Preparing for Winter

xx_Jo_xx

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

lol it just takes time jo, and a notepad and pen to keep track of all the good ideas (no seriously!!)

I cheated......I skipped forward to July 09 and copied and pasted some of the tips that suited me onto a word doc which I have printed off as my list!

This can get me started........

I saw further back i think (or somewhere) that someone had a room by room list so Im going to go round my house with some of the tips in mind and see what needs doing, I will find my pad and pen for then

xx

nippyone

mardatha wrote: »

To the poor souls who have spiders moving in (EEEEEEK) - you can buy online a spider deterrant that you plug in. My daughter is getting one. I live right out in the wilds and yet we very rarely ever see a spider in here thanku god.. just one or two at this time of year.The husband hoovers them and I am scared to open the hall cupboard in case they all crawl back down the tube and are waiting for me one day.....

Hi, I live in Ayrshire and around this time of year I 'constantly' get spiders (massive ones:eek::eek:) which only seem to appear in my bedroom for seem reason? And I am absolutely petrified from them!

I did buy a pest repellent from a well known shopping channel - but this does not seem to have worked!

What web site is your daughter getting this spider deterrent from?

Or can anyone tell me where I can get this chestnut spray (if you can buy it from shops that is?)?

Thanks for any help.

anguk

ktpie wrote: »

For the non cavity walls I seem to remember our old council did an offer on some sort of insulation that you put on like wallpaper, trying to find a link now but they don't seem to do it anymore. If we had been planning on staying in our old house which didn't have cavity walls I might have tried it. Maybe putting batons on the wall then a layer of insulation then plaster board would work as well but it would be a big job and would eat into your room a little. This has some info about solid wall insulation, warm-a-wall seems similar to what I had in mind (you need to scroll down the page and click on warm-a-wall).

Bigsister - I know what you mean about old houses, our last house was like that, there wasn't a straight wall in the house and all the floors were wonky, made DIY jobs a lot harder but gave it character!

I've been looking into Sempatap, it's internal insulation that goes on just like wallpaper and you can paint or paper over it.
http://www.mgcltd.co.uk/Products/Thermal_and_Acoustic_Insulation/SEMPATAP_THERMAL/

You could just put it on the outside walls to keep the cost down a bit and apparently if you live in certain areas of the country you can get a discount.
http://www.mgcltd.co.uk/Products/Thermal_and_Acoustic_Insulation/SEMPATAP_THERMAL_D.I.Y_SCHEMES/

mardatha

Nippy, it's this place--

http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/spider-repeller-whole-house-p-1277.html?cPath=301

blueberrypie

Confuzzled wrote: »

i'm not sure how energy efficient they are either but this is quite common in the states. i think not enough people realise they can be used in either direction depending on the season. in the uk having ceiling fans is infinitly more practical then investing in air conditioning if you live somewhere that gets quite warm during the summer (no comments from the peanut gallery, i've seen it get warm in england at least!)

you could probably try looking on some american websites to get an idea of their efficiency for winter usage, they may have tips on how to use them most effectively, not all americans are energy hogs

Ceiling fans are very energy-efficient - you get lots of effect for very little cost. We lived in Ontario and regularly experienced temps in the 30s in the summer and down to -20 in winter - and used ceiling-fans throughout the year.

Now in Northern Ireland, where the temperature range is much smaller! - but still have a ceiling-fan in the bedroom, and it makes a big difference. I'd have them in every bedroom if the kids didn't have bunk-beds LOL

La-Cara

anguk wrote: »

I was thinking of getting some Asda smartprice fleece throws (about £2) and making them into curtain linings. My curtains have hooks shaped like ] with little rings on the bottom so I figure if I cut the fleece to size and stitch some heading tape along the top I can just hang them from the little rings behind the curtains using spiral type hooks?

I hang these over my roller blinds to add an extra layer between it and the window, and they keep the cold out really well.

ktpie

blueberrypie wrote: »

Ceiling fans are very energy-efficient - you get lots of effect for very little cost. We lived in Ontario and regularly experienced temps in the 30s in the summer and down to -20 in winter - and used ceiling-fans throughout the year.

Now in Northern Ireland, where the temperature range is much smaller! - but still have a ceiling-fan in the bedroom, and it makes a big difference. I'd have them in every bedroom if the kids didn't have bunk-beds LOL

That's interesting. I'm going to see how we get on with ours this winter and maybe even consider getting one for our sitting room, you can pick them up fairly cheaply as I don't think they are all that popular over here, we've had a few comments about whether we will be getting rid of ours but I certainly wouldn't get rid of them (unless I was planning on bunk beds perhaps!).

rosepink1984

Hello, I'm new to this thread, not read beyond page 9 yet - sorry if this has already been said.

Ikea has got fleece blankets with holes punched along one edge which they say on their website means you can hang them to use as winter curtains! I feel a shopping trip coming up - I also want to get another quilt to put under the bottom sheet as that sounds so cosy!

I also plan to make a draft excluder out of the sleeves of an old cordouroy coat that I've got lurking about somewhere. The draft from our front door is chronic in winter time - we live in a teeny tiny flat and my chair is right next to the door - altho we are inside a block, our door is near the front door of the block - I was wondering what the other residents would say if I put up a curtain over the door of the block, or on the outside of our front door - it's too small in here to put one on the inside of our front door.

steerpike

We live in 300+ year old cottage with beamed ceilings - the spiders love weave their webs across and the dust from our open fire sticks to the webs and in a couple of days the house begins to look like a set from the Hammer House of Horror.I like spiders as they do a lot of good eating up a wide variety of flies and bugs so I escort any unwanted visitors off the premises. Please live and let live....don't kill them...a glass and a thin piece of cardboard are all you need to efficiently capture even the biggies.I was told to wipe my window frames, door frames and steps with methylated spirits as spiders really dislike the smell and won't cross where its been put on. It seems to work for me...just got to work out how to discourage them from coming down the chimney??

zarazara

spider spider spider spider