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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To sleep with the windows open?

119 replies

SunSunGoAwayButNotCompletelyPlease · 18/06/2023 00:15

All the bedrooms are on the first floor and it's gets really hot and stuffy if we don't open the windows wide. It always makes me a bit uncomfortable though.

What do other people do?

OP posts:
EmpressSoleil · 18/06/2023 10:38

I got these for my sash windows
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fenestrelle-Expandable-Window-Screen-Replacement/dp/B08SR53FWM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=KUADCM6PTBAW&keywords=sash+window+screen&qid=1687080881&sprefix=sash+window+screen%2Caps%2C241&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

They work really well. I also have one of the screens linked upthread for my kitchen door. I have indoor cats so I needed to be able to let air in but make sure they couldn't get out.

Itsaknotat · 18/06/2023 10:46

I sleep with the windows open but I'm on the 1st floor. Wouldn't do it on a ground floor. I also have lockable windows when they're half open and bug screens.

BishopRock · 18/06/2023 16:38

Pinkywoo · 18/06/2023 08:38

Europe's a fairly big and varied place, the UK doesn't really have screens because it's fucking freezing most of the time but southern Europe definitely does. DH is from Sicily and every window is screened there because of the 70 million mosquitoes per square metre.

Show quote history

You can buy good screens in Netherlands DIY stores as well.

I'm investing in new windows soon and I really want them to have screens, so much easier with them

Fairislefandango · 18/06/2023 16:48

We have our bedroom windows open at least a crack all year round. At this time of year they are wider open. It would never even occur to me to be worried about doing this tbh. I live in the countryside but I always happily had a bedroom window open before moving to the countryside.

Beezknees · 18/06/2023 16:53

I don't sleep with them open. Purely because of the noise. I live on a main road and cars/buses go past all night. I can't sleep with that level of noise.

Spanielsarepainless · 18/06/2023 16:54

I've just come back from a very hot and sticky few days in a large town. My windows were wide open all night and in the daytime when we were there.

LakieLady · 18/06/2023 16:54

CC4712 · 18/06/2023 00:31

What do other people do?

I have a fan in the bedroom. I wouldn't have the window open at night in the UK unless there is a screen. Not only for mosquitos but bats.

I realise that might sound bonkers, but UK bats can indeed carry a type of rabies (Lyssavirus). I used to work in this area, and it was amazing how many people in the UK wake to find a bat flying around their bedroom and try to shoo it out and get bitten, or wake when they are bitten at night whilst sleeping! Then follows weeks of rabies vaccines! NO thank you.

I've always slept with a window open and never had a bat in the bedroom, or anywhere else in the house. And I've lived in 2 places where there were bats around.

I wake up with a headache if there's no fresh air coming in, which is why I never stay overnight at MIL's. She insists on everything locked down at night.

GenderCriticalTrumpets · 18/06/2023 16:55

I have mine closed at night unless it is very very hot due to my noisy bastard neighbours

cafecreme · 18/06/2023 16:59

I always sleep with the windows open. On my own as dh overseas.

nokidshere · 18/06/2023 17:02

I have the bedroom window open 24/7 365 days a year!

Me too. Can't remember the last time I closed them, it's been years

LegendsBeyond · 18/06/2023 17:02

Bats? I’ll have to shut my window at night now.

Gemstonebeach · 18/06/2023 17:09

I have window locks on mine and noone could get through the space, would never sleep with them wide open as I have a little roof over part of my patio and someone could easily climb on that and through the upstairs windows.

QuinnofHearts · 18/06/2023 17:10

No matter the weather, a window is open!

IrisGold · 18/06/2023 17:11

Mine are always open.
However last week some bumble bees set up home in the corner of the dormer. I don't care about insects normally but don't want bumble bees in my bedroom.
I bought this from Amazon and it's brilliant.
It's easily removed unlike the velcro ones.

IrisGold · 18/06/2023 17:12

Oh and I have had a bat in before. Took a while to catch it and evict.

Gherkingreen · 18/06/2023 17:13

Windows open most of the year, earplugs in to muffle noise. Eye mask on to stop the light from early sunrises.
It's really unlikely anyone will climb up a ladder to a second floor, top opening window to gain access to a house. Not impossible, but improbable.

Nofreshstarthere22 · 18/06/2023 17:17

Yes I wouldnt like that being on first floor. Fans? Ac unit?

Pigstrotter · 18/06/2023 17:22

Closed, don’t listen to them they’re just following the crowd in true MN fashion.

NerrSnerr · 18/06/2023 17:27

We live on the main road through our village with cars/ tractors all night and busses until midnight and from about 5.30am (that stop outside our house). I find you just get used to the noise.

Fairislefandango · 18/06/2023 17:37

Closed, don’t listen to them they’re just following the crowd in true MN fashion.

There isn't just one crowd. There is a massive 'scared of germs/strangers/dirt/insects/extremely unlikely dangers' crowd on MN which the 'windows closed' posters could equally be accused of following. Having your bedroom window open is a perfectly normal and healthy thing to do.

Thereoughttobeclowns · 18/06/2023 17:39

I once woke up to 3 fruit bats in my bedroom. But that was in Thailand.

In England, I am not worried about bats, spiders, burglars or homicidal maniacs with a ladder. I will risk all that for fresh and clean air all year round and never having a stuffy bedroom.

We have a holiday home in a country with a tropical climate. We have AC, but it just isn't the same as sleeping with proper, fresh air.

Original poster
SunSunGoAwayButNotCompletelyPlease · 19/06/2023 23:52

ThursdayFreedom · 18/06/2023 08:03

@SunSunGoAwayButNotCompletelyPlease

Do you mean Ground Floor, not first floor?

if you do mean first floor how do you think people are going to get in?

Show quote history

Ladder?

I do mean first floor but it wouldn't be that hard to get in. If it was the kind of window that opens from bottom to top (I think they might be called ventilators??) or if it was too small for a human to enter I wouldn't be bothered but with this one it would be quite easy to prise fully open and to then get in.

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 19/06/2023 23:55

SunSunGoAwayButNotCompletelyPlease · 19/06/2023 23:52

Ladder?

I do mean first floor but it wouldn't be that hard to get in. If it was the kind of window that opens from bottom to top (I think they might be called ventilators??) or if it was too small for a human to enter I wouldn't be bothered but with this one it would be quite easy to prise fully open and to then get in.

Show quote history

Opportunistic burglars don’t carry ladders. And if they did, it wouldn’t be very stealthy.

You really don’t need to worry about it.

AnyFucker · 20/06/2023 00:03

I have our bedroom and upstairs landing windows open. They are on the 1st floor though with smallish top openings. A burglar could theoretically get in but would make a shitload of noise.
The back bedroom window which overlooks the flat roof ground floor extension is kept closed and locked though.

Mars27 · 20/06/2023 00:38

I bought nets and strong Velcro from Amazon and voilà, I can keep my windows open all summer long and no mosquitoes, flies, moths or other God forsaken creature invading my home