Opening the windows

[Ainbake]

I see advice to open windows on every thread that's asking about how to make the home smell good. I returned from a work trip and noticed that my house is smelling a bit stale.

I need more information from people who open their windows daily!
Are we talking about flinging them wide open, or just a few inches? What about when it's raining or cold? And how long do you open them for?

I would suggest the opposite: that the fans of fresh air are more likely to be hardy when faced with low temperatures.

Our windows are always open, whatever the weather, to sit the house every morning. Then some stay open all day and I close others. The kitchen French windows are open most of the time until winter sets in and even the. I open them when I can.

And we have no intention of putting the heating on til mid November absolute earliest.

Bedrooms every morning to freshen - with bedding pulled back/before bed made. Bathroom as frequently as possible but at least for 20 mins after a shower. Kitchen when cooking to ensure smells leave. Do you empty your kitchen bin every evening OP to eliminate smells from there?

16 here today but warm enough inside to not need heating. We shut the windows lunchtime. Is 22 in kitchen at the moment.

Bedroom windows and bathroom are open most of the day but are closed at night. Living room and kitchen is harder - living room because we are directly onto the street and it’s noisy if windows are open. They are open for about an hour in the day. Kitchen windows are in an awkward position and hard to open, though one is permanently open in summer. We don’t have any heating on. It’s pretty warm still.

I’m in the SW. Met office has overnight lows of 14 for most of this week. Couple of days when it drops to 11.

Bedroom window opened all the time unless it gets very very cold. Bathroom most of the time unless it’s windy (which is a lot of the time here tbh). The rest probably get opened for a bit in the morning. But not necessarily everyday because I forget.

It was 18.5c in the NE today so I can believe people have had temps of 21c.

Bedroom windows are open every morning in the cold when the curtains are opened. I normally closed them about an hour later. When it’s warm they are open most of the time.

I’m terrible at getting organised to open the downstairs windows.

Don’t you worry about burglars?

I usually open three or four windows for at least half an hour every morning (sitting room, a bedroom window which faces central bit of landing, main bathroom, loo with side-facing window: creates air movement)

We don't have heating on until evening, so I don't think it's making a huge difference to consumption.

To the people who open their windows all day. Surely you don’t ever put the central heating on then?

I don't open the windows all day but I wouldn't put the heating on if they were not long shut. I pretty much always check around upstairs if I put the heating on to make sure no windows are open. It's not really been cold enough for heating yet though and we haven't had a winter in this house so I don't know what it will be like

All upstairs windows and kitchen window constantly on 'the tilt' of the tilt and turn, unless we get to proper cold.

Open the back door on weekends and in the mornings I am on a late shift. Front door if I'm feeling the a need.

I live in an old Victorian terrace. If I don't ventilate the damp gets in and never leaves. Plus I prefer a fresh cool house rather than a warm/hot stuffy one.

I have our bedroom windows open all the time, just a few inches. We don’t have the heating on in there, we like a cold bedroom.
Out garden is south facing and we have a conservatory which is like Mordor even on an inclement day so have had the doors open all day lately as it’s been mild, once it gets chilly I’ll just open the windows for an hour or two to get the air moving.

I open a window in every room first thing in the morning to let some fresh air in. I usually close downstairs ones after an hour or so and leave upstairs ones open all day unless it's exceptionally cold.

Also open the back door and kitchen windows for cooking to let the smell of cooking out.

Its recommended in Germany to open all windows for 10mins each day even below freezing. Changing the air out gets rid of damp and makes it more efficient to then heat. Heating damp rooms costs more and doesn’t get as warm.

Oh and for the OP, every window open for 20mins each day. Of its below freezing thats it, if not then I keel an eye in teh thermostat and how quickly the temp is dropping and if its sunny or not etc and how quickly will reheat.

Threads like this explain why a lot of people have insanely high heating bill
We don't have windows open whilst heating on.

Don’t you worry about burglars?
We're home all day, but when we go out we shut them.

Like others, I like to have all windows open in the morning until I get cold.

In mild weather, I wouldn't close them at all. In the heatwave, though, I adopted the fridge approach and kept everything shut until about 10pm when it was finally cool. I would deliberately stay up until 1am with all the doors and windows wide open to draw the cold, fresh air in for the next day.

In the kitchen, I like to have the back door open as much as possible.

I've got no heating on at the moment, so I'm not worried about wasting energy yet.

I have the bedroom window open all night.
The windows are all closed when we are out but the first thing either of us do when we get home is open the windows. Even when it’s freezing. Only for about 20 minutes thought when it’s cold.

We always have one fanlight in the bedroom window open at night. If we've forgotten for any reason I wake up with a dry throat. We never have heating on at night.

I keep all upstairs windows open - two floors up so very little security risk. Bedroom window open as much as possible, only shut when its very windy as I live near the sea on a hill. I like my bedroom cold

Fling all the others open as much as possible - front door, back door - to get a good air flow through.

I'm a bit obsessed with keeping the humidity level down in the house - big fan of Pete Ward and the Heritage House site. It's one of the most effective ways of preventing damp.

To the poster saying we must have astronomical heating bills - not true. Firstly I live mid-terrace so benefit from less external walls. Secondly, a properly aired house heats up more quickly as there is less humidity in the air, damp houses use more energy to get to comfortable temperatures. So more often than not once I've closed downstairs windows and put the heating on it's off within the hour as it gets too hot, plus retains the heat for ages.

I simply can’t correlate this against the people trying to heat their homes and can’t afford it, if I opened my windows and doors like this it would be very cold at home and deeply, deeply uncomfortable

I have the bedroom window open all night.
Me too! I like a cold room and warm bed.

I can’t understand how people can sit in a stuffy house all day.