Preparing for winter III

sexki11en

Well, I think we're done winter prepping. I haven't posted for a year, we were one of the lucky ones whose boiler broke and pipes froze (and then burst Boxing day night, flooding the house) over Christmas last year. I think the house was a balmy 4 degrees for a week!!!

Well, this year we're in a lovely mid terrace house. The heating bill has already been half what it was last year but I still prepped. I have draught excluders on the doors downstairs (the ones you slot underneath and theres one on each side) I also bubble wrapped the windows on the conservatory. The conservatory has a plastic roof and no doors leading into the kitchen. It's been bitter in there - we can't close the kitchen door as the kitty's food is in there. We fixed a curtai pole up today and put a thermal curtain up. I cannot believe the difference it's made.

We went out for a few bits this afternoon after we'd put it up. The SC was on with a pea & ham soup and when we came back the kitchen was snuggly.

Just put the fire on as it's 15 degrees in here which is too cold for me. The heating will click on in 10 mins for a few hours so that'll help (only to 18 degrees)

No snow here sadly we rarely do, but I live in hope! I've enjoyed reading all your weather reports.

SK x

SpikyHedgehog

beanrua wrote: »

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.

I love cup hooks! I also have suction ones in the bathroom to hang things up on, like my bath scrubby.

I've investigated my bubble wrap stash and there wasn't enough to do all 3 glass panels, but I had an idea... The draught stuff put up by the HA is obviously comedy draught excluder as its all in place (I looked last night) but does little or no good as one can feel the draught coming round the door frame. So I cut the bubble wrap into (roughly) 2 in wide strips and have stuck it round the top & both sides of the door so it extends 1 inch over the door, thus covering the gap, and excluding the draught. It's already making a difference! There's also a draught coming from under the door, but that requires slightly less Heath-Robinson treatment, I think...

The door is all white (well, not the glass), so this doesn't look too obtrusive... And with the curtain pulled over, you can't see it at all Won't be able to use cup hooks to hang more conventional appearing draught excluder, as the door is a steel faced fire door. So I'll have to think about how to get it to stay on the door while the door moves. Off to stuff an old pair of tights with the holey socks I've be storing & I'll throw it down when I'm done, & hope the cat doesn't think it's a new toy to hide under the sofa.

I just had a check round the back door, which is the same basic design, & has no apparent draughts at all - checked by holding a wet hand all round the edges, and though it's cold (being a steel faced door going straight into the garden from the kitchen ), there's no feel of a draught. I know it's partly to do with the direction the door faces in, the back faces west while the front faces east, but this is silly! The draught excluder's been repaired twice round the front door & not at all round the back door in the 4 1/2 years the house has been built.

TwelveStopsThenHome

A bit of advice here:

I've my sister and her two young children two and five also staying for nearly two weeks. My spare bedroom gets very cold. What do you advise to make the room warm?

SpikyHedgehog

TwelveStopsThenHome wrote: »

A bit of advice here:

I've my sister and her two young children two and five also staying for nearly two weeks. My spare bedroom gets very cold. What do you advise to make the room warm?

How much do you want to spend, or what resources have you got?

I'd try to make sure the bed/beds are warm first, with flannelette sheets or microfibre sheets (Lidl had them last week, if you've one near you, you could see if they've any left?), hot water bottles and plenty of blankets or fleeces.

If you've got hard flooring, I'd try to put down some rugs so their feet go on those rather than a cold floor. If you've got carpet, that should be warm enough.

What about your window covering? I've got thin curtains up in my bedroom, so I tuck a fleece over the net wire at night to keep the room warmer - even when the heating's not on, it does make a difference.

Have you got heating in the room and does it work? Or a heater that you can put there to give a burst of warmth while they're getting dressed/undressed? Or would they be better off getting dressed/undressed in the bathroom/another room? Especially important for the little ones, as they may not say they've got chilled.

I really wouldn't use candles at all or leave a freestanding heater on unsupervised because of the fire hazard especially with young children.

Are they likely to bring/have warm pyjamas? I'd be inclined to let your sister know the bedroom could be chilly so she knows to bring their warmer pyjamas, snuggle socks, slippers and dressing gowns, if she is likely to have these & might not automatically bring them. I forgot to take our slippers last time we slept over at my parents' house & boy did I miss them!

Lastly, if you can, go for warmer colours - eg, a red fleece will make the room look warmer than a blue one. And, I'm sure the room does get cold, but with the 3 of them sleeping in it, it will be warmer than for 1 person using it.

thenanny2die4

Well, the dozen or so flakes of snow we had this morning hardly count... However, having spent much of the day shopping for the last few Christmas prezzies, we came home to a power cut so were able to test some of our preps.

Light: Plenty of candles lit the living room effectively. Two small sensor lights from Ikea (borrowed from the understairs cupboard) did the trick in the kitchen. A wind-up torch was more than adequate for bathroom visits.

Heat: Well the logburner is alight constantly anyway and we haven't used the central heating for well over a year, so that was a foregone conclusion.

Communication: Cross with myself for not getting around to buying a cheap plug-in phone. I shall do that this week. :mad:

Entertainment: Had the radio on which was ideal. Will get more batteries to be sure we always have access to this. Cribbage by candlelight was lovely.

Pretty happy overall. The power was out for about three hours and when it came on, we turned the lights back off and finished our game of cards. :rotfl:

triticale

It's maybe a bit late on in prepping now but I had to share my new socks with you all (not literally, you wouldn't all fit!), found them in the big garden centre where OH and I were buying a tree, they are Heat Holders and they are the warmest socks I've ever had the pleasure of putting my feet into. :j

Not cheap at £6.99 a pair but soooo worth it. I have always suffered with cold feet and my two-sock approach has been flagging of late (although that could be due to all the holes in my well used pairs).

The inside feels like cotton wool and warms you up instantly. I've worn them in shoes but they have a grippy pattern on the bottom so are good 'slipper socks' for indoors too. There were kids ones there too.

It's possible someone's already posted about them in a previous prepping thread but I can't remember seeing them mentioned.

[Deleted User]

in the bleak mid winter

that is just what today is like, I don`t need words, just add rain. 3 candles lit to lift the gloom

I quite like the higher temperatures this week as I have to take dh for an op and it is down the motorway, he`ll be home later in the day but no lifting for weeks and I am getting us used to using all electric in the house, so I don`t have to shift lots of bags of wood pellets. So far so good and based on past bills, we are only using about 5kwh more a day. It helps that I am using the remoska a lot more and we don`t need any heat when the sun is out. Modern eco-ism has its shortfalls and one is not having a conventional boiler, even if it would be oil and another is having only a few tiny rads and having all winter heating based on pellets. Hence me spending a lot on very good portable heaters ie equivalent to electric central heating

Thanks for the sock link triticale, I`m adding a pair to dh`s christmas pressies

mishmogs

Hello fellow prepers....

I see aldi have some fleece undies in this week, anyone tried them before? quite fancy a couple of pairs as its now cold!!

Fruball

mishmogs wrote: »

Hello fellow prepers....

I see aldi have some fleece undies in this week, anyone tried them before? quite fancy a couple of pairs as its now cold!!

:eek: as in knickers?!!!!!

:rotfl:

lizzyb1812

Frugal wrote: »

:eek: as in knickers?!!!!!

:rotfl:

No, but still underwear - here's the link:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_22504.htm