Preparing for winter II

La-Cara

Frugal wrote: »

I am terrified for my outdoor pipes this year... Its gonna be a shocker of a winter... I am sure of it

I agree Frugal, all the signs seem to be pointing that way. The Weather Outlook are predicting it to be colder again next week with a higher risk of snow. They are publishing their winter forecast soon and I expect that they will predict more of the same over the coming months, as they've already said several times that the current conditions point towards a bad winter.

On the positive side though, at least we've all been smart enough to follow this thread and got some great tips to keep our homes, cars and selves a bit warmer :T

mystra

Confuzzled wrote: »

do you think your landlord would allow you to install a ceiling fan if you left if when you eventually move? in the states most ceiling fans have a reverse mode that is used in winter to push the warm air down from high ceilings back into the part of the room where it's needed.

mind you this won't fix the draughts and i think if you pushed you could get that fixed (living in rented myself i understand the precarious situation of when and how much to push without finding ones lease renewal becoming a notice to quit!) at the very least a fan would help you feel the warm air you ARE putting into the room

if you can get a ladder you can caulk the gaps with foam or even papier mache both which can be removed if needed, i've used both tactics and found them incredibly effective.

eek i have no idea how i would fit a ceiling fan to be honest, the light for the room dangles down from about 8 feet of wire and the ceiling slopes, not just flat, not sure how it would work

i really feel at home and love the place, but i know what you mean about feeling like you're pushing your luck with landlords. Flats round here get snapped up so getting rid of us would be no skin off the landlords nose, even though we're one of the few tenants round here who want a place long term (many people round here are people working in the city from abroad for short periods of time we have new neighbours every week lol). When we were flat hunting places we liked would get offered to us and then snapped up before we had chance to wear, sometimes within a couple of hours :eek:, i really don't want to go through all that again not for a very long time! Let face facts, its going to be a million years before we can buy a place so i want get comfy where i am...

Looks like i'll be going up the ladders this weekend armed with paper mache!

Fruball

Horse_Owner wrote: »

Or you could put an old pair of socks on OVER your shoes!

Does that work?

Has anyone tried it?

Sunnyday

Frugal wrote: »

Does that work?

Has anyone tried it?

Yes it does

It was the only way that i could get out of the house at times last year, after a while the build up on the socks needs to be knocked off but it was a lifesaver for me.

SD

La-Cara

just found an interesting story on BBC news about how closing your shutters or curtains can help to keep your house warmer.

Like we didn't know that already but it's nice to see some evidence

bluebag

mystra wrote: »

i might get one of these myself, be good to have an additional heater to help warm the livingroom, even if it just means having a heater that is closer to us so we can feel the warmth rather than down the far end! Timer plug will keep those bills in check thanks for posting!

Hi, you may find a halogen heater or two useful, sadly I know far too much than is healthy about heaters as my central heating needed replacing in the depths of winter and it took an age to have a new one fitted.

Halogens are very cheap to buy, around a tenner or so.

They heat people/objects rather than the room, so it's important to have them pointed at you.

They tend to have them in 400/800/1200 watts 'bars'. I found the 800watt setting was plenty warm enough for me sitting at the computer in my high ceiling mega draughty terrace, this cost about 7p an hour to run (800w)with electricity @ 8.5p per unit, best to do your own calculation with your tariff.

Hope this helps.

happyin_devon

diddly74 wrote: »

I know this may be hard but could you not hire a long ladder and together get up to the rooflights? Then you could find the drafts and maybe seal with skylights with tape/that clingfilm type of double glazing?? You don't say how high the ceilings are, but from my imagination I would recon you would need scaffold type of tower/ladder. But would the expense of hiring it equal out the amount of heating saved and comfort given.

Other than that, and this may sound stupid, the only other thing I could envisage is constructing yourself a tent. Erecting something that has its own ceiling and maybe sides to cut down drafts and loss of heat to the roof. Do you use all of you "large" room?

diddly
LOVING your tent idea!
although i only live in a small cottage,our bedroom is FREEZING so thanks to u im now planning some kind of ceing to floor drapes around the bed,that will keep out draughts and may even be romatic to boot,;)

shegar

mystra wrote: »

that's the thing, i HATE moving house, as a kid my parents were obsessed with 'doing up houses' back when there was a boom, then they lost all their money on a house and basically we moved about 25 times in 20 years... i really love our flat apart from this one problem and don't want to move (flat hunting in London was a nightmare and we really found this flat by chance and got a good deal and doubt we could find something as good again)

I wouldn't mind paying a hefty heating bill if it made any difference lol :rotfl: i could easily cut down on other things!

As soon as you move to a nice warm house/flat then you wont have to move again??You will find somewhere else that you will love as same as the one youve got now, but with a good heating system........:)

Penelope_Penguin

sb44 wrote: »

I think I am going to give this a go with some old trainers, anybody else going to give it a try?

I will do, once you let me know how you get on

I'll add this to the Preparing for Winter thread later.

Confuzzled

Kitchenbunny wrote: »

Have made a new addition to my winter preparations. There is now a fleece in the boot of the car in case of breakdown or extremely cold weather. And I must invest in a pair of driving gloves (thin ones) to help when I'm scraping the windscreen!

KB xx

i don't drive anymore (best thing i ever did giving up the car 8 years ago!) but from my previous 16 years of driving and having lived in far snowier place than the UK (midwestern US!) i would recommend that some of the car emergency supplies be kept IN the car

if you have a car that gives access to the boot from inside without it being a major faff then you can probably disregard this but i've had times where i've spun the car around so violently that i wound up nose pointed upwards in a 6 foot irrigation ditch on the other side of the road making it impossible for me to get out of the car other than by crawling out the window (and then thoroughly soaking my clothes!). mind you only rich people had mobiles then but if it's bad weather you might not get reception to call for help and you'll still need to sit tight til someone gets there so access to the blanket without crawling out a window and back in one is good!

also, if you've put your deicer in the boot and the boot is frozen you're not doing so well

i always kept deicer both in my glove compartment and close to my front door (for days i couldn't even get in my car to start with). food got stashed in the glove box with extra socks and gloves. a blanket can be folded and laid across the back of the car, it shouldn't block your view and won't be in the way then. a lot of things could be put in long thin tupperware type boxes and stored under the seat.

i'm not being condescending towards anyone's current prep, especially as i no longer have to worry about it, but i got caught out a few times myself in situations i never thought would occur that could have been made so much easier if i could actually get to my emergency supplies!