Preparing for winter II

Primrose

diddly - a couple of off-the-wall thoughts about how you could make your dog's cage in your garage a little more comfortable. either wrap a waterproof tarpaulin groundsheet all around it to keep the draughts out, or buy one of those cheap one-man pop up camping tents which are probably just about big enough to put the cage in which should also keep the draughts at bay.

jackieglasgow

Diddly, what about buying a cheap tent to put the dogs' beds inside? Its the right time of year to get a bargain one, too.

Oops posted to soon, sorry Primrose, great minds and all that!

Uniscots97

diddly74 wrote: »

I am so glad I found this thread!!!! Personally don't think any of this talk about governments, how they got in or anything is really adding any value to it, which up until the last couple of pages I was really enjoying! The fact of the matter is "we are in the poo" and one way or another - whoever is in "power", and however we got there we have to get out of it. End of story.

On another note - I need a little bit of help - so everyone thinking caps on.

We moved into a new home in June so don't really know how or where the cold is going to invade our cosy lives really yet. We are renting now and the boiler was serviced just before we moved in and all the heating tested so we are happy with that - but not really had to put the heating on yet (only had it on a couple of times for tests). The cavity walls have been done and the loft is so full of insulation I can't get in there!!!

We have a garage connected to our kitchen and as our 2 staffies now live in there we have to have the connecting door open. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to cover, seal or whatever the up and over garage door which has a whacking big gap all the way round. Obviously a heavy draft excluder needs to be made to go along the bottom. Whats the best stuff to be filling one with????

I have been looking the charity shops by me and they don't seem to have many things like blankets or such to make up a snuggly tent for the pooches - no they are not sleeping in the house!!! I have already surrounded their cage with cardboard - but if I put anything in the bed they have a tendancy to chew it up! grr!

Reading this thread has given me the idea to put a heavy door curtain over the connecting doorway, this way the gap is blocked but the pooches can still pass thru, as can the cats which are also fed in the garage which will make the downstairs less draft - its open plan layout and there are no internal doors on the groundfloor apart from the hall door to the front porch and the one to the garage!

We already have a emergency cupboard of torches and candles - which I always have stocked - u never know in this country be is summer or winter when you need one! The car box is a fab idea and so is the meds box.

This solution is for your garage door and its going to sound very mad but it does work! I used to work with someone who lived in an old stone house, their garage led right into the house. Occasionally they would use the garage for repairing their car but other than that it was used for their kids to play in when the weather was bad. The draft that whistled around the garage door was awful and my colleague (being an engineer) hit upon a great idea after seeing the big plastic doors connecting the warehouse section of the supermarket to the main shopping area.

He did this:-

Got vinyl/lino flooring from freecycle and cut it into about 30-40cm strips, length wise these were long enough to attach above the inside of the garage door and would reach the floor and overlap the edges of the side of the garage door. He started at one end and attached the first strip, the second would be slightly overlapping the first, then the third slightly overlapping the second etc. Once done he secured rope along the bottom of the panels on the side that was up against the garage door (not sure how he attached the rope), but this was used to pull the 'curtain' up out of the way if the garage needed to be used for car repairs. The lino/vinyl was flexible enough to move but stopped the wind whistling through the garage door and it meant the kids didn't have to wrap up like they were going outside and that the heat from the house wasn't lost. Hope this helps.

happyin_devon

NualaBuala wrote: »

I had been chilly all day but popped outside and it was actually quite mild - much colder inside the house!:eek:

sounds like my house! i often have to take OFF a layer when i go out!

cookiekid23

Im getting good at this bargain hunting and stockpiling lark.

today in wilkin$ons i found a mini led windup torch, knocked down to a fab 65p from a fiver cos someone had nicked the other/it fell out.

also got some cold n flu capsules from the cheap shop. and

...drumroll please...

my first christmas present for my youngest. a set of steve irwin dvds for a fiver!!:T

Justamum

QueenBeruthiel wrote: »

Spent on bailing out the banks. Their debt has now been transferred to the taxpayers. Are these guilty men suffering? I don't think so.

But surely the banks had to be bailed out because of the ridiculous amount of debt which they encouraged people to take out - fully supported by the last government who wanted people to feel like the good times were always going to be here.

Charis

MrsRogers wrote: »

Thank you for your suggestions .... I am liking the quickness of stuffing a pillow up the chimney

Do you think it would still leave enough airflow.... somebody somewhere once told me you need some air coming down the chimney ... does anyone know if thats right or have I dream-pt it?

:snow_laug

In fact your warm air will go up the chimney if you don't block it. In our first home the fireplace had been bricked up and an air vent put in where the fireplace had been. We found that a sheet of paper placed in front of the hole would stick to the air vent, indicating suction on the other side. When we had central heating put in, they stuck one of the radiators right in front of the air vent, so we soon covered that over.

Charis

toontron wrote: »

Oh, I am sorry but I am viewing this with a mixture of incredulity and amusement. Anyone would think we were expecting the next ice age!

He who laughs *last* laughs longest.

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

The trouble is that it would be fair enough for us to suffer cuts if WE personally had the benefit of the spending of the last few years. As the spending has gone largely on fighting wars and giving a variety of new "bits of money" to people to have children - personally I havent had the benefit of any of it (being neither a parent nor working in the Arms Industry) - but will still get lumbered with the effect of some of the cuts:(:mad:.

But the OP was blaming the banks for the current situation and the reason the banks are/were in debt was because they lent money to ordinary people who couldn't afford to borrow it in the first place. Even our students are encouraged to start their working lives with huge debts. It's quite acceptable in the non OS world to rack up a debt of many thousands that you may never eventually pay off now that full employment is so uncertain.

jackieglasgow

I really don't think this thread is the place to be discussing the country's economic situation, can we get back to hot water bottles and fleece blankets, please?