Shutting Curtains AND Windows In This Heat?

Lie DOWN!

sodapop

Couldn't make up my mind is it lie or lay ? Help please pedants.

It’s usually “lie fun” and “lay an egg” (also a table 😮)

My windows all open for breeze. Curtains shut in south west facing bedroom, mid afternoon in SW facing kitchen, French doors open,shutters closed , but vented to let breeze in. These ridiculous instructions to keep windows closed are raising temperatures in homes when the advise should be to keep them cool. That's my choice anway, works for me, not had any red face or sweating fits yet which would happen if you're locked up in a sweet box.

Our house tends to stay cool, even with the patio door and windows open, in fact we joke about going outside to warm up!
We are currently in our caravan in warm and sunny Devon, so have all the windows, roof hatches and door open, built in ceiling fan and a desk fan going, or we would be stewing in our own juices!
The coolest place, where I am currently chilling, is in the shade of the adjoining hedge, and very nice it is too, with a cool drink to hand. 😊

yogitree

*escaped*. You can get cool mats online. Here is our Orla enjoying hers. She has 2 that she arranges herself on to suit her needs.

How difficult to not have an outfit with a zip in this weather - poor dogs! I have a much more primitive method than the smart cooling pads - a pile of old worn tea towels. I run them under the cold tap, wring them out, and then drape them over a hot dog - have used this method for years and the dogs always seem deeply grateful. When the towel warms up or dries, a fresh one replaces it.

When abroad on holiday the chambermaids always close the curtains and balcony doors in the rooms. They know better than us, being used to the heat.

escaped

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.

I bought some of these the other year - cooling mats;
amzn.eu/d/dma4Qig

The dogs really seem to like them and they do help!

Our windows are open to get a through draft. Curtains will be nearly closed when the sun comes round this evening. I have promised myself not to moan about the heatwave, it will soon be back to normal!

escaped. You can get cool mats online. Here is our Orla enjoying hers. She has 2 that she arranges herself on to suit her needs.

A fresh air fiend who dislikes high temperatures very much, I persisted in having windows wide open in hot weather to allow whatever breeze there might be to come in. I was persuaded to try the methods used in hot countries, and now we have all doors and windows open early in the morning, cooling and refreshing the house, and as soon as the sun starts to warm the front windows, they are closed, blinds lowered and curtains drawn. It works better. I can't say that the rooms are comfortably cool on the most scorching of days, and we use fans in every room, but this method keeps the temperatures lower than they were.

If there’s a breeze then our windows are open…….roman blind will be lowered where the sun is on windows but otherwise I encourage the fresh air……seen too may heat related collapses to want to risk having one myself.

Just saw in a friend's house a bubbly plastic mat on the floor. When the dog lies on it it activates some cooling chemical in it. Surely there must be similar for people.

It was 28.5 degrees last night in my bedroom, i am glad i was sleeping downstairs where it was 'only' 27! (We had bagged up new mattress for early morning return so had no choice)

Windows, curtains and doors shut during the day a fan to circulate air keeps us cool, ceiling fan in bedroom, comfortable even in 30C+. Out in the garden early and late to do what’s needed

You lie down. You lay something, like an egg.

I would say they are flopped!!!

Couldn't make up my mind is it lie or lay ? Help please pedants.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.