Preparing for winter II

crumblepie

Can't remember who was asking about door curtains and PVC doors. I've got a half glazed kitchen door and hung a thin fleece/curtain combo using velcro. I looped one part of the velcro through the header tape strings as it won't stick to the fabric itself. So far staying put.

I'm going to make a tie back for it so it will let some light through during the day without taking it off.

toottifrootti

splodger I would go with the gas if it was me - its more readily available - you dont have to wait for the heaters to heat up - you have instant heat and they would give you a combi boiler so it only heats the water you use not a whole tank on the immersion! I guess the installation may be a problem being messy and disruptive but i would still go with the gas. The new storage heaters are more efficient but in my mind (and maybe I am wrong) they are more expensive to run - do you know anybody with a similar typr house that uses gas and could ask them about their bills?

rising_from_the_ashes

cathy2702 wrote: »

Surely it's £34,200 into 12 months = £2850, then divided into 4.33 for the weekly amount £658.19, then dividing this weekly wage into hours e.g 40 hour week makes it £16.45. Remembering to deduct about a third for tax, ni and pension contributions for a truer amount?!

You're right that the annual salary is paid in 12 equal payments - but
teachers only work / get paid 39 weeks (here anyway) not 52 which isn't reflected in the above calc.

Our deductions come out at about 26% so if you take that off minimum wage this reduces this to less than £4.40 take home pay.:(

ifonlyitwaseasier

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

You're right that the annual salary is paid in 12 equal payments - but
teachers only work / get paid 39 weeks (here anyway) not 52 which isn't reflected in the above calc.

Our deductions come out at about 26% so if you take that off minimum wage this reduces this to less than £4.40 take home pay.:(

wow really? i'll have to tell my friend who, as a primary teacher, has had the grand total of 2 weeks off this summer holidays, no pre-prep to be done, no setting up the classroom, no meetings, wow i shoulda gone into teaching.

Confuzzled

Justamum wrote: »

Now there's an idea! I need a new dressing gown, so when I get one (maybe for Christmas) I might just cut down the one I've got.



That reminds of when I was growing up. My parents ran a hotel which was an old Victorian building with no double glazing (and quite a bit of subsidence so the windows didn't fit properly) and no central heating. In the winter there was ice on the insides of the windows :eek:. I used to go to bed wearing a t-shirt and leggings, and over the top of that I would wear a sweatshirt and jogging trousers. Sheets and blankets (quite a few!) with two quilts. It was bloomin' freezing - you could see your breath.

my daughter was wanting a fleecy dressing gown like i managed to pick up off Yours clothing, it's sooo soft but all the ones i was finding for her were more than mine cost :eek: anyway i'd been given a fleece robe a few years ago, not quite as soft but nice just the same and it didn't fit me, too small so i had her try it on... it goes to her ankles and there is a LOT of room inside but it fits well enough for her not to trip and kill herself wearing it and she's happy to have it so that saved me £15-20 and it will last her years :T i think i will use the dressing gown she outgrew (toweling) as fabric for covering my rice socks!

when i was a kid we lived in one place that only had those horrid little electric panel heaters in each room, you know the ones that only ran when you had them turned on, not storage heaters which aren't too bad if they're in good nick (we have them now and my bills are low here). i had two big windows in my room and it was sooo cold.

at the time we were destitute and could only afford to have the heat on in the bedrooms for 15 minutes before bed to take the edge off, AND if i forgot to turn it on before i got ready for bed that was too bad cuz my mother worried it would get left on which we just coudln't afford. it was soooo cold i slept in multiple layers, inside a sleeping back, with 3 pairs of socks under 6 blankets and with a hat on, sometimes even a balaclava if it was really really cold brrrrrr it was so bad that i used to sing myself to sleep so i wouldn't think so much about how cold it was! might be *part* of the reason why i'm so keen on winterproofing the house.. hmmm

oh got the black out thermal drape from amazon today, i thought the 160 was the length so it isn't quite long enough for the inner door upstairs but nearly so i've put it up, i only had a net curtain last year over the bubble wrap so this will help. and yes, the net curtain rod worked fine, not sure if a net curtain cord would work but the wee rod is fine.

i put the extra net curtain on the one over the front door so now i have two squished on there, i'll be doing the gluing space blanket to bubble wrap thing and filling in the strips of glass with them later, i don't care what anyone thinks i want it warmer lol!

RAS

Red_Doe wrote: »

My front (only!) door is one of those PVU (?) affairs, in a rented property. Does anyone know of an easy and cheap way to put a door curtain up without having to drill holes etc? It's got a large glass window and the cold that seeps through that in winter is awful.

There are three issues here:

If the glass is single pane, then cold will filter through.
If there are any gaps between the door and frame, the cold air will blow through
If the door is not particularly good, the cold will seem through.

Can you find some bubble wrap (preferably the small celled variety), cut that to the size of the window and then tape it on place on the inside, probably with masking tape. Even if you have to replace the tape over the winter that might be better than trying to get glue off the PVC later.

Ask the LL if you can draught strip the door on the outside? If so, get advice on doing this on a PVC door.

Also make a door sausage and use that behind the door to reduce the draughts at floor level.

Is there any space above the door? if so, can you fix a wooden batten (maybe use one of those nard as nails glues) pant it to match the wall and then put up a curtain rail?

Make the batten long enough to push the curatin back clear of the door if possible and to cover more than the door space on both sides.

Confuzzled

tugrin wrote: »

Anyway its been a good day for getting stuff done and I am looking forward to the possible good weather at the end of the week when I hope I can go foraging for rosehips. Also hopefully will try hand at rowan jelly.

my daughter actually requested we make rosehip jelly this year... i'm so proud! :T

Confuzzled

sparrer wrote: »

My bargain roll of bubble wrap arrived today, and I've done 6 windows already - impatient, aren't I? They're not ones that open, those will be done a little later. As a matter of interest do you put the bubbles window side, as I have, or facing the room, and is there a reason for doing it the way you do?

where did you get the bubble wrap? i thought i might check ebay but if i can get it cheaply elsewhere i want to know

i put the bubbles facing the window, this traps the air between the spaces in the plastic and the glass... and all you need to hold it in place is a swipe of damp sponge on the glass then press gently and voila, done!

rising_from_the_ashes

Red_Doe wrote: »

My front (only!) door is one of those PVU (?) affairs, in a rented property. Does anyone know of an easy and cheap way to put a door curtain up without having to drill holes etc? It's got a large glass window and the cold that seeps through that in winter is awful.

I used an extending curtain rod last year. It buckled a bit in the middle but managed to survive the winter (now replaced with a proper pole) with a fairly hefty velvet type lined curtain on it.

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

anyway - i have been offered a possible heating upgrade - and an assessor is coming over on friday - he tried to put me off having gas central heating put in - should i pursue the possibility of having gas - or should i stick with electric storage heaters?

Personally, I'd try to get the gas if you can.

I've had both and recently viewed a house with storage heaters - if I'd bought it, the 1st thing would've been to rip them out & get gas!:) It's def worth the upheaval of them having to go into the loft:D

rising_from_the_ashes

Confuzzled wrote: »

where did you get the bubble wrap? i thought i might check ebay but if i can get it cheaply elsewhere i want to know

i put the bubbles facing the window, this traps the air between the spaces in the plastic and the glass... and all you need to hold it in place is a swipe of damp sponge on the glass then press gently and voila, done!

There were some rolls in our new £land the other day (and I forgot to go back to get it ).