To not open windows at home ALL THE EFFING TIME

[R1cciteddy]

My mum is driving me mad with this… she constantly has her windows open at home. No matter the weather. Strangely it’s the kitchen windows she keeps shut. She’s always having a go at me for not opening my windows enough. I’m sick of it I don’t want to freeze. I do sometimes open windows when it’s cold for a bit of ventilation but NOT ALL THE TIME! Yes, my dad pays the bills, not her. Ps my bathroom and kitchen windows are open often. Please help as I’m made to feel like a bad person and that my daughter will have respiratory issues when she’s older due to ventilation. Yes my mother is nuts so they will be open when she visits! AIBU not to open them enough!?

Windows open all year round here, I can't bear a stuffy house. And I'd never heard of trickle vents until a couple of weeks ago, apparently I'm getting them next week!

My house is drafty and old so I don’t feel the need - there’s plenty of air circulation even with the windows shut! If I had one of those hermetically sealed modern houses though I imagine I would open them a lot more. My SIL lives in a house like that and it’s very stuffy.

Humid spaces feel colder in winter and use more energy to heat. You'll save energy and feel more comfortable airing your house to ideal levels...50% give or take.

If you have trickle vents or an old drafty house, then you're likely fine. Opening windows in winter is a good thing though.

I open my windows wide all day even when it's -10. Not really, I just wanted to win the window opening competition.

Our windows are open all year, the trickle vents just arent enough to get fresh air in

It really depends on the property and other factors. We hardly ever open our windows, even in summer, and don't air our house. We do have extractor fans we use quite a bit. We don't have issues with mould, and the previous owners did. I figure it is because we keep the house on the warmer side and don't shut rooms off much.

In the uk here too. My windows are open all year round. A house needs fresh air, particularly when the heating is on. It dries the air out otherwise and gets stuffy.

They only need to be open a little bit - not wide open!

@CuriousCatfish Well I open mine all day and all night, even if there is a wind chill of -40 and the snow is falling through them into the house . Sorry. I win.

I don't think we have ever had all of our windows closed.

You need some ventilation.

Do you have trickle vents?

Then it'll just smell like wet dog and incense?

I have to open the upstairs windows (bedrooms and bathrooms) for at least a couple of hours during the day as my house is really damp and condensation builds up otherwise, especially in the winter. I also sleep with my bedroom window open 365 days a year.

I open the living room window while I’m hoovering and tidying because it feels nice to get the fresh air in. I don’t routinely leave the downstairs windows open but my back door is almost permanently open between kids and dogs playing outside so I get plenty of air in the house!

however op, my MIL has her windows open all
day everyday and it’s horrible going to her house because you can never get warm, you have to sit there with your jacket on and it’s still freezing because you are sitting still with gale blowing over you, so I don’t think YABU or your mother is anything like my MIl!

My DGM also opened her kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and landing window a crack each day, even in cold weather. It’s probably not that environmentally friendly (she’d often have the gas fire on in the sitting room all day at the same time), but it did make the house lovely and fresh and clean smelling.

We open our bathroom and DS’s bedroom window an inch or two each day to air out the rooms and tackle condensation, unless it’s very cold. I wouldn’t have them open while the heating is on though, that’s mad.

Wow I’m very surprised glad I posted… and we’re all in the UK here with the energy bill crisis? How will you pay when it gets really cold. And I mean having the windows open all the time?

don't have the heating on when you open the windows? Use a bit of sense.

and that dig about your dad paying the bills? shame on you

No wonder people on here are wearing thermals and sitting under heated throws if they have their windows open all day in the winter.

I think it's one of these things that everyone has a different tolerance for.

Personally my upstairs windows are open most of the year. I hate a stuffy bedroom. Heating is not on upstairs generally anyway.

Hate my house being stuffy, but I also don't feel the cold easily

I open the windows every morning, I need to air the flat and I hate it when it’s stuffy. Haven’t had the heating on yet as the flat’s pretty well insulated, but when we do obviously we don’t have both on at the same time! I have asthma and damp/mould really sets me off, so indoor air quality is a thing for me.

Your house, your rules.

One thing though-"my dad pays the bills, not her" WTF?

Your comment about your dad paying the bills and not your mum was crass.

I have windows open regularly. As many posters on here have said. Many of us live in double glazed , sealed domes and it's not healthy to just breathe our own recycled air.

Fresh air aids sleep . Our bedroom window is never shut, even in winter.

I agree. So many people saying their house doesn't smell even though they never air it. As if you ever go visit someone and they say "come in, my house stinks!" But sometimes it does though. It's so obvious those who never air out the rooms, their rooms smell stale, of poor air and peopleyness. It's not about cleanliness or BO or anything like that. It's a weird smell and it's always the same, unless it's also laced with chemicals from plug ins or similar. I hate it. I won't say anything but I won't return either. It's disgusting.

Bedroom aired in the morning and living room aired in the evening while I'm in the bath. Bathroom aired afterwards and kitchen after cooking or tumble dryer use. If I've had visitors for a few hours I'll air the living room after they've gone for 20mins, trickle vents aren't enough the air gets stale with everyone breathing it.

I always open windows for at least a few minutes a day. Otherwise my house would smell.

I am curious to know what these houses that get smelly actually smell of if you don't air them?

We very rarely open our windows, only when it's really hot, or there is an actual smell of eg paint, and our house doesn't smell or have mould or condensation. It's not a new house though, I think the chimneys must do the airing for us. Maybe this Is a problem for more modern houses with better insulation, lower ceilings and no chimneys?

I agree it feels like there is some kind of weird oneupmanship going on about opening windows, but I don't get why?

We haven't had the central heating on yet but it's getting chillier inside now and we would definitely need it on if we were opening windows every day. So in the absence of smells / mould / damp I prefer to keep them closed and save energy.

My windows are open all year round. A house needs fresh air, particularly when the heating is on.

You heat your house with the windows open? Absolute madness.

I don't understand the comments on thus thread saying 'well you don't air the house with the heating on'. It still reduces the temperature though? Let's say your house is 17 in the morning, you air it and it drops to 16. You then put the heating on for an hour. Surely your heating is then warming from 16-17, rather than 17-18, so your house is still colder or you need the heating on longer?

We don't air our house with windows much. We use extractor fans in the bathroom and kitchen, as DH says this is far better for mould than cold air rushing in. We have our internal doors mostly open and obviously go in and out the front/back door so air moves. Our central heating dries out the house but I see this as a good thing! We introduce enough moisture from drying washing, cooking, showers, breathing.

Clearly this is a polarising issue between those who prioritse fresh air and those who prioritise warmth. Or can afford the heating for both.

My bedroom and bathroom windows are slightly open all day. Close them at night, in winter at least, otherwise bloody milkman wakes me up. I don't open down stairs windows unless cleaning them! Though the back door is open quite a bit - especially if ironing. When I think about it, downstairs got a much better airing before dog died - back door frequently open for his benefit.

People don't lose their sense of smell just because it's their house. You can tell the difference between the air outside and the air inside. The plain fact is that in a house built with normal ventilation the air doesn't get stale or "poor" - what is poor air anyway, and how would you keep it in a house short of hermetically sealing it? Ditto any smell of "peopleyness". I suspect you've built up a bit of an obsession about this without ever checking whether it is true.

@BendingSpoons Our house will have cooled down in the morning anyway, and we are getting up so don't mind some nice fresh air. The heating doesn't go on until the evening when we get in. Fresh air helps it feel warmer overall, damp air is harder to heat. Our dd is £90, £23 with the government help.

I don't have heating so the windows stay shut. Got bloody great big air bricks that let lots of air in.