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!

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 thanks you I will add that film to my list.

Along with foil blankets for the (outside?) of hall window. As pp said I dont care what it looks like!

I like the idea of brise soleil for my upstairs windows.

I really dont function in the heat.

House builders should surely consider these heatwaves aa part of their design. Prob silly but I wonder if heat pumps can work in reserve?

Reverse

I have foil blankets as I took them on holiday last year where we rented a house and it had a glass extension and glass internal doors and no blinds or screening at all! So that foil blanket was a life saver, though I needed several layers to provide a sufficient block.

Any thoughts on how to secure it to an opening window? I'd like to use it on the bathroom and upstairs windows

Last year we visited family staying in one of those modern cube buildings in Cotswolds water park.
Their living room was top floor, glass all round, no curtains or blinds.
Hideous.

All glass top floor sound horrific!

i had t got as far as hot to secure foil blanket onto windows. Would sticky Velcro work? Tape?

@Alphabet1spaghetti2
rabbitgoo One Way Window Film... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BFTRK2Z?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Reading the Amazon reviews carefully, it's only for single glazing. Apparently if you put it inside double glazing it can heat up the air inside the glass unit so much that the glass can shatter...and you don't find out until it arrives and you read the fitting instructions.

@filka oh that’s annoying about the film!

Just out of interest, how hot does your house get? Coming from a Victorian freezer I am kind of jealous.

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 do you have your fireplace tower fan rotating or just blowing?

The windows don’t get that hot - you wouldn’t be able to touch them! The windows are cool, not even warm to touch. We’ve had it on for two very hot summers now (as do several neighbours) and absolutely no problems.
I’ve only seen that one single review, and I would suspect that there maybe a lot more to work hat shattered window, and the reviewer is perhaps jumping to conclusions. As if it cause a double pain to crack, it would a) be a lot more prevalent an issue b) would certainly cause single glazed windows to crack!

We have our on rotate. But works on fixed - I just don’t like a constant blast of air on me when I’m stationary (sitting on my arse!)

Cat looks happy

@GiantKitten 🤣 the battle is won!!

We have internal shutters - they were installed earlier this week. The rooms already feel cooler but when the alternative was no covering I'm not surprised. I do wonder if I'll notice the benefit in a few weeks

Great tip, thanks again 🥰
Still winning!
This space looks very comfortable!
(Fire screen seems to reduce airflow so have removed. Cats ignoring flue so far…)

@GiantKitten that is one very happy kitty. !!

why were they hated?

I'm negotiating for a ceiling fan in our west facing bedroom.
We also open the loft hatch to encourage an up draft through the house.
DH has a system similar to PP of opening and closing various curtains and windows during the day, and then open everything at sunset to cool the house before going to bed.

I asked an Italian friend and she also said - open windows early morning and everything shut and shaded by 8am.

I live in Geneva where it is unbearable in the summer.
I have a sophisticated heat management technique (TM) which is based on the principles of physics.

1. I have installed ceiling fans in practically every room. In our sitting room I have two and have thus created a sort of mini tornado that I find very pleasing

2. in the morning I get up early and open EVERYTHING as wide as possible. I then start watching the thermostat in our hallway like a hawk as it goes down

3. the second the thermostat starts to go UP, I close every door, curtain, and shutter. CLOSED. We are trying to keep cool air IN and hot air OUT and rays of sunshine OUT

4. then the lovely ceiling fan blows the lovely cool air around

Having read your responses to making the home cooler, I've been thinking about getting an awning for the bedroom (the only room in the house that's the warmest) and after finding out they're called 'sun canopies', I was wondering if anyone on here has one fitted. My window is average sized, perhaps 120cm x 160cm (guessing here) and faces SE. I've read that you can get them remote-controlled. I thought this would be the best tactic rather than get a ceiling fan, where that'll be wasting so much on electric every summer. What do you think?

They’re a great option if they can work with your house and the space you have. We need to think about these things since the problem is only going to get worse.

I don't have personal experience of this but would love to know how you get on, links, costs and so on. I know you're at the research stage but please feed back - or any other pp with experience of this

We have solar glass on all our bedrooms and one of the downstairs South facing rooms. The temperature difference between the room with the glad and the one without is really noticeable.

We looked at shutters but they don't work with outward opening windows.

We do now have air conditioning in the lounge and a couple of bedrooms. We also have more than enough solar to cover the electricity usage and we only run it on super hot days so I don't particularly feel guilty about it.

Ooh, I’m going to try the fireplace fan thing since we already have a tower fan and a fireplace. And a cat, but hopefully she won’t deign to go up the chimney…

The problem with shutters is if you have them on the inside you cant have anything on windowsills, if you have them on the outside you need to refit your windows to open inward