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.

Do you remember where you got these from? The back of our house points almost directly south so we’re thinking about what else we can do to keep the upstairs shaded.

This is the first year that we’ve had a sunshade at the back of the house and it’s made a noticeable difference to the downstairs temperature.

Also wondering and would be great if they are in the NW!

The change I’m thinking of making to our house is jacking it up and moving it wholesale to Iceland - permanently!

I have a south west facing conservatory with a glass roof 🥵.
I'm looking at these options: a retractable awning on top of it /a huge shade sail on top of it ( attached to posts.) A green cover for it made by koalashades who do greenhouse shading.
Can't afford to do it yet, but hoping to do it in the winter.

UV reflective film going up tomorrow on the front door and its side glass panels, and will think about adding to other windows (bungalow). Had in our last house on dormer windows and it was quite effective. However, the heat that comes through other windows is welcome in winter, so having a think about it. I wonder if a PIV system would help, or would it just bring more warm air in?

Yes so get aircon for the bedrooms before next summer.
Annoyingly had my house c recently completely renovated and the architect put in far too much provision for heating ( he said his Italian female relatives alwats complain about the cold whereas I would just put another jumper on) but nothing for AC.

Will buy a mobile aircon unit when they are back in stock again...

The back of the house is south east facing. I managed to keep downstairs around 23-25c all week but upstairs was horrendous.

I've put in black out curtains in the spare room, and have Perfect Fit Duo Shade thermal blinds on the ground floor glass but it's not enough.

I'm looking at a brise soleil but it'll need to be 4m long so it's pricy (for us).

Am also looking at cassette awnings for the back, external shutters for the whole house front and back, and am open to suggestions!

It looks like we could well have another heatwave starting from next weekend.

Having thermal curtains has made a huge difference. We have them in the front room and all the bedrooms.

For the velux loft windows I have fitted external heatproof blinds which has helped. They still let in some light and you can retract them in winter. The glass of the windows themselves is much cooler. Definitely recommend them.

I’d like to fit external blinds on other windows but haven’t worked out whether we can do that yet.

Exterior planting - we have shrubs, small trees and climbers next to the house at the back and front. I have NOT covered my front driveway in tarmac (unlike many of my neighbours). Planting near to a house cools it significantly. The side alley I have filled with ferns in pots and climbers, when I open the door to the alley the air is nice and cool most of the day.

Myself and neighbours have clubbed together to get some of the street trees replaced on our road. It will probably be a few years before they make a difference though!

This is a great idea @BeverleyBrooks

I think street trees will make a huge difference, keeps the cars shaded too.

I'd like to try getting this in our small road - the neighbours would be on board I think as long as we choose smallish trees, field maple maybe?

What trees did you opt for @BeverleyBrooks? And did you need to get permission from the local council? If so, how easy was that? I know they are always panicky about 'maintenance' . . .

It was a small local firm, but they’re this sort of thing: lexblinds.co.uk/external-blinds/external-roller-blinds

We are fortunate in that there is a local organisation that sorts all this out - liaises with the council, suggests appropriate tree species, organises the planting etc. We had to contribute some funds and agree to water the trees every week for 2 years.

No. I'm in Scotland and my flat is pleasantly cool.

Do you mind saying who the local organisation is? They may be able to advise me.

Thank you

@toffeeappleturnip You can check on this website for any schemes in your area: https://www.treesforstreets.org

My last house was a town house built in 2001. I bought a portable airconditioner for it in 2002 and it got used about four nights a year largely because the master bedroom overlooked a fairly busy road which often had drunk people walking home from the pub along it and sleeping with the windows open was problematic - the portable AC provided a much more tolerable form of noise.

We moved to another new build, detached, when we had DC1 in 2017 and it's like an oven. The sun used to stream in through the French doors of the kitchen diner at the back first thing, and then through the bay windows at the front all afternoon. Internal temperatures can jump from 23C to 31C in the space of a few hours simply from the solar gain, and with brilliant insulation shedding the heat overnight meant staying up with all the windows and doors open until well past midnight if it even cooled down.

