot sometimes in Scotland when they built the new eri in Edinburgh it was boiling and no air con. I went in for monitoring for a few days at 37 weeks pregnant and it was awful. Not enough fans for all the patients either. I think new builds should have ways to cool down as well as retain heat.

Oh I know - I had a particularly hot night last night, but it was bearable, whereas other areas in the UK I have found unbearable.
I had my dc in a hospital in the South East in a heatwave one July.
48 hour labour with only a small fan......and they kept telling me not to drink so much water in case I needed to go to theatre! It was an experience! You'd think the ERI would be architecturally cool as it's fairly new?

@cushioncovers

For anyone saying it only a few days try doing a 12 hour shift in full PPE in a hospital that has no a/c.

I can't even imagine. Thank you so much for doing this job 🙏🏼

@housenerd from what i gather astroturf is also a flood risk. On top of plastic rafiotor essentially