Is this weather making anyone else consider changes to their house?

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I’ve had a quote for air on for the bedrooms which isn’t cheap (£13k) but is doable. The units would also give heat in the winter. We have solar panels so don’t needto worry about the cost of running the air con.

also considering shutters or brise soleil (mini pergola like things above the south facing windows)

I have thermal blinds on the biggest windows which stop some of the heat in the house.

Wondering about planting for shade closer to the house.

We have a portable air con unit but I’m reluctant to invest in more and it only really cools one room. We’re getting external shades on the west and south facing windows in the autumn (house renovation, just had all the windows replaced so it’s time) and are investigating a sail or something for the bifolds, as we’d only really want it out on the hottest days and would pack it away for the rest of the year. We have a beautiful shaded garden, but unfortunately all of our neighbours have been on a tree cutting spree over the past few years to maximise sun in their lawns so we have lost a couple of trees that really helped to shade the bedrooms. We doing the garden next so will be planting more trees!

We're in the very beginning stages of planning a side return kitchen extension and I'm giving serious thought on how to mitigate solar gain. I'd originally envisioned having a mostly glass roof over the extension. This is clearly madness, as that side of the house faces south, and it would be unbearable. My current thinking is to have a well insulated tiled roof with velux windows with angled window reveals, in order to maximise light and minimise the amount of glass. We'd also use velux with a low g value and I think crucially, external motorised shutters.

Lots of our neighbours who've already extended, seem to have gone for huge lanterns which looks amazing but make the kitchens essentially unusable in this heat and I'm very keen to avoid this.

Has anyone else planned a s X SW facing side return taking into account climate change and is there anything you did you think was especially worthwhile?

Yeah we just got a portable air conditioner yesterday. Waited 24 hours patiently as per the instructions and it's on now! Yay!
Also getting more blinds and a curtain for the terrace door.
My house is ridiculously hot upstairs and cold downstairs. And always freezing in winter. Definitely not built for climate change. Brick buildings are awful in the heat.

It makes me grateful for my Victorian house. It may make me cold to the bone in winter but equally it’s lovely during this weather and remains icy cold 😂

We are looking at solar film for the windows. We are in a conservation area so need to ensure it doesn’t alter the look of the house in any way.

I would love solar panels and air conditioning though. Maybe next year.

The house we’ve not long moved into has a south facing conservatory off the kitchen, with doors so you can close it off. Not massive, maybe 3mx3m. During the day when I’m at home, I’ve had the conservatory doors open, with the doors to the kitchen closed to keep the heat out.

I had to go out earlier so locked it up. Went back in when I got home about an hour later and the temperature inside was 63°c.

I was looking at getting a warm roof done but I think they’re out of my price range.

Same here. I haven't dared turn it on

If you are still at the planning stage I would do whatever you can to avoid having a kitchen in a south facing extension. (I have a glass roof on my SW facing extension but it isn't the kitchen and a portable aircon is just about winning)

My kitchen has a large lantern and is south facing. We have a retractable thermal blind which makes a massive difference. The room is warmer than the north facing rooms in the house for sure but it's perfectly fine now we have the blind. Pre-blind it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter

We are planning to get our 30 year old windows replaced this year, as they are on their last legs. We'd got as far as getting quotes but not committed, we emailed 2 days ago to ask how much using solar control glass would add to th quote.
I am also considering getting quotes for air con, just so we know how much we'd need to save up. We have managed in previous years because it's cooled down overnight so we can cool the house back down before the next hot day. However, if hot nights like the last few are going to be more common in future, we'll need a better plan!

I’ve ordered a ceiling fan and light from Argos for my daughter’s room, small room with a big window. Hopefullly get it fitted in the next couple of weeks.

We have a south west kitchen as part of the main house, with a west facing bifold door. An awning makes a huge difference. The awning needs to be wider than the bifold though, otherwise the sun comes in the side a lot (ours isn't, which was a mistake).

Oof it would be difficult to move the kitchen although not impossible I suppose - it's a classic Victorian terraced house, with the kitchen at the back. I do love my elegant north facing sitting room, but I have seen flipping the kitchen and sitting room done before and it can look great. Food for thought!

I have a long piece of wire that runs above my patio doors attached with 2 hooks into the brickwork. I used to have a climbing rose at one point I’m and the wire was used to train it. Today I threw a king size flat sheet over the wire and just used clothes pegs to keep it in place and it kept all the sun off my south facing patio doors! The glass remained cool to the touch inside as opposed to feeling like a radiator! And it didn’t block too much of the light to the room either. I would love external shading but in the meantime this really helped.

We haven't been back from Italy long and we had external metal shutters and air con. It was cold in the apartment.

My home is south facing with huge window. I'd love external shutters but I don't think they would work. I do have black out blinds and curtains in all the bedrooms and they work quite well. But I do need to sort out the lounge and dining rooms both inside and out, maybe awnings or those sail things?

Im so grateful I live on a tree lined street and have trees in my garden.

We are buying a house and are thinking of things we will do to to help it in the summer. I'm thinking awnings or something to shade the front windows and plant some things like beans and sweet peas in containers that I can place in front of the living room window. Long term we will look at fitting a heat pump to use for cooling in summer.

We have a large open plan kitchen with sofas etc, and I’m now considering getting quotes for a fitted air conditioning unit for this room after the last few summers. We live in this room during the day so if it was cool, we would cope better. Also better for my two dogs & cat. I’ve actually spent the last two nights sleeping on the sofa in this room as upstairs was too hot. Some air conditioning units also work as heaters in the wintertime, so that could be useful too as it would save us putting on the central heating throughout the house which is quite large and therefore expensive.

Our kitchen is north-west facing and still extremely hot in this weather. We have bifolds and velux windows, and now pondering how to improve the situation (hot!)

Ds wants a blind on the back-door which is half glass but I am not keen. Being south facing the kitchen turns to an oven though.

Currently doing massive house Reno. Have included for solar panels, upgraded insulation to help in winter and summer and 3 on wall air con units in the v hot south facing bedrooms. Keeping all the children and elderly dogs and at times parents comfortable is so hard during the heat. £5k for air con that also does heat and happy with that for comfortable living and energy independence.

Yes I'm looking at fitting a retractable awning over the south west facing patio doors and adding blinds to any window that does not have one including glass doors etc

Also possibly buying an air conditioning unit l

We have external fabric blinds, they are a heat blocking fabric mesh, so some light still comes through, but they massively reduce the internal temperatures. They are electric and on a remote control so no problem shutting them from inside. Make a huge difference on our south facing windows

I was looking at these for our kitchen window, but I’m wondering if it’s possible to open the windows when they’re down? Or not?

We can open them a couple of cm outwards I would say. One of the blinds is on a sliding patio door, so we tend to just open that for a through breeze.