To get air con in our loft room

[Pollyforever]

After another night where I've hardly slept because of the heat I'm desperate. Our room is in the loft conversion and is insulated to a ridiculous extent to comply with building regs. It makes it unbearable in this heat. We've resisted getting air con because of its high use of electricity but I don't know what else we can do now to get some sleep! We've got two high powered fans but last night they barely made a difference. You can feel the heat like a blanket as you come up the stairs. Any ideas other than air con? Anyone got air con in a loft room?

I got it in my daughter's room and it's brilliant. Didn't do the loft as it would have looked awful on the dormer. The other unit is bad enough. I should have done loft whilst being built rather than retrofit.

You don’t have to mount it high up. We were recommended to have the outside unit on the ground floor so it’s more easily accessed for servicing. It also has an isolation switch which we wouldn’t be able to reach if it was high up.

Ummm but by that same principle you may as well leave the windows open then the cool night air cools down the room anyway…

My goodness, just buy a window kit from Amazon for £15! Your solution is totally unecessary

Sure if that works for you. Our loft doesn’t get nearly as hot with all the windows / curtains closed all day though, so less warm air to replace / cool down than if we leave them open. And the amount of houses that keep their curtains open in the heat of the day bemuses me! We live in a Victorian terrace and it stays cool most of the summer this way.

I live in a barn conversion with two upper floors and we had an air con unit installed about 5 years ago in my DD's bedroom which is on the second floor. It would have been unbearably hot in summer and freezing in winter for her otherwise. It's a small wall mounted unit in her room and the fan unit is at about head height on the back of the house on a little metal shelf that they drilled into the wall. The two units are attached by wires and tubing that comes down the side of the house, all quite discreet and relatively quiet.

I only regret not also getting the other bedroom that's on that floor done, as post pandemic it's now my DHs office and he's sweltering atm!

I'm so glad I did my early menopause in the Middle East where I am always 18 degrees cooled. I came for a 3 week visit in the UK during summer and left after a week. It's unbearable, stuffy and smelly then zillions of bugs if you open a window. We have already said we would only return with a toilet hose and AC in the house 😀

I think it really helps that our bedroom in the loft has roof windows on one side and windows in the dormer on the other side, so as soon as it gets cooler outside we throw open the windows and it cools down enough in the cross breeze for it to be comfortable when we go to bed.

We have Fakro blackout blinds on the roof windows, though - they are fab at keeping the light out but are like little radiators as soon as the sun hits them, so need to go up on the morning. There are shades you can get to go on the outside, but it's never hot enough days for me to look into it.

Why not buy one of those units that you fill with water & can add freezer blocks to? I had one in my old house as it was so well insulated we rarely ever needed the heating on even in winter, in summer I often resorted to sleeping downstairs until we got the unit.

Just an update, we got our aircon!! I love it! Best money I've spent for a long time!

I need Aircon. Definitely going to get a quote. Glad you're pleased with it OP

Thanks US AI for your ever so helpful post.

Are you in tampa?!

Ours is being installed next week. I can't fucking wait. Both our bedroom and my home office are in the loft conversion.

We have a portable freestanding unit right now, but it's noisy and inefficient because you can't properly seal the room. All it really does is take the edge off before you go to bed. We also have solar panelling which will basically pay for the running costs.

Ah flipsake I missed that I'd become victim to a zombie thanks to a bot. Sigh. Oh well, it's currently relevant, Lord knows.

Still thrilled for you! And jealous

Why don't people get solar panels for electric power for AC? Virtuous circle isn't it? YANBU but even even more NBU if you use green power.

Do it
We had 2 air con units installed 2 years ago in our loft conversion. It was retrospective as I didn't think we'd need it.

I was wrong 😑

How much hotter are loft conversions to normal rooms? E.g my bedroom was at 26 degrees yesterday (South facing window), kitchen was 22 (ground floor, North wall). I wonder how hot a roof room would get in comparison (thinking of building a South roof with velux, North facing dormer).

I think I'd have to have air con in there, luckily end of terrace so easier to run the pipes down the wall.

Well, probably because it's a big fat wad of up-front cash expenditure to do both, much less at the same time. Fortunately our solar has been in for a while, but it has several years to go before we fully recoup the installation cost. Aircon install is another thick chunk of change, but we consider it an investment in comfort and long-term potential value compared to the cash being eroded by inflation.

Depends on how it's clad, insulated, what direction it faces, etc. It's notably several degrees hotter than the floor below in my house. Generally, it's about the same as the outside temp during the day in summer even when we keep the curtains drawn, but it takes much longer to cool at night. This is A Problem when the outside temperature has exceeded 30.

This! I'm itching to set myself up as home cooling advisor.
Exactly what windows and doors do you have up there, window dressings and what do you do with them currently? Our house rarely gets above 22 although we're in the south with south facing windows.

Our house isn't a loft conversion, it was built with two rooms and bathrooms in the roof. The rooms are in the middle third of the roof, the walls are about five foot high, so there is considerable space in the side roof space either side of the room. Initially it wasn't insulated enough so more was put in, plus the inner walls are insulated. The effect is like a humungous duvet. It's not unusual to get to over 35 in the summer. The window in the south facing dormer is 115cm and only half opens,

We've tried all sorts of things, leaving curtains shut etc makes not a jot if difference. Our neighbours have put air con in. Bad picture of set up

Insulation should keep heat out, though? We have blackout blinds on windows, open windows on shady side of house and swap as light moves, open windows at night. It's not too bad!