Preparing for winter III

SpikyHedgehog

Eenymeeny wrote: »

So pleased to hear that you are snug at home now Beanrua. Well worth all of the effort eh?:j
I'm trying to figure a temporary solution... We were fine (if old fashioned looking:o) last winter. This summer we have put a door through from the hall to the kitchen (which does work a lot better) and removed a radiator from that wall. What a difference it makes to the temperature! You can feel it getting progressively colder on the handrail as you go downstairs. (We also took the 'old-fashioned' velvet curtain from the front door when we decorated:eek:) I know that OH will object to putting a curtain rail back up on the 'new' paintwork and a temporary shower curtain pole would probably fall down each time someone came through. I wondered if anyone else had any ideas please. It has shown us that we'll need to put a radiator back in the hall eventually, even if we can only fit a small one. (New CH planned for next summer's project) All ideas welcome:)

My hallway is cold, it's tiny and goes from front door turn right into the sitting room or forward with enough room for a coat rack & shoe cabinet before you go straight up the stairs. If there are 3 people standing in it, it's cramped. I've got a fleece blanket over the 3 panels of glass on the door on a net curtain wire, I screwed the cup hooks into the beading round the top glass panel, but I guess your OH wouldn't be keen on that? I went for the palest fleece I have so I'm now leaving it down all the time though I was tying it in the middle when the weather was warmer to give more light in the hallway.

I've now put a batten above the front door so have a pair of unlined cotton curtains up that go right onto the floor and do make a surprising amount of difference (and a proper old fashioned curtain over the doorway into the sitting room as the cat doesn't believe in closed doors, which is making lots of difference to the sitting room, though making the hallway colder). When my parents-in-law were going home earlier, I called DS1 down to say 'goodbye' and as he came down the stairs he realised that even going up 1 step makes a difference to how cold it feels. Need to get the Housing Association back out to look at the draught proofing, or find some other way of managing them...

I know I've got a draught coming from the top of the door as I could feel it when putting the curtain up. Have you got any draughts that you can block safely?

I like beanrua's idea of lighting a candle, though personally I'd be wary as DS2 likes to throw stuff round the house so I won't have lit candles unless I can see them all the time. I was planning to get a free standing radiator for the hallway for next year, but the sockets are where the curtain goes, so will have to think again about that... Have you got any heaters in the house that you could put in there to take the chill off, or could you get a freestanding one?

beanrua

spikyhedgehog - I would still be inclined to bubble the glass panels on the door as well as the fleece - might help to stop draught from top of door. Like you I'm a firm believer in cup hooks - great invention.

MarilynMonroe_2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

A wee pic....



The leg has now disappeared too (it must've felt left out!):).


I have just signed up for Flickr but need to figure out how to use it:o so will try to learn for the next pic!

Awww lol my cat was like that yesterday, poor little mite is so skinny and he couldnt keep warm ... he must have got too hot though cos he kept sticking his nose out for air!

kmiller4

Hi everyone-- just checking in as its been awhile. It is the end of the semester and we are very busy at work. With the holidays looming I'm feeling very stressed. Weather has not been bad though-- hardly any snow and warmer than normal temps here (although still not warm by any means!) I hope you all are well and are almost done with holiday preparations. Will be online more once the break starts and the holidays are behind us. Merry Christmas!!

Fruball

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

My hallway is cold, it's tiny and goes from front door turn right into the sitting room or forward with enough room for a coat rack & shoe cabinet before you go straight up the stairs. If there are 3 people standing in it, it's cramped. I've got a fleece blanket over the 3 panels of glass on the door on a net curtain wire, I screwed the cup hooks into the beading round the top glass panel, but I guess your OH wouldn't be keen on that? I went for the palest fleece I have so I'm now leaving it down all the time though I was tying it in the middle when the weather was warmer to give more light in the hallway.

I've now put a batten above the front door so have a pair of unlined cotton curtains up that go right onto the floor and do make a surprising amount of difference (and a proper old fashioned curtain over the doorway into the sitting room as the cat doesn't believe in closed doors, which is making lots of difference to the sitting room, though making the hallway colder). When my parents-in-law were going home earlier, I called DS1 down to say 'goodbye' and as he came down the stairs he realised that even going up 1 step makes a difference to how cold it feels. Need to get the Housing Association back out to look at the draught proofing, or find some other way of managing them...

I know I've got a draught coming from the top of the door as I could feel it when putting the curtain up. Have you got any draughts that you can block safely?

I like beanrua's idea of lighting a candle, though personally I'd be wary as DS2 likes to throw stuff round the house so I won't have lit candles unless I can see them all the time. I was planning to get a free standing radiator for the hallway for next year, but the sockets are where the curtain goes, so will have to think again about that... Have you got any heaters in the house that you could put in there to take the chill off, or could you get a freestanding one?

Your hallway sounds exactly like mine! In fact, its so small I have to go up a few stairs if I want to let more than one person in

I have a door curtain there that puddles on the floor and it makes it much warmer, despite the hall/stairs/landing being on an outside wall. A floor length curtain at the top window works a treat too I could bubble wrap that window... might do that this week.

Rainy-Days

We had snow this morning - okay it wasn't a huge amount admittedly - but we had some. I put my big ski jacket on which I have had for years and washed in the summer and felt virtous that all that preparing for winter list has now borne fruit. It felt wonderful putting that clean and sweet smelling jacket on.

I had a lie in this morning but had a cup of coffee and looked out over the garden while it was snowiing knowing that everything was protected. I said that I would get to that point at some stage and I did it this morning.

The wall flowers which I put in at the end of September are growing well and I look forward to their beautiful scent and flowers come next Spring.

Rising - love the picture of your cat

THIRZAH

We had snow overnight. The roads will be awful tomorrow if it freezes.

We've walked down to church and are planning to stay in the warm for the rest of the day.

Went walking yesterday. There was no snow here and the forecast seemed ok .When we got to the start of the walk there was snow on the ground and then once we got up into the hills it started snowing quite heavily. It was fairly wet snow so my trousers and gloves got wet. The trousers dried fairly quickly once the snow stopped but my gloves stayed wet so my hands got cold (must remember to keep a spare pair in my rucksack).

We cut the walk short in the end. I had a bath when I got home and am sure that the temperature of the water dropped by several degrees when I got in!

Confuzzled

we also had snow overnight (stealth snow i call it, we don't get to enjoy watching it fall, keeps coming when we're asleep!) it was enough to fully cover the crass but it's mostly melted now, still the rooftops and lawns looked pretty


it's supposed to rain lightly tomorrow in edinburgh whic i'm not thrilled about however it is also supposed to remain above freezing for the times we'll be out in the weather so at least it won't be a skating rink. mind you i'm still planning on bringing our yak traks, just in case. keep your fingers crossed for us that we don't get drenched, we both really need this to be nice, it's been a rough few months for us.

stay warm (and dry!) everyone

Phoenixbird

Following the excellent advice on this thread (well, better late than never), I got these whilst looking for something else this afternoon. I'm sure I paid much more than that in Halfords last year. There are five each of six sizes. I love ticking things off the list!

beanrua

Not able to walk to shops to-day as it is like a skating rink - never stopped freezing all day. All I wanted was eggs but I knew I would never make it back home with them all intact - might be able to get some to-morrow or wait til my grocery delivery on Wed. Salted the path but just didn't do it early enough!! Very little snow - probably too cold for snow - stay warm.