Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

@Noaidi I wash my woollens on the "quick wash" cycle with completely cold water and no detergent - it's a 19 minute cycle and a 1400rpm spin, and as we have no clothesline and don't heat our flat you can guess how much I appreciate the spinning! 
I have all kinds of woollens, blankets and my own handknit jumpers and cardigans and socks, and they are all completely fine in the 1400rpm spin - most wool can take agitation OR temperature but it's the combination that causes shrinking or matting. So if you use the cold-water setting then you can use a normal quick-wash and fast spin, ime.  I always think the wool cycle is just too long - 40-odd minutes. Wool is fairly self-cleaning by its structure, so I've never come across anything that needs more than the briefest of washes, not even boot-socks after a long 9-mile hike in hot weather! 

Of course, if in doubt, handwash...  

Primrose

We had cavity wall insulation installed in our house when it was built over  thirty years Ago   ( one of four identical houses ). We were the olly to have it installed And at the time all four homes. Had roughly similar lifestyles so we compared notes on our gas central heating bills and found that our bill was considerably lower.
for the first year we were disappointed the savings weren,t that high but as somebody pointed out to us, the houses had been built during a very wet summer and needed time to dry out, both inside and outside.  Once the drying out period had been completed the savings were more noticeable so over the years it has proved to be a mounting investment as fuel,prices have risen considerably.

dreaming

Greenglockenspiel said:

Has anyone had cavity wall insulation put in? OH read some stories about it causing issues with damp but I think it might be a good idea for our extension - kitchen and bathroom stuck on the back of a 2 up 2 down with 3 external walls so it was freezing last winter. Thermostat (in the main part of the house) would be set to 17 and the bathroom would get as low as 11 in the mornings!

I had cavity wall insulation done a few years ago (semi-detached bungalow). It was just before I retired and I was trying to "future-proof" the house as much as possible and had solar panels fitted too. I can't say how much the insulation has added to the warmth of the house as I don't really whack the heating up but I haven't had any damp problems. I know the firm I used was careful to make sure the air bricks didn't get clogged up - they put some gadget through that spanned the gap between external and internal walls whilst the foam was pumped in then removed it.

[Deleted User]

We had cavity wall insulation put in around 15 years ago - we've never had a problem with damp - in all honesty, I'm not sure it made much difference to our bills but as we have 3 open fires in our house we'll never be draught proof! 😂 
That's was quite a haircut for the tree!!! I did similar to my olive a few weeks ago - it had been swamped in the border and looked totally dead so I thought I'd just scalp it as I had nothing to lose! This morning, I have noticed some new growth in several areas so I'm very excited!! 
My flat roof re-do still hasn't happened- I was badly let down by the contractor so parted ways but I've had someone come over today to quote for the work - I've told him that I want insulation put down on it which will make a difference in the temperature - the kitchen gets cold in the winter! -  hopefully it will be done by the end of the month! 
The veg is coming on strongly now - the squash plants are totally triffid like and the lettuce is insane! I need to sort my tomato plants this week - the ones in the greenhouse are too close together and I can't find the sideshoots to pinch them off! 😂 I was planning on getting it done this weekend but the grandbaby was far too excited at being back to let us do anything! 😍 There are lots of flowers though on all the plants now so I'm hopefully going to get a good harvest - everything that isn't eaten will be either dehydrated or frozen for winter use 😊 
Dh is in to work tomorrow for a meeting so will be bringing a sack of shredded paper home which we will make into fire 'bricks' - I need to get as many sorted as possible over the next few weeks as if the veg keeps going mental, I won't have the dehydrator free for long enough to dry them later in the year! 
Well that turned into an epic post - sorry! 🙈

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Squirrelgirl, if you have a glut of tomatoes maybe make chutney. 

Sorry to butt in 😞

PipneyJane

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Squirrelgirl, if you have a glut of tomatoes maybe make chutney. 

Sorry to butt in 😞

You aren’t butting in, @Mrs_Salad_Dodger.

@squirrelgirl - if you have a glut of tomatoes, you could make jars of tomato sauce and bottle them under pressure in your pressure cooker.  I’m sure there’s instructions in one of Marguerite Patten’s cookbooks (?? her preserving book ???).

Also, @squirrelgirl, I feel for you regarding your kitchen roof.  When we bought this house in 2003, the kitchen roof was terrible.  By the time we started our building work in 2009, it was leaking, unsafe and sprouting a buddleia.  It was too dangerous to put the lights on.  Our builders put a temporary roof on to make it water tight - we ran out of money before getting to the kitchen - and we lived with that for three years before finally replacing the flat roof with a pitched, tile one.  I will never go back to a flat, felt covered roof, if I can help it.  

You may remember that the winters of 2007 to 2011 were the coldest in decades.  Well, it’s amazing how much warmer the kitchen felt with 2 feet of snow on the roof.

- Pip

[Deleted User]

I'm going to invest in some furry blankets to top the beds and to snuggle up in if the lounge gets cold in the day when the heating is off, we have a couple and I'd like a couple more so we can have some up and some downstairs. They're not too expensive and are really nice and warm so it seems like a good idea.

nannygladys

boazu I have been thinking of buying an electric sofa blanket for the winter, but I reckon one of those fuzzy one side blankets would do the same job as the electric one, so thanks for that because they are a fraction of the price of an electric one. 
For winter I have knitted 8 pairs of socks since the new year as I find them much warmer than normal ones and when I feel confident going into Prim@ I will be getting a couple of pairs of fleecy lined leggings. Im knitting a aran jumper at the moment so that will be thick and warm, I hate being cold. When my kids were young I used to comment on the little old men and women wearing coats/jumpers in summer to them, but I think Im slowly turning into one, ha ha!!!
Nannyg

nannygladys

Ive already made strawberry and raspberry jam as I haven't the room in the freezer, I supply dds with it as well, so as long as you like those two flavours we are set up jam until next time ( the raspberry glut hasn't finished yet!) 

VJsmum

Am very excited as we are prepping for winter by installing a woodburning stove..  We've been talking about it for years and have actually got round to the quotes stage!! As i do outdoor work for a preserved steam railway i should also be able to have access to free logs, need to get OH a chainsaw, which he is excited about, and we are going to build a log store at the side of the house.

I'm knitting up some of my wool stash into 'sofa' blankets - keeps me awake and warm at the same time..  I also have fleece throws to go over beds in winter nights. 

I loathe winter with an absolute unbridled passion.  I'm already dreading it.