Tips on keeping the house cool in very hot weather

I agree with those tips, especially keeping the curtains or blinds closed before the sun starts heating the rooms. We do something similar here, and opening the windows only when the outside air becomes cooler than inside seems to make a noticeable difference. Cross-ventilation in the evening or early morning can also help flush out the heat that has built up during the day.

I expect you humoured her NanKate thanked her for her advice and smiled to yourself!

Karmalady has lots of ideas!

I hope she reads this.

I have an old car without air conditioning. I have a water spray which I spritz around it often. I have a white bath towel on my driver's seat. Good sunglasses. I use vintage linen sheets. There is no other material that keeps your body temperature regulated like linen. A white boat is cool to the touch.....a coloured boat makes you feel you are dancing on hot coals. I wear loose cotton clothing and no underwear. A bra just makes me feel strangulated. I get out of the shower and use a bit of talc (Waitrose which sells Maize powder, sensitive fragrance free.) Lots of sunscreen on my exposed bits. Curtains closed all day and I don't do much....other than go on the computer and make money from listing things on Vinted. As soon as the weather lifts.....I'll be off again. And......I SLOW DOWN and have a nap most afternoons - in bed. The whole caboodle......clothes off, fan on, radio 4 play. One hour suffices, then I am looking forward to something a bit cooler in the evenings.

Is this a joke? Advice from Italy? Do they think we are so stupid that we are not all doing these things already? Advice indeed. Grrr.

Yep curtains closed, windows closed. Air cooler on. Fans on. Hot water bottle in the freezer for bedtime. No duvet, no sheets, except over the mattress, no clothes and a bottle of water from the freezer by the bedside.

gransruleok How rude to the OP who happens to be a long standing member of GN and a very pleasant, considerate lady. Unlike yourself I have to say. If you are already aware of the tips for keeping cool just scroll past, no need to be rude. There will always be people who are picking up tips for the first time and who will be grateful for the information.

I am very grateful for any tip to keep cool.

Thanks NanKate

Having pushed GD in buggy home at midday yesterday, I found I was in bad way when got to house. I was supposed to collect her in car but problem there so had to walk to collect her, Now I remember the tip about putting hands and wrists into cold water for quick cool down.

Close curtains and windows on the hot side early in the morning as outside starts to heat up...

Open to let any heat out when cooler at night - when outside is cooler than inside.

My family all do this I believe.

I open the windows on the shady side and close everything on the sunny side. When the sunlight has gone I open everything and hope for a breeze. It keeps the kitchen (southfacing with french doors without blinds) five degrees below the outside temperature and the north facing living room is three degrees below that. Current outside temperature in my sunny garden is 36.1

i'm currently sitting in my lounge with a cardigan on as it is very cool. It's apparently 32 degrees outside but I had the insulation renewed last year and as the sun is never on the lounge it stays cool until the heating goes on. My apologies to everyone who is suffering at the moment.

Granrulesok. Wow calm down, you are extremely rude! She was being helpful! Go and sit in front of a fan you are obviously over heating!

I find that a flannel soaked in cold water then wrung put and applied to the back of the neck, then the face and hands, is a good cooling down strategy.

missdeke

i'm currently sitting in my lounge with a cardigan on as it is very cool. It's apparently 32 degrees outside but I had the insulation renewed last year and as the sun is never on the lounge it stays cool until the heating goes on. My apologies to everyone who is suffering at the moment.

Haven’t worn a cardi in months. Shorts and tee or a very thin cotton dress during the day and nothing in bed. And still I get hot.

Thanks NanKate for your timely post
Always glad to discuss coping with excessive heat here in London aka the lava pit.

My brother lives in northern Italy. They have a house with thick walls, tiny windows, shutters, marble floors and air conditioning. We are just not geared up in the same way,

Apologies if I am wrong but I interpreted NanKate’s post as being a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ !

We’re doing all of this, I'm just fed up with doing it! Juggling blinds, fans and sweaty bits.
Oh for some rain lashing on windows….

Some of our windows have blinds on the inside, which I obviously lower when the sun is on that side of the house.
BUT: the heat builds up behind them to way hotter the outside temperature, and you can feel the heat radiating out from them into the room. When that happens, I open the upper part of the affected windows so that some of that heat between blind and window escapes outside (unless there is a strong breeze). It does seem to make a significant difference.

What works better still is to hang a sheet over the outside of the windows, but it is fiddly to do, and unsightly.

Ideally, external sun awnings fixed to the house and used when necessary would be ideal, but that is a whole different ball game!

We had an awning fitted above our south facing patio doors several years ago- it’s brilliant,

Yes I just read this. My room is at least 11 degrees lower than outside today 35 v 24. I do a few things: first at 5am I get a cross air circulation but today it was useless, outside was 21 and it barely made any difference to the internal temperature

I put all the vents on in each bathroom, that helps to draw warm air out

I close all the shutters on the side that gets the sun first. My reflecting aluminium shade nets have been hanging on rods for a few days. I can only do those on the side which is sunny first thing (S/SE). The rods are outside the glass, hanging on command hooks and the nets are tied to the rods with string and held in place with electrical insulation tape. I bought the nets from temu, it is too late for this year but they are worth having in and you need a dowel or rod to span across the glass

By 12 I can start to open the inside shutters and have already started to raise the perfect fit blinds on the french doors. I get light through but the sun is reflected away. I have two large square sun umbrellas, both open by 6.30 am and they prevent the sun from heating a lot of my patio

There is a thread somewhere, maybe in house and home, I detailed every process of my experiments

I have dual aspect in each room, the west side faces a light coloured building and the strong sunlight is reflected off that building so I start to close those shutters late morning, then later in the day, the sun has swung around to that side and I need to keep those shutters closed until evening but I have light in my rooms via the see-through aluminium mesh shading fabric on the opposite side

Yes it was a faff when I was trialing stuff but by heck it works and I don`t even need a fan

The aluminium mesh is easy to handle I just lift the rod off and roll it up, tie with string and I can store in my garage until the next severe heat wave. I used 2 x2m mesh over the big windows, 2 of them and a 2x1 over the very sunny s facing side window, I leave that one up all the time

I made the decision to have air con fitted earlier on this year to the back of the house, which is in sun all day, so glad I did, it’s been a life saver for me. Also just had my conservatory roof insulated, that makes a big difference too.
When I got back from walking the dog last night, I sat watching tv with my feet in cold water, that cooled me down a treat 😄🥶🥵

Standard advice, that the older generation are better at comprehending.

My friend’s DS and DDIL, in their 40s, live opposite her and kept telling her she was daft to keep the wall-to-wall bifold doors shut and curtains drawn, they’d open the curtains and fling the doors open “to let some fresh air in”. She’d shut them as soon as the family left, as arguing fell on deaf ears. She bit the bullet and had air conditioning installed after the second heatwave and is delighted!

My kitchen doesn’t get the sun and the floor tiles stay comfortably cool, the old dog prefers to lie there. If I do feel I need to cool myself, immersing my hands and wrists in a bowl of cool water is effective (as is sitting with my feet in a bowl). Wiping a wet flannel across my neck or over my head helps too.