Preparing for Winter

zarazara

v cold here too. have been wondering............in the old part of my house there are 2 deep windows ie the walls are about 18" thick so v. deep windowledged. Has anyone tried fitting wooden shutters instead of, or in addition to, curtains? sort of making a small cupboard out of the window ledges? I think it could be a good idea.

zarazara

another tip, take off the bath panel. stuff loft insulation under and around the bath. replace bath panel. hot water in bath stays hotter for longer.

nikki2804

Hi, sorry not had time to read through all 100 odd pages but I have already picked up a few tips :j

Question - myy house is freezing! I am mid terraced so I 'should' be getting heat from either side but its just not happening and OH keeps putting the heating up to about 30 instead of putting a hoody on!! Does putting foil behind the radiators really work? and is it just normal alluminium foil?

Already have a draft excluder which has helped slighty.

TIA

annie123

Yes foil does work.
You can buy foil on foam sheets or MYO.
Get any tin foil, glue or tape it to a piece of cardboard, add some bubble wrap if you have it and put behind radiator. you can use bluetack, velcro, doublesided tape etc to attach it to the wall.

We did an experiment a few years ago with an outside radiator.
We made our own panel up and covered half of the rad then went outside after the heating had been on for an hour.
We could feel exactly where 1/2 the uninsulated bit was because the wall was warm:eek:

So quickly went and did the other half, checked the following evening and no warm outside walls:D

alice-mary

I posted back in September about a makeshift "tent" over my stair well to dry my washing and I finally had to put my radiators on when the temp dropped to below 3 degrees. I am STUNNED at how quickly the heat rose up and dried my washing, including jeans and towels! I'm so chuffed that the idea really worked better than I had hoped and just wanted to share this small success,...I was dreading having to have damp clothes around for days!

Alice

mardatha

This is what its all about eh AM ? Finding ways to get things done all by ourselves, and it makes you feel so proud of yourself !
I think the only way I could have prepared better for this winter is to adopt a polar bear and send him to do the shopping. The snow up here is unbelievable !

Frugaldom

Guess who forgot to stock up with extra salt to ensure the doorway, footpath and steps are all kept ice-free?! :rolleyes: I've already used up my spare bag, so salt is first thing on my shopping list for the start of 2010. I'll also need to invest in more winter wooly welly socks, as getting stuff dried quick enough isn't easy when there's no central heating or tumble dryer.

On the plus side, I did get a lovely, fleecy Slanket for Christmas and it is fantastic! These things are HUGE!

fedupandskint

I haven't posted on here for a while but I wanted to say I had a powercut last week and thank goodness for the powercut box I put together (for just in case)!

The powercut box had a box of candles in from the £ shop which burnt well and was a good £ spent! I also used my Le Crueset kettle for the first time and felt much better a hot drink.

It was the first powercut experience and even if I use it once it was well worth putting together. The only things missing were some batteries for the radio which I'll get or a wind up one.

Other things needed are a snow shovel and some salt that I never got around to buying

ginnyknit

After moaning about a draught from the window next to my knitting chair for months, finally realised it was from a hole next to the blocked up fire place. Duly plugged and filled hole now its even cosier in here. Expecting landlord to put new windows in for us in February, and I can't wait, its going to be a cheaper year next year for us!

mardatha

I got a big bag of salt in and used it all up ...snow is still deep but tonight it seems to be starting to thaw. Just had a minor heart attack with a big huge rumble and it was all the snow sliding off the roof