Preparing for Winter V

monnagran

I used to do the same MingVase until I once woke up in the middle of winter and discovered snow on my pillow. My bed was drawn up right under the open window.

MingVase

LOL monna yes. I mind once standing in the bedroom looking out at the blizzard... then thinking wait a minute, that snow's INSIDE the window Window frame had come away from the wall !!

Floss

I always had the window open until moving in with the now X...as soon as I moved out I could enjoy fresh air at night again, despite living on a main road. 

slm6002

Hi everyone, i'm a long time lurker but now OH has left i need to make sure the house is ready for this winter.  He has never really done any preparations to the house on the outside, probably a combination of not knowing how. what to do, and part being the kind of person that deals with a problem only when it becomes a major issue.  Anyway now its just me and the kids in the house i need to know what needs doing.  Is there a handy list of jobs to do in the autumn ready for winter or spring ready for summer?  I always made sure the boiler was serviced as that is an indoor thing.  I am thinking gutters etc.  Happy to listen and learn so no major surprises come along in the future years.  Thanks in advance

Si_Clist

greenbee said:

And most importantly, opening windows. I hate air conditioned hotels with no opening windows ...

Being married these 40 years to a woman who is 50% German (Prussian, actually!), I am unable to read any combination of the words "windows" and "fresh air" without hearing an authoritative voice in my head saying "Luften!".  The other national obsession i.e. the "Ordnung" thing has worn off nicely over the years, but not yet the "Luften!" ...

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@greenbee, we plan eventually to build our own home, and underfloor heating, hard floors with occasional rugs and a lot of really good passive ventilation is all definitely part of the plan - but I also want just plain fresh air, I wan to be able to open the windows and feel a breeze! 
We are lucky here, windows front and back of our small flat, and we have made insect-screens so we can have the windows open a lot. I can't understand how people can just have open windows with no screens! We just bought bridal net (much much smaller mesh than normal net) and use white blu-tack to attach them to our uPVC window-frames - dead easy, dead effective! 

You would feel right at home in Australia, @Laura_Elsewhere.  Fly-wire screens on all windows and doors.  I was overjoyed when L!dl sold their stick-on fly screens.  Finally something I could use to keep bugs from flying through the patio door in the kitchen (the hottest room in our house and that's the only real window).  NB: L!dl sell them every year or two.

- Pip

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

b&m sell the stick on fly netting as well. We had someone come round to measure up our bay window in the lounge and my bedroom window. They are the last 2 left in the house to be replaced. Could have done with them replacing before all the heat but at least they will be done for winter. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - "You would feel right at home in Australia, @Laura_Elsewhere.  Fly-wire screens on all windows and doors" - hah! Not when I lived in Sydney for a year in the 80s, there wasn't! All three of the houses I stayed in had no screens... if I am out in very very cold weather I still get dozens of tiny white scars show up on my arms and legs from the bites...!  

the Lidl/ B&M stick-on fly-screens are ok, but ours worked out a fraction of the cost, a metre of bridal-veiling per room (we chose dark blue for sitting-room, dark green for bedroom) was under a tenner a few years back, in total, for three large windows... 

[Deleted User]

I've processed a big pan of plums for the freezer this morning and they're cooling in the pan to be portioned and put in bags when they are cold.  I did it while the bread was proving and now have a lovely smelling kitchen and a dozen bread rolls for the next few days cooling on the rack.  I've also peeled some home grown potatoes and the end of the bag that had sprouted and will cook them and when they're cool enough to handle slice them ready to go in the dehydrator.  It's a much neater way to store potatoes than keeping them in sacks in the store room where they inevitably sprout and end up getting thrown away.  Not this year though!

-taff

Boazu ,what's the difference between dehydrating cooked and uncooked potatoes? Do the cooked ones turn into a mash type thing? Do the uncooked ones go in stews?