Different attitudes towards reasonable room temperature at home

Miss_Marple_2

katejo wrote: »

My place is not my lodger's main home. He lives in Preston and has a house there but has a job in London so I raised the issue of home temperatures with him. He just said that he expects to keep a 25 degree temperature which he doesn't consider to be hot.

I was going to ask if he was used to living in a hotter country, but, from my experience, Preston is not that hot.

My brother lives in the far east & whenever he comes to stay he moans how cold it is & he sets the thermostat to around 28 and I swelter, but I let him have his way don't see him very often.

Torry_Quine

I'm amazed that anyone would think a jumper to be just for outdoor use as to me it's a normal thing to wear bothe inside and out.

As to the temperature I don't have a thermostat but the thermometer is usually about 18/19c in the living-room. Today is a cold day here and it's only 16.3c as the heating went off a coule of weeks ago. However it's certainly bearable with an extra layer.

This winter has been mild so the heating has never been on in the bedroom at all and I agree that it seems strange to heat a room merely for sleeping!

Lily-Rose_3

WOW, your lodger has got a nerve LOL. I go mad when my teen daughter turns the heating up to more than 18!

There's no need for it as our little bungalow is very cosy.

I keep it on around 16, and 12-13 at night. I would certainly ask the lodger to never put the thermostat above 20, and THAT is pushing it!

I second what lots of others here have said: if you are chilly, put a bloomin' cardy or jumper on!

phill99

I'd throw his belongings into the street when he was away and change the locks. Then tell him to see how warm it's gets sleeping on a park bench.

AngelPie78

For me the question would be what room is 'too cold'? If it's his own bedroom and he's been in there for two hours or so and he's still cold, then that's one situation, but if it's the whole house and he spends most of his time in the lounge or in his bedroom, then that's a different scenario imho.

I have a fairly open plan house and the house can be cold when the thermostat is set at 28+. We have a massive conservatory at the end of the house, bad wall cavaties and insulation as well as an old boiler which doesn't help. I spend a lot of time at home, as a student, and can go from having all the windows and doors open, to having the heating on full for an hour or longer in one day. It really does depend on the weather and the house. I hate wearing jumpers inside, but that's my choice and I pay the bills so I have a bit more freedom there.

I think people who have posted have made some quite broad assumptions about your house when there are more questions that can be answered to help find a compromise for you and your lodger.

poet123

We never have the heating on during the night unless it is in the depths of winter and only then when it is absolutely freezing outside. If you have a good duvet there should be no need for it. I think the temperature the OP has the house at is fine for all but the very coldest days.

moneyistooshorttomention

AngelPie78 wrote: »

For me the question would be what room is 'too cold'? If it's his own bedroom and he's been in there for two hours or so and he's still cold, then that's one situation, but if it's the whole house and he spends most of his time in the lounge or in his bedroom, then that's a different scenario imho.

I have a fairly open plan house and the house can be cold when the thermostat is set at 28+. We have a massive conservatory at the end of the house, bad wall cavaties and insulation as well as an old boiler which doesn't help. I spend a lot of time at home, as a student, and can go from having all the windows and doors open, to having the heating on full for an hour or longer in one day. It really does depend on the weather and the house. I hate wearing jumpers inside, but that's my choice and I pay the bills so I have a bit more freedom there.

I think people who have posted have made some quite broad assumptions about your house when there are more questions that can be answered to help find a compromise for you and your lodger.

That is another aspect of this matter certainly, ie as to what the particular house concerned is like.

Speaking personally, I know I like the look of those converted barns and the like with their high ceilings etc and would then go on to instantly reject them as a "possible buy" for me as a home-owner. That being because I would instantly start wondering what my fuel bills would be like in somewhere like that.:eek:

That is another fact that we don't know on here, ie what type of house OP lives in. It may be that OP lives in a well-insulated fuel-efficient type house on the one hand. It may be that OP lives in a two-storey "barn" type house on the other hand. This we cannot tell and therefore cannot comment appropriately on.

We are probably all taking into account what we personally live/have lived in.

So, if OP lives in a reasonably fuel-efficient house then that is one scenario. If OP lives in a "heat-hungry" house on the other hand, then that is quite another thing.

Either way, it is nothing whatsoever to do with the lodger what a landlord/landladys choice of housing is like...either way, it is still the case that those set standards apply and that will cost peanuts or a blimmin' fortune dependant on the type of housing but is nothing whatsoever to do with the lodger either way. I know I personally bore in mind what situation the lodger concerned had come from and that is another factor that is relevant, ie as to whether lodger is selfish or has been used to some other national norms. For instance, I had a short-term lodger in one time that had come from a country with national norms that dictated they kept their housing pretty hot and duly gave a bit of added leeway because of that and lent her a really warm dressing gown and made other adaptations whilst she was with me.

This is the thing though. Landlady/landlords situation is absolutely totally irrelevant in this respect. What IS relevant is purely and simply officially accepted standards on the one hand and the "norms" of the home area the lodger has come from on the other hand. All else boils down to personal opinions and they don't count and are irrelevant imo.

What are the objective factors that prevail pure and simple?

jennifernil

I am puzzled by those who say they turn up the thermostat when it is colder outside, surely the whole point of the thermostat is to maintain the set temperature inside the house, whatever the weather outside?

However, to get back on topic......

I would find 18 degrees too cold if, for example, sitting watching TV, even with a jumper on. 20/21 degrees would be comfortable. We are all different, but 25 degrees would be oppressive!!

We never specifically heat our bedrooms, just leave the doors to the hall open so some heat circulates. Overnight we do not heat the house at all, heating is on for 2 hours in the morning and usually 5pm to 10pm in the evening.

We don't have a room thermostat, ours is an older system with thermostatic radiator valves on all but one radiator, so each room can be set individually and not be governed by a maximum temperature selected for the room where the stat is situated.

The lodger may prefer not to wear a sweater, but he cannot reasonably insist that the house be kept that hot.

Official advice is to turn down the stat and wear a sweater, so as long as a reasonable temperature is maintained, that is what he should do.

Old_Git

compromise and turn it up to 20C

BigAunty

Serve notice. He's taking the pee. 25 degrees is a tropical temperature.

By refusing to put on a jumper and dominating you with his opinions, his dumb 'defence', he's just wants to show you that he has a big !!!!!! and he's the daddy. Surely the attitude he shows you on the issue of the heating, his shocking sense of entitlement, must show its repugnant head in other ways?

He needs a reality check of true market rent and a live in landlord that won't take any nonsense.

I think you can get thermostat/timers that have some kind of way to lock or passcode to stop them from being altered? Or if its wireless, put it a room that can be locked by you (such as installing a lock on your bedroom door, one that complies with fire safety by having a thumb turn lock inside to get out).

I used to come back from weekends and holidays to find my lodger had switched the heating off the timer and onto manual so it would run 24/7. One used to tumble dry their clothes on a sunny day just because they didn't want to iron them...