Preparing for Winter V

SuzeQStan

How about a thermal blind that can be retracted when you don’t want to cover the lovely window up? 

Or you could raise the curtain rail and add fabric to your existing door curtain to make it reach the floor.
 

Or you can go the cheapest route like we did - Our side door has an obscure glass panel so we cut some foam board to size of the window and taped it in as a temporary winter measure. It is always a joy to remove it in the spring LOL

Just a curtain pole as there was very little room to fit anything - took some work but made a difference - now working out how to draughtproof the stained glass window as has ornate opening catch at top right corner and raised curved beading all around.

Laura_Elsewhere

My Dad spent years cursing the small skylight on the attic landing, just above head-height, as it let so much heat out and draughts in- eventually he simply used panel-pins to nail four strips of light quarter-circle beading directly into the woodwork on each side, which were just strong enough to hold a clear perspex or acrylic panel he got the local hardward megastore to cut to size for him. It does a superb job, years and years later. 
It sounds brutal, to nail directly into the moulding of a late Victorian house- like yours is - but actually the panel-pins are so tiny that the holes don't show all summer (I think in the first year he dabbed a tiny bit of paint inside each nail-hole and just re-uses them each year). 
So it would be a form of double-glazing, not totally airtight but enough to stop most draughts, or at least slow them right down, and to create a cushion of air inside the 19th-century glazing. 

otb666

when it gets really cold I am quite happy to put cardboard and bubblewrap on windows for extra insulation.  We took about 7 trees out of our garden this year as neighbor said they felt hemmed in.  They were apple and peach and were alot of work to trim all the time. The neighbor could not believe what we had done so guess it was a bit of misunderstanding but they were too close to the house and i have really enjoyed the new garden look this summer.

SuzeQStan

otb666 said:

when it gets really cold I am quite happy to put cardboard and bubblewrap on windows for extra insulation.  We took about 7 trees out of our garden this year as neighbor said they felt hemmed in.  They were apple and peach and were alot of work to trim all the time. The neighbor could not believe what we had done so guess it was a bit of misunderstanding but they were too close to the house and i have really enjoyed the new garden look this summer.

I always feel that change in a garden is an opportunity to try something new - if it bugs your neighbour that much let them plant their own that they will be responsible for pruning themselves etc 😉

we got a fence between our garden and the neighbours this last year as our lovely long term neighbours passed away and we wanted the boundaries to be well understood before we got new neighbours.  It felt sad at the time but it’s also provided opportunities for new borders and plants. 

MrsCD

Daughter bought a camping stove in a case today at GoOutdoors. It was £15 with my GO card, so I thought that was a good price. I paid £10 for 'membership', I think, so we've bought a few bits and bobs to keep us topped up for the winter over the last few weeks. As long as I make that money back in what I've 'saved' I think it's worth it. 
I'm working on getting the garden tidied for the colder weather too. We have a couple of trees which probably need trimming back a bit but DH is getting over a really bad few months of sciatica, so we'll have to wait and see.

HappyinDevon

I always try and start a bit of autumn/ winter prep around this time of year as once school holidays are over and I’m back to work,I literally don’t have spare time.
Prep so far has been a huge declutter,finding and washing blankets and throws,booking a chimney sweep and buying in some of those sawdust wood burner fuels,which I find really effective.

Last year we used a curtain on a spring loaded pole in between the un insulated,single skin,metal roofed “room” that we use as a utility room,made a huge difference to the cold coming into the kitchen,but it was pretty ugly,but found a nice pair of long forgotten curtains during loft declutter,which I’m going to lengthen with some fleece blanket( also found on declutter mission 🤣) and use that this year.
Trialled a long thin curtain on stairs too,which although effective was not popular with family…….so might have to think of a plan b…..or I might just ignore them and hang it up anyway.

Rearraged the dining room as in the spring / summer our table is in front of radiator & window overlooking courtyard,but obviously that’s not idea for when the heating eventually gets turned on,and besides which,it’s too dark when the nights start drawing in to see courtyard anyway!

Although we live in a mild area,house is 1845,and prone to damp and condensation,so working out a plan for that in what I expect will be a wet winter is my current priority.

SuzeQStan

@happyin_devon - I like your curtain plans even if they aren’t popular with the family LOL.

do you use a fan with your fire to push the heated air towards other rooms/areas?  

We experimented with one of those usb fans last winter which use almost no leccy.  We had one positioned above our log burner pointed to hallway and another usb fan in the hallway pointing upstairs towards bedrooms and it did seem to work pretty good at getting some of that heat upstairs more quickly. 

We found the best way to ‘move’ the heat was to wait till about 1hr before bedtime when the log fire has been strongly burning for a good while and then opened the hallway door to let the fans do their work. Usually resulted in upstairs bedrooms being at least 2 degrees warmer in a short period of time.

HappyinDevon

@SuzeQStan
yes we have those fans on top of woodburners, they do make a difference at pushing the heat around, but our stair are so steep and narrow it only seems to get to about stair 5, before it is noticeably colder, and because upstairs rooms have their doors closed if we’ve had central heating on upstairs, the upstairs long narrow corridor and the stairwell never get warm( no radiator, or indeed space for one in hallway) 
Hence the door curtain halfway up the stairs kept the downstairs areas much more pleasant!

SuzeQStan

I think the top of stairs curtain is a brilliant idea and I will be borrowing that of a night time in the winter! 👍🏻👍🏻😊

Cherryfudge

It's interesting how much difference an open side to the stairwell makes. Ours has bannisters on one side and the heat from the log burner goes up. The cosiest spot - apart from near the fire - is just below the top of the stairs.

We do have central heating but it isn't needed when the fire is lit, and I'm wondering about investing in one of the little mechanical fans that operate on top of the burner. The heat drives it round so it costs nothing to run. I'm not sure how much difference it would make, though, as the heat gets round quite efficiently.

For those with log burners, it's also worth seeing if you can cook on yours. I used an iron pan and made perfect rice last winter, and I know there are companies that sell all sorts of equipment to use for log burner cookery though you could probably borrow camp fire cooking equipment from any handy Scouts or Guides.

I was told the name of a gadget for cooking pies in a log burner... I wish I could remember what was said as it sounds fun, as well as great in the event of a power cut.