Preparing for winter III

greenbee

Mine had obviously been told to paint the place white and replace the flooring... They'd painted round the furniture both on the downstairs walls and on the floors upstairs! The kitchen floor had been tiled with white gloss ceramic tiles and they hadn't finished tiling into the hall... It looked like a public toilet and we later found out that some of the tiles were stuck down with blu-tack! The only room with carpet was the toilet and the two rooms with colours were the bedroom (pale green) and bathroom (mauve artex... the kind of mauve you'd associate with asphyxiation!)

Mind you, if I ever sell, I'm sure people will comment on my colours too...

tugrin

My Victorian cottage has hideous sliding doors, one glazed with plastic - a full length fluorescent tube in the kitchen- inevitable artex on all ceilings and an open plan black steel and teak open plan staircase. Im in the slow process of demodernising it but its a slow process with no cash.

I agree it does feel cold tonight Im sitting with my usual sensible togs on and heater on but still need fleece blanket. I think I will have to get the eletric blanket on tomorrow - a hottie will have to do tonight.

greenbee

Whoever did that should be condemned to live in brutalist concrete structures overlooking more concrete...

beanrua

Spent all day bubble wrapping and draught proofing this house within an inch of it's life. Put draught excluder tape on a door frame and then the door wouldn't close!!!!
Thought long and hard about bubble wrapping the front windows. I have ceiling to floor glass in my hall etc. Anyway, I bought some Xmas window things and stuck them on - and snowflakes etc etc and bubble wrapped over that and it looks absolutely ok - like it was meant to be a Xmas scene - but really i just wanted to put bubble wrap on the front windows. feeling really chuffed with all my hard work - I could have papered a room the amount of time I have spent bubble wrapping the place. Looks like I'm a Xmas freak - but I don't care.
tugrin - felt your joy with the carpet. Enjoy!!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Well, hoping for a better night ..... have "given in" and decided I'm obviously old now and can't take the cold anymore!

Have put the elec blanket on the bed, a thinnish blanket on top and then my mattress protector (which I've only used once and was too hot with it on!) on top of that.

I've also moved my "baby blanket" from on top of the duvet to underneath so it should be more snuggly (I love it, it's as old as me and has already had to have the middle removed & a patch applied as it's so worn!)

Hopefully, I'll be warmer tonight..... don't want to put the flannelette on yet or I'll be really struggling when it "gets colder proper"!

FrugalFriend

It's nice to have a traditional and homely fireplace and chimney. The problem is my fireplace when unlit is so cold, a huge draught comes down the chimney. I'm thinking of getting the fireplace blocked up and just relying on the central heating. At the moment a lot of the heat goes up the chimney when the fire isn't lit.

prepareathome

I am trying to work out why its so cold by my bedroom windows when curtains open. I have used an incense stick and went over the whole window very slowly but smoke stayed going straight up, no sign of any draught. So not sure what to do. Middle 12 windows ( two big sash windows) all bubble wrapped but not four smaller windows at each side( 2 windows with 2 panes each) as need to be able to see out with spending so much time in here to know if someone knocks whether I should get myself downstairs or not. Have closed and blocked the trickle vents and nothing coming through that. Any ideas anyone????

Baileys_Babe

FrugalFriend wrote: »

It's nice to have a traditional and homely fireplace and chimney. The problem is my fireplace when unlit is so cold, a huge draught comes down the chimney. I'm thinking of getting the fireplace blocked up and just relying on the central heating. At the moment a lot of the heat goes up the chimney when the fire isn't lit.

Why don't you get a chimney balloon or stuff a pillow in a plastic bag up the chimney, hang a length of ribbon or something similar down so you don't accidently light a fire whilst the chimney is still blocked. hth

rinabean

prepareathome - windows are just plain cold, even if there's no particular place for the air to get in. Are they double glazed? I know you can get some kind of insulating film to put up, but I think cling film might help a little for cheaper, whilst being more transparent than bubble wrap.

I have a mostly unused fireplace right by my feet, so I've stuffed a bag of scrunched up newspapers up it. You don't need to shove it actually up the chimney, if you're worried about forgetting it's there. I agree that a ribbon is a good idea if you do, though.

FrugalFriend

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

Why don't you get a chimney balloon or stuff a pillow in a plastic bag up the chimney, hang a length of ribbon or something similar down so you don't accidently light a fire whilst the chimney is still blocked. hth

OK I might try that, thanks.

I had a pillow up there, it helped but the wall above the fireplace got very damp. Do you think the plastic bag would make a difference?