Preparing for Winter

BigMummaF

Just a musing about front doors opening directly into the room....would there be a way of standing a bookcase--or something similar--to make a "wind break" of sorts? Or perhaps those L shaped curtain rods, to make a fabric entrance hall? In winter you could hang heavy curtains & in summer, voile panels?

cuddlymarm

Hi everyone

Its a lovely sunny day today and just the day to think of winter

We go on our hols on Thursday and when we come back it will be October:eek:
We've finally moved to the small rented house and I'm hoping to be toasty warm this winter (old house was Victorian, cold, draughty brrrr)

So far I need to
1 Convert curtains fron old house into 2 door curtains
2 Buy wood for woodbrning stove
3 Make a list of what I need ( jumpers, boots, socks etc) We're going to Florida but the outlet mall sells cothes for all year all year (if you see what I mean)

I've been knitting and crocheting lovely warm blankies all year and am now crocheting one for DS1 (who is now in his own flat and discovering the joys of bills)

I'm sure my list will grow but thats all I can think of for now

Happy winterproofing everyone:rotfl: :rotfl:

sammy_kaye18

Well despite my bargain curtains etc i still have not started winter proofing - its too hot here today so im sat chilling for a bit - been out, walked dog etc and bathed him so now am just sat enjoyign myself.

I will get a crack on it next week though when the pooey weather is set to return -

will get bens curtains and our bedrooms lined then will figure out the spare pair

will get out the draft excluders and clean them

will find dogs jumpers and get them washed - hes sat quivering on my lap so think his jumpers are goign to be needed again (granted hes jsut had a bath but he never normally shakes like that afterwards)

will start looking on freecycle for another freezer and pan menu for freezer stock

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all

Well I made a draught excluder for the patio doors today :T -I had a bit of a brainstorm -well by my standards :rotfl:
We have loads of bubble wrap and lots of the extra thick white stuff (having the forces move you has its pluses) -they wrap everything in the stuff ...

• So I got a big piece and rolled it (made sure it fit the gap snuggly;) ) then used tape to secure it...
• I then have a couple of unused sarongs so i wrapped that around it
• and used 2 spare hair bands to secure the ends -like a christmas cracker ...
• once pushed into place you can't see the end bits anyway

So if any damp gets in(which it shouldn't -but just in case) I can take the bands off and put the sarong in the wash -and the plastic bit will just wipe dry -so no musty damp smells -plus when the winter finishes I can just take them to bits -so no having to store them either

thought this might be a good way of others making them -especially if sewing isn't a strong point
Still need to make a few normal sized ones mind:p

anguk

What a good idea for a draught excluder! I've got loads of bubble wrap so I'm going to give it a go.

If you haven't got any bubble wrap, go to the fruit & veg aisle in the supermarket and ask someone nicely if you can have some out of the boxes, (they use it to protect the fruit and it's just chucked out afterwards). I did and the lovely girl at Asda went out to the back and returned with an armful of the stuff!

Barneysmom

Loopy_Lobes wrote: »

Play.com have some wind up torches with free delivery http://www.play.com/Search.aspx?searchtype=GADG&searchstring=wind+up+torch&page=search&pa=search

And a couple of lanterns too http://www.play.com/Search.aspx?searchtype=GADG&searchstring=wind+up+lantern&page=search&pa=search

Don't forget Quidco at Play.com :cool:

It's been a sunny warm day, but it's gone really nippy tongiht. I'm sitting here with a fleece blanket wrapped round my shoulders, I love fleece blankets

wendybird

Well you all have inspired me

So far I have:
1. Replaced the drought excluding stuff (for lack of a technical term) on all my wooden windows and the back door
2. Bought a brush drought excluder for the the mail slot which I will sort out tomorow
3. Purchased a wind up torch/radio/mobile phone charger (amazing thing!)
4. Washed the winter bedding and hung out on the line to dry
5. Stocked up on store cupboard foods

Left to do:
1. Put away summer clothes and linens
2. Store patio furniture
3. get a couple of the wind up lanterns in case of power outages
4. Make a curtain for the back door

Feeling quite good about all this! :T

Barneysmom

I've got all my heavy curtains up,
put the mattress protectors on for a bit of extra warmth,
heavily stocked the cupboards - oh I have to amend my total at the Sept grocery challege :cool:

Wind up lanterns/torch/radio looks good, wendybird, where did you get yours?

redfraggle_2

Loopy_Lobes wrote: »

Does anyone here have any bright ideas for a front door that opens directly onto the front room? I dread anyone knocking on the door and yell at the kids to stop trapsing in and out as the downstairs is open plan and all the warm air just gets sucked out. We do have a back door, which opens into the conservatory which then has a seperate patio door into the house, but we keep the back gate locked as we have a toddler so it's a pain to keep going out and letting them in - but even if the older kids could use that all the time it doesn't solve the problem of people knocking at the front.

We've been here for 12 years now and love the house but I hate this front door problem in the winter. Every winter I want to move but come the spring I'm happy again!

I've had a few houses like this. The long-term solution is a porch really. I've seen them both stuck on the inside (when the front room was large. probably easier as no brick, just a wooden frame. It was half height glass so was a nice feature Otherwise, if your front garden is ig enough then think about an outside porch. better chance of keeping the warmth in with an airlock system. Sorry they're not cheap or quick options though...

redfraggle_2

cuddlymarm wrote: »

Hi everyone

Its a lovely sunny day today and just the day to think of winter

We go on our hols on Thursday and when we come back it will be October:eek:
We've finally moved to the small rented house and I'm hoping to be toasty warm this winter (old house was Victorian, cold, draughty brrrr)

So far I need to
1 Convert curtains fron old house into 2 door curtains
2 Buy wood for woodbrning stove
3 Make a list of what I need ( jumpers, boots, socks etc) We're going to Florida but the outlet mall sells cothes for all year all year (if you see what I mean)

I've been knitting and crocheting lovely warm blankies all year and am now crocheting one for DS1 (who is now in his own flat and discovering the joys of bills)

I'm sure my list will grow but thats all I can think of for now

Happy winterproofing everyone:rotfl: :rotfl:

Hi cuddlymarm. Just to say that we get our wood free from a tree surgeon. They always have more logs than they know what to do with and so are happy for us to take them off our hands. we have to bust them up ourselves, but like everything else, I think wood will start to go up in price as everyone cottons on its cheaper