Adding a conservatory at the back, over the French doors, paradoxically helped because while the air temperature in there can regularly exceed 50C the smart glass roof stops the worst solar gain.

The layout of the plot stops us planting anything to shade the windows. Although it would have meant replacing them all with inward opening ones I applied to the freeholder to fit external shutters, and was declined, and just for good measure the freeholder also declined my request to paint the red brick walls white. I grew up in the tropics on two different continents and know about passive colling measures, but very little works on this house thanks to the cunts at Peel Holdings..

We bought a second portable AC and then a third when DC2 came along but neither my wife nor the DCs were thrilled with the noise and they were a faff and not very effective.

Having installed solar panels and a 9.5kWh battery, we installed permanent AC last year and haven't looked back. If the kind of heat domes we've had twice this year already become normal - and the actual science says it will - I just don't see how much UK housing stock is going to be livable without AC.

After last summer, we decided to install solar reflective window film on our velux windows. So we did. It has made so much difference, about 9 degrees!

We're talking at the moment about a ceiling fan for our bedroom. Perhaps we will for next year.

At risk of sounding smug, I was quite satisfied with how my house coped, particularly on Friday when we had over 36C in the shade (East Anglia). All rooms in the house stayed below 30 apart from obviously the conservatory which is separated from the house by a double glazed door which was kept locked throughout and the conservatory windows and roof vents left open. During the day we kept curtains closed as much as possible and then opened windows wide in the evenings and if possible overnight. No aircon here
One thing that did occur to me was window design. We have big sliding sash windows which allow direct air flow through half of the total area of the window frame and glass. Contrast that with the trend for modern windows comprising a large picture window with a small top-hung opener which look like they’d be useless for air flow since most of the already tiny area of the window that opens is blocked by the window itself. Casement windows (side hung) or sliding sash would be a lot better imo for air flow but then you compromise on security (unwanted people getting in) or safety (little people falling out). But maybe maximising air flow to cope with hotter summers is something to think about when people come to replace windows.

We’re planning an extension and some remodelling, and I’m really conscious about heat management. I’m thinking about air con and reducing glare whilst we’re at the planning stages so that we’re not having to retrofit.

Also creating as much shade as possible in the garden whilst not making the house too dark with too much hard shaded structure in the garden.

I bought ceiling fans for every room. Cost me 600 quid. They better bloody work - the stand up fans seem to be doing shit all and I’m a right grumpy cow. I was so dramatic last week about it I was eye rolling at myself. Doesn’t help that DP is skipping about like it’s the best thing ever.

I think the shade in the garden is actually key. It's a tricky balance because we all crave the light in the winter but if you pick small deciduous trees with open canopies then it's certainly possible. We have a very large Cornus Kousa which is great in this respect. Its very open but creates really nice dappled shade.

This is such a coincidence. We’re at the very early stages of landscaping planning for the garden but one of the shrubs I’ve asked to incorporate is this cornus. It was a huge feature at RHS Chelsea this year. I really love them.

Indoors my solution is to cook as little as possible, and if you must heat something use the microwave or air fryer if we can.
I think the important thing is outdoors. Deciduous trees, pergola, arches and parasols over tables. Surely the creation of pockets of shade outside is more helpful than a vast open lawn with the sun scorching down - and the pergola, arches etc provide interest in the garden in the winter.
I may be delusional but I believe giving the garden a good soak in the evening also helps cool the air surrounding the building, perhaps like making a little microclimate.

I think putting as little heat into the house as possible when it is warm is a good idea.

I have installed a ceiling fan (energy efficient way of getting a cooling effect) and and looking for radiation shields for the windows if I can find them (sizes I want seem to be OoS atm).

I am thinking of coming up with a better way of moving cold air from outside of the house to the inside. Or cold air at the bottom of the house to the top via a fan or pump.