Thinking of selling due to heat

I also live in London and it is 32C here. As *Rosie#smawe~ said, we have weeks and months of cold and rain and certainly not the hot weather for any length of time.

Why not sit out this heatwave and when the T is back to normal, have a look at individual air cons. Many on here are using them. I know zilch about them because my house, although modern, is usually cold so at present I have the kitchen door open and no fan on.

I think you may regret moving away from family and possibly hitting hot weather in your new abode.

I read 9C is on the cards soon!!!

I'm in Cumbria (Westmorland) it's 22C at 1.15 pm and very pleasant, but 20 miles south (Morecambe) its heading for 30 or so I'm told.
My son has a portable Air Con unit which he likes but says its heavy on electricity.
Although the sale of a house in London will enable you to buy a very expensive home up here, you should think very carefully about leaving friends and family, the grass isn't always greener.
(says me, a dyed in the wool northerner)

Do you drive or can you download the Uber app? If there’s a green space near you with some shade and ideally a nice cafe, can you & dd go there 3-4 times a week? It’d cheer you both up to get out and he can walk then enjoy a cuppa

Before you move, rather invest in an evaporative air cooler with freezer packs, most are under £100 from Amazon. Then, once things cool down a bit, you can just park it (or them) in a cupboard till next summer. Remember to close the windows in the room to keep the heat out.

www.amazon.co.uk/s?ref=nb_sb_noss_2&crid=7O4VPM2DD5NN&sprefix=evaporative+air+cooler+%2Caps%2C117&k=evaporative+air+cooler&tag=gransnetforum-21

A difficult one but do what you have to for you and your husband.
I’m in Lancashire it’s very hot. Lived down south and it was too much!

We installed 4 air con units after that summer when houses were bursting into flame. Game changer. Even if you get it in one room only you can pretty much live in there as someone else has said.

I have a ceiling fan in my bedroom which is perfect for me, I know a lot of people say they are no good and just move hot air about but for me it’s a cooling breeze, also what a retracting sun canopy (think ones like you use to get in front of shops to keep the window in the shade

Staying in yhr Canaries over the winter is a great idea. I've had a place there for over 10 years and since retiring spend at least 6 weeks there Dec/Jan. I suffer ftom SAD so we carefully watch our schengen allowance and get cheap flights over from Sept to May when its cold and dreary i the UK. We are considering getting g residencia as its a much more relaxed way to live and the winters definitely are better for our health. Arthritis is much more bearable when there. Hope you manage to come to a solution that works.

FallingStar
I'd stay put near your familiar surroundings, and friends and family if I were you. Moving house is so very stressful, expensive and time consuming, I would very definitely prefer to spend the money on getting some a/c installed.

I just want to point out that fans don't cool the air at all, they just move it around and the breeze feels cooling on the skin. Only have your fans on if you are within breeze-shot. Fans in empty rooms are a waste of electricity. I wish this wasn't the case 😟
So sorry you are feeling so uncomfortable in this heat, Fallingstar.
I'm in outer London in a 30s bungalow that certainly wasn't built for such temperatures (34c today) and feel the same.
Like others I think a couple of air conditioning units are the answer, rather than an expensive move that might not turn out to be beneficial overall.
Thanks, all, for the good advice. I'm going to check out the AC units and evaporative cooler.

Having a conservatory or large glass patio doors makes things hotter, but there are various ways to keep cooler, including external shutters or an electric awning.
We're in a flat, it has a sunny balcony but we have a big awning over the top which does help. I know that you can get shades which fit on the outside of a conservatory to keep the heat down, we had these years ago and they made a big difference. Or you could put a solid roof on it?
We also have two portable air conditioners (chosen from Which Best Buys) which make life bearable, if not exactly chilled. I think that properly built in conditioner would help even more, and would cost less than moving.
I think it would be a shame to move away from your family, but perhaps moving to a different property in the same area could be an option? One that was easier to keep cool.

Sorry, that should read ‘ However if your dd needs you ‘

We recently had an air con unit installed in our living / dining room. It's a large room, and gets the afternoon and evening sun. I find this hot weather really oppressive, but the air con has made such a HUGE difference, and cost us just under £1,600.

