Are your houses cool or hot in this heat?

[meadowquark]

I just moved into 1960s house several months ago. It is terribly hot inside even though we keep the windows open. I moved from a Victorian terrace which was cool if there was no direct sun shining at the room. I cannot remember boiling like this. Is it the weather, or is it the house structure?
Will I benefit from a warm house in winter?

Lovely cool Victorian terrace! Sorry! And that's with direct sun too. Sash windows, open at the front, with open back door = great through-breeze.

Nice and warm in winter too...

Amazing really - the terraces were built as cheap mass housing, and yet somehow we lost that efficiency. It does put me off more modern houses.

We have just left a 60s house. They tend to have very large windows and so they do heat up if in direct sun.
And I think the advice is to keep windows closed and the curtains drawn to keep out the heat. My house was considerably cooler than outside today. opening the windows would just have heated it up. Going to open done soon for a breeze now it's dropped to 25 degrees out there!

We've just opened our loft hatch and its helping cool the house down a bit.

We have an 80s house with wall to wall carpet - it gets boiling hot in this weather!

30's semi, south facing at the back. It's 27 degrees in the bedrooms and showing no signs of coming down, although there is a rather large thunderstorm happening now. Poor DD has a wooden blind, blackout linings and curtains all closed today but it's made no difference.

We used to have a 60's house, sunshine house's they call them round here because of the big windows. It was boiling in summer and not bad in winter.

Our house is 12 years old. Quite cool today. Had the curtains drawn and windows shut at the back (gets the sun from 12 ish onwards) but opened this evening and there's a nice breeze. It's definitely been a lot cooler than outside.

I'm in a Victorian conversion, wearing not much, with all the windows open and wondering which box set to watch all night. Not cool here at all

It is the warmest abode I've ever had, even without the current conditions. Fab in winter, grim in summer. The light is gorgeous though, ceiling height etc, so it is worth it!

C17th cotswold stone cottage is cool inside, but the stone is still warm to touch outside.

in the winter we are COLD. fires lot from breakfast until bedtime.

lit, obviously

We are in a Victorian semi. New extension at the back is north east facing and lovely and cool. Our bedroom is at the front and is south west facing and is BOILING ????

We live in a timber framed modern house. It's cool in summer and toasty warm in winter.

Oh, good point. We still have no curtains on some windows. Must get some asap!

Late 80s slightly eccentric one-off. The house, not me (I'm early 70s vintage ). Our big east-facing bedroom has smallish windows and a velux and is reasonably cool. The three west-facing bedrooms are pretty warm. DD's had the portable aircon on in hers but has insisted I close the windows because of noise and bugs. Despite having woken up hot at 3 this morning.

Downstairs is fine, 25 earlier and 24 now, which feels okay, especially in contrast to 30 outside earlier. Mostly open plan, smallish east facing window in the shade, west-facing sliding doors that fall into the shade of the house behind from about 4pm.

It was bloody cold in winter though (our first here). Inadequate insulation (part fixed, old windows (replaced) and inadequate central heating (not fixed).

My parents' Cotswold stone end-terrace is divinely cool in this weather.

Extremes here......

Top two floors absolutely baking. Ground floor like an ice box!

Detached three-storey 1850s house with two-storey 1920s extension. All but three of our twenty-odd windows face South but the house is built into an escarpment so the ground floor is quite subterranean :@)

I'm currently sitting in the first floor 'snug' (and by Christ it is!) with four windows and one external door open and it's roasting......

Trouble is my internet is crap on the cooler ground floor.

Posted too soon!

This is definitely by far the hottest house we've lived in - our last place was an old stone house with 18" thick walls and the only hot room was our over-insulated kitchen extension. Previous Victorian houses have all been reasonably cool in Summer.

1920s here. Only been in it for a week. Remarkably cool in most of it. Quite pleasantly surprised. It's East/West facing. I presently am sitting next to an open window and can feel a deliciously cool breeze coming through.

A 60s house will be hot. Big windows, thin walls, low ceilings, and shallow lofts. The other posters are right about shutting curtains. I have an electronic thermometer that gives me an internal and external temperature. I've managed to keep the inside of my house 5 degrees cooler than the outside temp today.

Here was what I did: as soon as I woke up, I opened all the windows and doors possible to fill the house with cool morning air. Then at morning school run time, I closed the house up tight and drew all the curtains and blinds that I could. I kept the house shut up until the evening when it started to cool down outside. No point opening the house up if it's hotter outside than in.

Cool today - bloody freezing in the winter!

Old part of the house 400 years old - lovely and cool
New part of house 30 years old, hot hot hot.

70's house very hot, poor air circulation despite it having the vents for the old warm air heating that isn't still in use. We have windows and doors open, curtains closed, just a sheet on beds, but still need a fan going all night in this heat.

I long to be in MiLs C17th cob cottage, lovely and warm in the winter, cool and calm in the summer.

We have bay windows at the front. If we open both the top and bottom sashes by a couple of inches (ie gap at top and bottom of window) in whichever windows the sun's not directly on, and keep the blinds down on the sunny side of the bay, it creates a good airflow. Wouldn't work with modern windows. Opening the back door as well as the front windows seems to capture whatever breeze there is and funnel it through. We had paper blown along the hall today despite the fact it was a hot still furnace immediately outside the front door.

Home built in the fifties. Cool in the summer ( cooler than outside). Cost if heating in the winter is okish could be better, could be worse.

1960s house, still 25 degrees in the bedroom here at 1am!

1750s house

Normally a very cold house (down to single figures inside in winter). Currently 25 degrees inside. We can't quite believe it, and I doubt it will ever get this high again!

Georgian town house. Top of the house was boiling and cellar was cold. In winter it's the other way round.