Preparing for Winter V

Primrose

Sensible advice of Taff about storing fuel of any kind close to the house.
When you're older, less nimble on your feet or it means venturing out in several inches of snow, or pouring rain, you certainly want to minimise the risk and inconvenience.

mardatha

We have two coal bunkers, one either side of the back door. House was built before the war and is much more sensibly laid out than new houses.

greenbee

My coal bunker is in the garden, but I keep a day or so's worth in the porch. I use less coal in volume than I do logs BUT I do have to clear the ash daily, whereas with logs I hardly ever bother! I burn coal (smokeless) when I want to keep the fire going continuously and logs when I just want to use it occasionally or feel like I want to see flames.

Lucy5781

Urgh, went to -2 overnight the night before last. Baby was fine in an extra pj top but toddler had kicked his covers down and didn't pull them up again. Cue a 3am arrival in my room, bringing teddies and muslin squares with him.... left him in my bed and slept on the sofa. Went back up at 6am and found him asleep frog style on the floor next to my bed!! Assume he fell out, into the big v pillow I use when feeding the baby thankfully but poor thing missed out on all my husband's warmth, he didn't even realise he'd come in, that I'd gone or that he'd fallen out the bed!!!

Novice_investor101

Well, as i'm off work this latter half of the week - set myself some DIY to do, along with general house keeping. I've just spent the last hour hunting for all the draughts in the lounge as it usually seems to be the coldest room.

So far i've found:
- a huge draught coming from between the skirting board and laminate flooring which is now blocked with some fabric pushed into it. That ran about half the length of the room on an external wall so it was a constant stream of really cold air! That alone must have been having a huge impact.
- a draught coming up from another bit of skirting that has the expansion beading on it. I'll be getting some caulk tomorrow and filling the top of that. Its not as bad as the above tho and is right under the room length radiator.
- the gap where the laminate meets the marble fire place hearth. I've glued the beading back down as it was loose.
- i've made a cover for the air vent in the corner of the room - out of thick card, foil and some sticky velcro and that is now covered.

It feels like it's made such a difference to the room already - the heating has been on since 3.30pm and the temp in the lounge is now at 18.4c and rising - it was stuck trying to get above about 17.5c before i went blocking all the gaps. Meanwhile the kitchen is at about 18c as the door is open and it has a tile floor. Usually the temps are the other way round - lounge being the coldest.

Plan for tomorrow is to finish the job properly by getting a tube of caulk for the beading and skirting, pushing the strips of fabric in properly ( i want to be able to remove them come summer) and to get some thermal curtain liners from Dunelm.
Then to measure up the kitchen window for some curtains too. There is only a window blind in there and I think that contributes to the cold.

Long term plan - have a digital/wireless thermostat fitted as the current one is analogue and on a solid brick party wall in the hallway. I have to set it 2c lower than the temp i want the rooms at to get it to cycle on and off - currently set to 16c to have the rooms as 18c/19c, and then leave the kitchen/lounge doors open to let the heat register. Not ideal.

Laura_Elsewhere

We've had outings the last two days, so we've basically both gone out in the morning and not come home til midnight, whereas usually I'm around during the day and we're both in all evening - the temperature has absolutely plummeted in here despite the weather outside not being bitterly cold!

We use the bedroom (comfortable, spacious, south-facing) as a bed-sitter in winter, as the sitting room is north-facing and darker. Normally the room stays at a temp cool for most but fine for us, around 15 degrees, at this time of year. It's been down to 12 both nights when we've got in - just by us not being around, not having the trusty 'stone pig'* as a storage-heater giving off a steady gentle heat...

I shall spend the weekend re-filling the pig with freshly-hot water every few hours to get the temps back up, I think!

*Victorian ceramic hot water bottle, stays properly-hot for quite a few hours: maybe 3 hours if in the open, but 8-10 hours if under the bedcovers!

shoei

Well i have just nipped out to clean the windows and although it is nice and sunny it is cold!!!
I went to fetch my Christmas tree yesterday in the storm, I like to get it up the beginning of December and yesterday was the only day I'm free.

My friend is coming tomorrow and we will go foraging around the farm for bits and make our wreaths. I have 3 to make this year and then my mantle top decorations too.

Thriftkitten

is there a new thread that I don't know about???

Princess_kate

I wondered the same, I did have a look but couldn’t find anything.

mardatha

So did I andI couldn't find anything either. I wonder if a chunk of posts has got lost.