New build flat is boiling hot. Feeling depressed

[FTBregret]

Just bought my first home, a small flat in London. Only just got keys last week and I hate it due to how disgustingly hot it is. Really regret it and feel so stupid for not knowing new build flats get this hot

So far I’ve removed all carpets (will only have laminate floors) all windows left shut during the day and kept all curtains closed to block out sunlight. Also tried fan with icy water in front and barely helped.

It’s still unbearably hot, thermostat currently showing 30°

I’m scared the worse is yet to come as I know it gets hotter in London and if we have a heatwave I will have to get an Airbnb or something.

I haven’t even got furniture yet so that will likely make it hotter too when I properly move in. How will I ever use the oven?

I’ve been looking at air con but as I’m leasehold with Clarion it’s very unlikely the split AC will get accepted. There is another type of water air con but looking at quotes it’s 5k which I can’t afford.

I’ve looked at portable AC but I only have hinge windows and hinge balcony doors (apparently it’s supposed to be for sliding doors??)

How are londoners in new build flats coping?

I’d for sure get a portable air conditioner with a window kit, but then again I am American and refuse to contemplate anything above 75 our temp without AC 🤣 Best of luck!

No way can you have laminate flooring in a flat. Your poor neighbours.

Open the windows and turn the thermostat down to 5° until autumn.

I'm in my new-build flat sitting under a blanket (more for comfort than warmth, but it's nowhere near being too hot). It's really not that hot in London at the moment - low 20s, I'd say.

I think you need thermal curtains/blinds to keep as much heat out as possible. Open windows when it cools down. Make sure if you have heated towel rails they're not on.

If you only got the keys recently then it’s probably been shut up for a while and will have heated up during all the sunny weather.

It will be different now you are there to open the windows regularly.

For really hot days: Open the windows every day as soon as you get up, close again when the sun hits them, close blinds too. Open in the evening, it usually gets breezy around 6-7 so good time to catch the breeze.

This advice is for when it’s baking though - summer - right now it’s not that hot so I’d have the windows open all day and try to clear out that hot stuffy air that’s built up. A fan might help too. I wouldn’t run out and buy AC just yet.

Do check the lease about carpets.

Op it sounds horrendous. I think that the keeping windows closed and curtains shut suggestion is for when it's hotter outside than inside. Not if it's cooler.

I live in a middle floor flat, one flat below, one above. Mine also gets very warm and in a heat wave, awful.
its currently sitting at 25. As it’s less than that outside, I have my windows open for some airflow and it’s ok sitting here.
I remember the heat wave a couple of years ago when it was sitting at 35 in my front room. I have tried the curtains shut and windows shut when it’s that bad and nothing really helps

Throw all the windows open at night and till it starts to warm up during the day (10.30 am or so) then shut them and close blinds and windows to keep the cool air in

Agree 100% with this, it will really help - provided the area isn’t too large. Great for a bedroom.

@FTBregret how hot is it? Have you got a thermostat?

I have been there. I initially misunderstood portable aircon. People kept telling me it has to be perfectly sealed in order to work.

That's not true - you basically need to have the air vented out of the window. If it's not perfect, it's fine. I had to just vent mine out of the balcony door. It makes a huge difference both to the air quality and the temperature. The first year I used it, I tried a complicated way of sealing the outside air off but it was too much of a pain. It really doesn't matter.

You will have very low heating bills but your electric bill in summer will be a bit higher. It's not as bad as I thought in terms of cost.

Don't fart arse around. Just get one. I was running it May to November in my previous place. Fans are useless in a new build and I have a Dyson fan.

You may find that your bricks are designed to hold heat. So a couple of hot days and it will feel as if the flat is heating up even more. That's because it is!

Also, in the 2018 heat wave, I covered the windows in cardboard. Just cardboard boxes from Amazon and stuff. You won't have a flat that you want to invite people round to, but it really is worth it, if the Sun is shining directly on the glass and heating up the whole place.

I did have floor to ceiling windows and it was Southwest facing.

I'm in another new build and this one is north facing so I had to run the aircon a few days last summer but a lot less than in the south facing place.

As for open windows, that depends when there's cool air coming in. Don't just rely on any blanket rules.

Also, most of the remarks made on here are by people living in houses, not new build flats.

Open windows and use a couple of fans to circulate the air around the flat.

I don't live in a new build but our London flat is like an oven in the summer. We are on the third floor (top) we have laminate all over and our flat is North facing so no sun at the windows - I keep curtains closed all day during the summer and it’s still as hot as hell.
We got this https://amzn.eu/d/e54w56P a couple of years ago and it’s been great.
(there may be an upgraded model now but this works pretty well). There is a pipe that goes out of the window. It can lower the heat to a comfortable level.

By the way this is right now - not a hot day, windows open, nothing on in room.

What about getting some Ceiling fans installed ? Short term cost , for longer term happiness 😊

I'm in a 2nd floor flat , my Lounge is South facing ,which is the problem , so when it's warm outside it's hot in here , when sunny and hot outside it's boiling in here .

Apart from having just curtains, I also have adhesive blackout blinds which are good . They have lasted me 3 years so far !

What curtains or blinds do you have? They need to be properly keeping out the light and therefore heat - it needs to be as close to pitch black in the room when they're closed. We have black out lined thermal lined curtains - £££ but totally worth it. When the sun is out, keep them closed and as others have said if it is cooler outside than inside, keep the windows open.

Yes in hot weather but not in these temperatures

OMG I feel bad as this may have been me. Honestly, I notice that I start sweating when the window opens, even if there is a breeze, so I swear by keeping them shut until the sun is down. Having said that, I start off with a cool house!

If you can get a breeze to cool things down then it is probably worth trying to, given it's so oppressive now anyway in your flat.

Why, the flat already came with laminate floors? I just removed carpet from bedrooms and planning to get laminate in those rooms.

I’m on floor one and there is no one below me. Also this flat block is sound proof (plenty of people with young kids but you don’t hear anything)

We used to have a flat like this when we first moved in together.

Portable ac + window kit off amazon
Amazon version of a Dyson fan (eventually we had one in every room)
Thermal / blackout curtains
All north / east facing windows open after about 2ish plus balcony doors open from 7ish for the cross breeze
Use an air fryer not an oven!
Shower before bed

Check the lease. It will either say you have to have carpet or it won’t.

I really think you have a built up heat problem and it will feel a lot better after a few days with windows open. Try to get a cross breeze through if you can.

Where is the heat coming from? Is it the flat itself (windows etc) or is it from a neighbour? We live in a terrace and even with the thick victorian walls we can tell when next door have their open fire going.

I got 2 plug in ac units (got a full south face conservatory and attic room) I got mine from appliances direct cost 179 each probably more now . You put a freeze ice pack thing in the water container or ice works a charm. Mine are size about 30 cm wide and 50cm tall but brilliant and effective.

That depends on the direction your windows face.

My windows face East and West. So depending on where the sun is when it's hot is what windows and curtains I close.

New builds have to comply with stringent regulations regarding natural ventilation and overheating. Solar gains are limited and the design has to show how excess heat is addressed. Orientation, size of glazing and shading are all considered now and the design has to include thermal modelling.

So, your new build flat should not be uncomfortably warm.

I’d be checking with the building control provider that it complies with approved document O.

if you are using a heated blanket, turn that off