Keeping the house cool

[Reluctantadult]

I'm interested to hear if anyone has retrofitted measures to keep the house cool? Such as shutters, screens, different glass, awnings, ceiling fans... Not really meaning ac units. I'm surprised shutters are not becoming more of a thing!

@Wiifitmama now that’s clever!

I should have added that the reason they are outside rather than just hung inside is that to really prevent the temperature rising, you need to stop the sun hitting the glass. That’s why shutters work so well.

Open you loft hatch the clod air drops down and the hot air rises.
Weve had velux roof window fitted and the difference is huge! Cost £700 fitted

We have:

-Re insulated roof with modern thick insulation
-Changed S facing windows to double glazed
-Installed an awning across our big glass doors
-Put up blackouts or thick curtains in bedrooms

These have all made an absolutely massive difference. The awning is a godsend for the (S facing, lots of glass) kitchen if I remember to put it out in the morning. The loft insulation and double glazing has made the top bedrooms bearable rather than inhumane. I am considering an external blind for our large kitchen skylight.

We also have a Velux in the roof above the stairs, this is brilliant for letting heat out.

Thank you, @Alphabet1spaghetti2
We only have tower fans, but do have a couple of shorter ones (further from flue)
Will give it a go!

Our house is very difficult to heat. It's nearly always cold in winter. The flip side is that other than a small fan we don't need any cooling measures, it's business as usual.

This isn’t our house but this is the concept of a brise soleil. You see them in mainland Europe a lot where the sun is stronger. It makes a big difference and is a halfway house if you don’t or can’t have shutters.

The biggest mistake people make is having windows and doors open. You must keep them closed if it’s warmer outside

Curtains and windows closed on south and west facing during the day and then a few hours before bedtime in the evening open all windows for a few hours to ventilate fully.

My DH did a rare bit of DIY earlier this year and fitted a ceiling fan in the bedroom. It makes a real difference. Had it on the lowest setting last night and have woken up slightly cold (London) this am!

Our house is a converted barn and has external shutters everywhere downstairs. They are firmly shut on the south side already. Upstairs has velux everywhere; we have exterior sun shading blinds that keep out 70% of the heat and internal velux blinds that keep sun and light out. We also have wall mounted reversible heat / cooling units upstairs and down, but we rarely need the aircon for more than a couple of hours. .

If you don't have through drafts in your home install windows or hatches so you can get a breeze going through.

Also strategically planned hedges and trees can make a massive difference to a home's temperature.

We have a shade sail that we bought from Dunelm...we've hoiked it up to create shade in the living room every morning and it's done very well. £30

& helped reduce my migraines (reduced sunlight)

And it looks pretty

We have shutters and feels like they dont do much. I open all windos early morning when its cool outside, then shut everything and keep it dark all day. Its fine in the living area but its still 24-25 degrees in there. We had acs installed in all bedrooms last year. Even though the shutters were down all day, it was too hot. I open the window full to sleep and even kept the door open for a bit of a draft, but in the hottest time my bedroom was still 28 degrees at 4am 😩

I used to live in Luxembourg where shutters are normal & they were an absolute pain in the ass. 😂 everybody hated them.

Can I ask why?

Is that inside or outside shutters? It's really good to have these exchanges of information

We have them outside. They completely blackout.

If you have a pavement or patio on the sunny side of the house, save grey water during the day and pour over it in the evening. This stops it being a big radiator right next to your house during the night.

I can recommend ceiling fans in bedrooms, we have them in Spain as well as the aircon. Comfortable to lie under at night with just a sheet on top of you.

Thanks for the thread OP - these ideas are really useful!

This may not be practical but I get up at 4 or 5 am, open the entire house (all windows and doors). Back to bed, get up again at my usual time then at about 9 am when it starts to warm up I shut everything and it all stays shut for the rest of the day, trapping in that lovely early morning freshness.

I accept that you’d need to be in a safe area with secure garden for that to work.

That's brilliant!

Thank you. Another great tip!

I'm like others and will try to resist even portable AC units until we have to. I can't imagine how much £££ retro-fitting AC would be, even supposing it's possible

We had (inside) shutters installed this month in the bay-fronted living room and bedroom and so far I'm pleasantly surprised at the difference it's made compared to curtains. Our son's bedroom has the Duette dim out blind mentioned upthread by a pp plus we were able to keep his blackout curtains and it's an amazing combination. Mind you, his bedroom is at the back looking out onto the garden and gets the sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon so it's win-win for him

It really is!

What’s brilliant about a brise soleil is that it blocks the sun in summer when it’s high in the sky, but not in winter when the sun is lower. So you don’t miss out on winter sun. You can also get ones with tiltable slats to enhance this further.

I read (possibly on MN) about someone who had a pergola with a grapevine on the back of their house for a similar effect. The vine is deciduous so gives shade in the summer but then is gone and lets light in in the winter.

I've covered every window with a £5 blind from IKEA this week. I already used them in 2 rooms, but I've just expanded it. It's made an enormous difference already!

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/schottis-block-out-pleated-blind-dark-grey-90369507/

Stick on top, velcro bottom, raise as needed. Photos for illustration. I've cut them down to the glass size so they aren't perfect but dear god they are cheap.

I had looked at Perfect Fit blinds for the back of the house, they'll cost me £600. This way the whole house was £20.