Also, as far as your DH is concerned OP, could you consider getting him a walking pad, so that he can walk in a cool room indoors (if you get the air con as well). I just had a look to see if you can get really slow walking machines and you can. Have a look here:

www.google.com/search?q=can+you+get+walking+machines+that+go+really+slowly&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB1071GB1176&oq=can+you+get+walking+machines+that+go+really+slowly&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRifBdIBCDk3MTRqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8

You can buy a really good one for £329.99 here:

www.amazon.co.uk/Redliro-Walking-Treadmill-Long-Handrails/dp/B0DSW3Q47T/ref=asc_df_B0DSW3Q47T?hvlocphy=9192471&gad_source=1&linkCode=df0&hvptwo=&psc=1&mcid=261c04f2fb003046becf0725fc2ad35e&hvnetw=g&hvadid=765234131882&hvpone=&hvlocint=&hvpos=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvocijid=13669493784592953497-B0DSW3Q47T-&hvqmt=&hvexpln=0&tag=gransnetforum-21&hvtargid=pla-2400069764135&hvrand=13669493784592953497

Having lived 200 miles from family for 10 years, we moved to be closer to them as we get older, 3 years ago, and I certainly wouldn't consider moving further away again, no matter how much I loved the area of Wales where we used to live.

Thanks again, so many kind replies.
I think this heat just really gets me down atm.
In answer to an earlier post my DH can no longer drive and I don’t drive, but we can get an air conditioned uber on occasion and will think of doing that to a nearby greenspace soon.
One of SiLs is going to get us an air cooler and drop it off soon.
I know it sounds bad to moan about this when we can get awful winter weather but it is the inability to get out much that is depressing along with sleep deprivation.

And I really couldn’t move away from the family.

Not much respite here in the North Rast I'm afraid, we too are sweltering at 30°, maybe coastal areas might be a bit cooler. I agree it's unbearable, even though I don't wish for rain, I wish we could have sunshine but cooler temps.

why do you believe it will be cooler where you move to? we are in Wiltshire and it is over 34 degrees

Lots to consider here. Don't make any decisions until Autumn is with us.
Do a forcefield analysis: on the left side, all the reasons you like being where you are. All the losses of going. On the right, all the reasons you want go North and all the losses of going.

Think through each one. There may be areas you can adapt/ mitigate/ build on. Nothing is ever what we want it to be, but what are the negotiated compromisrs, what are the non-negotiables?

If you generally love where you are. The heat in summer feels like a horrid but temporary challenge that has solutions.

Take care xx

Sorry for typos..it's the heat..!

I have a brilliant idea to consider maybe for next year. Someone, somewhere cooler (Wales is! I lived there and never suffered with heat exhaustion) would just love to swap your house in London for a couple of months during the summer. I've done a house swap on several occasions, and it was incredibly successful. Of course, you do have to have the sort of creative mind to accept it and there are lots of things to consider, but if I was in hot baking London and couldn't bear it, just wanting to escape, I would seriously consider being somewhere else for the duration.

where I live!

Fallingstar I know we are in a similar caring situation and it was such a coincidence to read your post when I am having a very down day as well today. In fact p****d off to be honest.

We live west of London. The temp is 34 deg. DH is bedbound. We are living like cave people with closed windows and curtains. Incredibly hot last night. DHs bedroom was 29 at 11 pm. And I read the hot weather will continue for days. We have a portable air con unit in my bedroom, but with the necessity of being close to a window to vent, it cant go in DHs room. But he wouldnt like the noise anyway. He has a large fan but it does just move the air about.

So I have been thinking this morning where should we move to. But DHs health is so poor that the move will probably be just for me.

So am down in the dumps. The future with this sudden great heat this year seems very uncertain. I am trying all methods of keeping the temp down, but the upstairs gets so hot by the end of the day.

I do sympathise. Being close to DD must be important for you. Moving may be a mistake. At the moment everywhere seems hot.. Air con taxis to cooler spots would help for a morning or afternoon as a PP suggested. Chin up.

Portable air con units need a large flexible tube to go through an exterior wall to expel the heat. I have one. The kind that don't have a tube simply expel the hot air to a different part of the room. A bit chocolate fireguard.

Our air con unit has a flexible large tube to vent through a fixture in our sash window. Its quite a neat fitting.

It sounds very difficult for you Fallingstar and I do sympathise. However, the upheaval involved in moving, plus moving away from family and friends might actually outweigh any benefits. As others suggest, it might well prove to be less expensive to have air conditioning installed in your existing home? My brother just has and loves it, and it’s something we are considering.
I live in the north of England, and to be honest, the temperatures this week and during the last two heatwaves have been between 30 and 35 degrees by mid afternoon, so equally as limiting.
The problem with our houses is that they have mostly been designed to keep heat in rather than out, so as temps climb outside, they do inside, too.