Shutting Curtains AND Windows In This Heat?

Thats the advice I read...keep your windows shut ....keep out the hot air...I don't do it tho!

If the air temperature outside is hotter than the temperature inside keeping windows etc open lets hot air in.
When it is cooler eg early morning, keep them open.to let cooler air in. Creating a through draught is tempting and a good idea unless it is the equivalent of sitting between an open oven door and a woodburner.
It’s to do with thermodynamics I believe- heat cannot pass from a cooler to a hotter - so incredible as it may seem, opening the windows can bring the temperature up. Curtains etc need to be kept shut to keep the sun out, but if you have a cooler side of the house you can sometimes open doors or windows to create a through draught.

I tried that the last excessive heatwave, although in the U.K. it seems to go against the grain, but I remember how say the Spanish shut up shop as soon as early morning air starts to heat up, and they shut their windows and blinds. They have the experience so should know what they are doing.

It does work. I’m not talking artic temperatures😄, but it definitely drops it a notch it two, and anything is welcome when it is so hot.

Absolutely works.

We keep our south facing curtains and blinds shut all day. All windows are opened late evening and early morning but kept shut for the rest of the day.

OMG NOOOO!

I absolutely HATE summer/sun/heat, always have and always will, my clothes and hair stick to me like glue, thumping headaches, all the hotness, humidity, stops me sleeping properly etc. etc.

I have ALL of my windows and doors open - except the front and back doors - with oscillating fans in every room whizzing around 24/7. I couldn't even THINK about having them closed while I'm there!

Last night I had hardly any sleep again because it was so hot and sticky and humid so I got a smaller oscillating fan going on my bedside table!

A work friend of mine, one of her son's lives/works in Portugal and it's a whopping 39d over there! I'm avoiding that country at all costs!

I agree Whitewavemark2, that warmer countries have experience, and gadgets to go with it too. Here in France, our house has shutters that are electrically operated. I leave little gaps for any breeze to circulate. Currently it is 30 degrees outside my bedroom, but cooler inside.
The dog is my main worry. Even the tiled floors where he lies down get very warm in this heat.

I always keep my windows and curtains shut. Which is a good job as years ago at my old house my bedroom window was covered in bees. I phoned the local bee keeper he said they where a swam and just having a rest and would go. And good job I had my window shut otherwise they would have found a place to make a hive . No idea if they would but that's what I was told. I had a very big window in my bedroom. Hours later they had gone .

I always have a 20l dehumidifier running in my bedroom overnight all year round. Cools my room down during the summer and stops condensation in the colder months . I have one running in the other bedroom during colder months to.

It's amazing how much water is in the tank in the hot weather. Only ever use them on night time setting and it dries my washing during the cold weather .
I have a tower fan on oscillator mode at the moment it's 28° I live in the north west not far from the sea.

escaped have you got any freezer packs you could put under some towels so your dog could lie on to cool down. I don't know if this is a silly suggestion as I don't own pets .

I keep all windows closed and blinds and curtains drawn on the south facing side of my house. It really works. I have also put reflective film on some of the windows and that has made a big difference. Open everything up in the evening.

Whiff

escaped have you got any freezer packs you could put under some towels so your dog could lie on to cool down. I don't know if this is a silly suggestion as I don't own pets .

Thanks Whiff, a wet towel on the floor is the way to go on this. Somehow owners have cooling jackets the dog wears. We have a garden hose, but I think care needs to be taken when dousing with cold water. At the moment he is under the table.

Definitely - curtains on south facing lounge have been drawn for about 5 days now - I do open patio doors first thing before the sun gets to that side. It's noticeably cooler in there with curtains drawn.

I do the opposite in the afternoon. Blinds are down in the bedrooms in the morning, then I let some air in late afternoon early evening.

I try to keep the windows closed and curtains drawn, following the sun around the house as the day goes. But my OH is one who opens his windows up. So that means one very hot room until mid afternoon, I close other doors to keep that out.
Then the others do stay cooler and you can certainly tell the difference if you come in from outside.
Then at night I open things up to try and get cooler air flowing through and of course he shuts his room up!

There are probably exceptions but closed windows do keep hot air out.

Well, I was wilting and wondering if my friend had the central heating on and hadn't noticed! Phew, but I couldn't get out of the front door fast enough.

I agree with all saying curtains and windows shut. Also doors between rooms. Same as winter time really.

In the morning from 5.00 till 9 and the evenings from 8 till 10 all windows and doors open to let the cooler air in as long as the air is cooler than the indoor temperature. Our house is Victorian and does stay a bit cooler anyway.
We have a largish desk top fan upstairs and a smaller one for the kitchen in operation.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow forecast to be hotter than today but Sunday onwards cooler thank goodness. I expect July will be cool and rainy and we will all be misersble!!.

My patio type balcony, get sun full on from early afternoon onwards. And, with large glass patio door,plus full length windows on either side of that, the first couple of years I was here I found the temperature indoors very hot, even with a coolant tower fan osecellating.

The I got some awning put up on that balcony, that I can easily unwide to protect all that glass from the sun. It is made of a material that throws back the suns rays. Had this now three years and it is really wonderful, So Patio door wide open, and window on opposite side of the room, to give through breeze. Awning wound open and I rarely now have to use the fan.

I do love open windows in the summer months, gives my whole flat a thorough airing. Being on the first floor it is quite safe to leave them all open on the security latches during the summer months, day and night. I would hate to have them closed and curtains closed during the day and the sunlight. Bad enough that they all get closed so early in the afternoons in the winter months to shut out the blackness.

Our houses are built in so many different ways in this country its impossible to find a 'one size fits all' solution.
The old farmhouse i grew up in stayed deliciously cool as long as we closed doors and windows and the heat didn't get in. If ever it did, the place was like an oven and the only cure was to open every window and door and let the draught blow through, even though it was a case of stirring hot air around. (it worked like a storage heater for a few days after a heatwave had broken which was a small bonus).
When I married and moved into a modern house I automatically closed up against the heat, but soon learned the opposite applied here.
It depends on the construction of your house.

Franbern. I only do the closed curtains and doors when the temp is forecast to be 29 deg upwards. Not in our normal summer temps when everything is open and I spend most of the day outside.
Its just in this current heatwave when the hot air outside needs to stsy outside.
I assumed maybe wrongly that the OP was about the current heatwave not a normal UK summer.

PS and what my sister in law does in Poole is different from what I do 15 miles outside London and my dsughter in central London where we are both forecast temps of 32 + tomorrow. Poole is mid 20s so a normsl summer.

I assumed maybe wrongly that the OP was about the current heatwave not a normal UK summer.

Me too. Wouldn't keep everything closed up normally.

A lot depends on the where you are too. Being higher up means you're more likely to get breezes. It's quite breezy here at the moment and not too hot so windows are open but the sun is moving around now so windows and blinds will be closed again until this evening. Our north facing front rooms stay nice and cool but the upstairs gets like a furnace with the sun coming in the back windows.

Our ground floor flat has solid walls and has very little direct sunlight. When we are lucky enough to have warm/hot weather all the windows are opened to let in some warmth.

If our flat sucked in the heat the open early morning/late at night would apply with curtains shut.

I opened up everywhere this morning to let fresh air in, but now have all the windows shut, the shutters are closed on the south side of the house and the air conditioning is on. It is already 30° in our bit of Normandy.

I normally hate having windows closed but today I have shutters closed and windows slightly open. Closed shutters only on the side of the house where the sun is otherwise its very gloomy.
My dogs have both had a good trim and lay next to a fan or under a bed. Thirty degrees here.