Preparing for Winter

gailey_2

Cant belive its august tipping down, dark and nights sem very cold makes me take hot water bottle to bed.

Im still not prepared but getting there.

Miche*

Tell me about it. I've had my body warmer on today, children have been sat with fleecy blanket. My house cools down so quickly, doesn't seem to get any sun through the windows at all (side window of kitchen gets it on the sill for a short time) and the house just hasn't recovered from being completely empty while we were on our holidays.

Plod on, this is it for me though, slippery slope to wrapping up - I don't mind, just not in August!

knithryn

My preparations for winter
1. Buying work suits in charity shops
2. Planning and making Christmas presents - this year folk will get homemaded jams, jellies and sloe gin/blackberry whiskey/raspberry gin and like it! Cos I say so.
3. Have maded a huge crocheted blanket for the bed
4. OH is making beer and putting away some from each batch for Christmas, I've got wine on the go for similar reasons.

Still to do
Make fabric bags to 'wrap' the presents in - the ideda being they can be reused for stuffing carrier bags into etc
Finish making jelly out of some of the 18lbs of apples I have got from hedgerows
Store some apples in a box in the shed for winter use.
Tidy garden and start sourcing cheap seeds and compost for next year.

nicki_2

I really need to make a list of what I need to do for this winter prep. I wonder if I can find my original list somewhere in the depths of this thread? :rotfl::rotfl:

ETA:
Well it would appear that my winter prep list is:

• Sort out a rug for the diningroom area
• Buy some more salt for putting down if its really icy again
• Maybe replace the glazing film on the doors - I'll wait and see how warm the hall is when the CH is fitted
• Bubblewrap the bathroom window (need to decorate first though)
• Curtains for the cubby - last years sticky velcro didn't work
• Replace door curtains since the others have shrunk.
• Once the CH is fitted I'm going to immediately put foil behind them

I'm off to look at rugs etc on the Argos website to get an idea of prices from there.

raven-333

Hi everyone i lurked on here last year read all the good tips and thought i'd remember them and put them into practice but i have a terrible memory. I forgot everything and left everything too late all except putting bubble wrap on the bathroom window. DS and DD thought i'd lost the plot but were very glad of it in the end. Aswell as last year been a very bad winter the cental heating broke down on new years eve for just over 2 weeks we had no store cupboard to last more then a couple of days. the pavements were vey slippery and made shopping imposible. We have 3 cats too and needed cat food and litter which was impossible. So this year i dont want to be caught out again instead of just reading i'm going to make a list and get started. I live in a big old house with high ceilings and very large sash windows.

ChocClare

Miche* wrote: »

I've a bit of a problem. Any words of wisdom or ideas would be fab.

We have 2 bay windows, the one in living room has a secure track for curtains and is in hand (fleece linings etc) the one in our bedroom is my problem. Very cold large room, laminated to make it worse (we rent privately) one small radiator in room, in the bay window. Last year we closed the curtains straight across the window but that was blocking the heat from the radiator. We've put a curtain track round this summer, it's only just holding very thin curtains. Infact the last rack fitting is reinforced with celotape because the track doesn't grip to it's holding well at all..

So, how can I insulate the curtains in that room? Somehow I've got to make something that will insulate but is feather light? Tall order eh?

Could you get screw some hooks into the wall or the window frame and put up some net curtain wire? You can buy it very cheaply, eg here. You could then buy a suitably-sized fleece, turn over an inch at the top and thread the wire through it. That could then go behind your thin curtains - as if you had a very thick net curtain!

Confuzzled

shellieholly wrote: »

Mine stay off at the wall all through summer as this place is a greenhouse in summer, but I think I will be turning them on a low input soon, make sure they are all working. If another bitter winter like last year they will be on high at times, the 4 setting is usually enough to make sure we aren't getting up to an ice box. They are not supposed to come on before the Eco-7 trips over to night. We've sat and calculated the difference and ours do burn some electric if on at the wall during the day - so I leave it to last thing to switch them all on.

i always suspected they do that so i turn mine on manually. plus one room we only heat every few days (to keep damp away) or every day for a few hours if it's really cold so i'm constantly turning that one on and off anyway. forget one night, regret it heavily, you won't forget it again :rotfl:

Broomstick

I've had a thought about how to deal with cold floors. We have (modern) flagstones through the whole of our downstairs and, following the experience of last winter where we froze in the kitchen/diner so went in it as infrequently as possible and struggled to keep the living room warm enough, I've decided to go all out to keep the kitchen/diner warm for cooking, eating, watching TV, and airing clothes this winter. I reckon as long as it is aired regularly we should be able to keep the condensation at bay.

I've got the problem of curtains at the windows and doors sorted so that will help. Oh, and I've discovered that the easy way to draft-proof an outdoor keyhole that needs ease of access is to stick some masking tape over it when it can be locked. Still easy to unpeel if you need to unlock the door in a hurry. Works a treat!

I'm adapting the under-the-stairs in the sitting room (which is reeeally cold) to use as a bulk-food pantry and that should stay condensation free as well as doubling as a larder. We'll see how we get on without heating that room.

Anyway, my problem is how to keep the kitchen floor warm and I suddenly thought about closed cell camping mats. I've measured the floor of our galley-type kitchen and I reckon that two full-length mats should cover the bulk of it. I could always tape them together and to the floor to stop them moving around. I can't remember if we still have ours but, if not, they are not too expensive to buy and will wipe clean. Has anyone tried camping mats as a floor covering before? They are the kind of thing people put away for the winter and forget about but they might have a purpose as floor insulation for floors as cold as ours. Would be good in icy bathrooms too.

B x

D&DD

Miche* wrote: »

I've a bit of a problem. Any words of wisdom or ideas would be fab.

We have 2 bay windows, the one in living room has a secure track for curtains and is in hand (fleece linings etc) the one in our bedroom is my problem. Very cold large room, laminated to make it worse (we rent privately) one small radiator in room, in the bay window. Last year we closed the curtains straight across the window but that was blocking the heat from the radiator. We've put a curtain track round this summer, it's only just holding very thin curtains. Infact the last rack fitting is reinforced with celotape because the track doesn't grip to it's holding well at all..

So, how can I insulate the curtains in that room? Somehow I've got to make something that will insulate but is feather light? Tall order eh?

Personally I would use the foil emergency blankets you can get Cheap from Ebay or sometimes found in the pound shops

SwipernoSwiping

Happy now, I've found (whilest digging out the slow cooker) some chain bottomed thermal lined curtains mum gave us last year that we never got round to hanging over the door. I just need to figure out how to get them over the recessed door, without hampering the door when it opens. This being our major draft causer it will be a bonus to the heating!

Got a timer to add to the slow cooker so I can set it to come on with the eco-7 and cook over night .. end of hob use every day.
Ordered the Daylight bulbs and window plastic glazing which we'll use as well as sealent in some rooms!

Condenser Tumbler Drier needed now - and somewhere to put it