Preparing for Winter

annie123

newlywed wrote: »

Just a quick note...
Those who are planning on using candles - just seen a report of an elderly lady whose room caught fire from a tealight candle - she had no smoke alarm but thankfully a neighbour smelt the smoke and raised the alarm.

So CHECK YOUR SMOKE ALARM - and be careful where you place candles

good idea,
and if you don't have one already get a
carbon monoxide alarm

all this drought proofing we're doing don't want to be sealing ourselves in a tomb:eek:

bertiebots

Thanks shaz....thats just what I need. If it stops raining (think not!! will get soaked) I might brave the garden to get the last of my lavender to dry out. I already have a few bunches ready dried.

Barneysmom

I found this,
http://www.donann.co.uk/guallinone.php
They look really funky and warm, I think I might order one and then I can make my own the same size.

abaxas

Heating offline

Wood burning stove ENERGIZED!

Brace for heat, captain :>

anniebooklover

shaz love the tipnut site! Have just added it to my favourites so I can have a good browse over the weekend. Quite a lot of the kitchen-y things I do already (eg freezing leftover wine in ice cube trays - a rare occurence but not unheard of!) but lots of other little tips that I can use. Thanks. :T :T

oldMcDonald

Copy and pasting my To-Do list from a few pages back and updating :

My to-do list:

Pull out from cupboard and wash fleeces to be thrown over sofa / chairs

Line curtains in hallway

Line lounge curtains

Line with bubble-wrap downstairs bedroom north-facing window I've now got the several rolls of bubble wrap down from the loft and I am hoping to get this done either this or next weeked

Line kitchen curtains

Line curtains in two upstairs north-facing windows

Make draught excluder Done, I made it out of a pair of my daughters jeans that she has grown out of, cutting the legs off and sewing them together to make a tube and then stuffed it with the filling out of some old pillows - some eyes, some ears and a barbie patch sewn over the hole in the knee and....introducing our newest pat, Barbie the draught excluder dog!!

Foam draught excluder strip to fill in gaps around front and patio doors Got from Wilcos, with thanks again to Cally for finding this, DH is doing this on Sunday for me

Mini-curtain over letterbox to stop gale that whooshes through it Not sure how to fix this to letter box!

Search out an ASDA which stocks the cheap fleeces and place fleeces under the bottom sheet of the beds Yes!! We got some at last!

Buy couple of hot water bottles One more to buy, bought one for each of the kids but they only had 5 in the shop, so I am looking for one for me. DH says he hates hot water bottles and so doesn't want one

I wasn't really in any hurry to get on with the above, winter hits us pretty late as we are right on the coast in Hampshire, however today has been so cold and damp it has made me decide to focus on getting a lot of the above done over the coming week.

Horace

oldMcDonald wrote: »

I'm across the solent from the Island / Southampton and, although still rather windy, the rain has stopped and the sun is trying to shine, so hopefully it is good sailing weather for him at the moment!

I looked at the shipping forecast for that area and winds are force 6 gusting to 8 with seas being rough to very rough - I am glad I am not out in it:D

Could you please tell me what the sun looks like? I haven't seen it for a few days and according to our local forecast I am not expected to see it until Monday.

ceridwen

isitenough wrote: »

One problem we have is that downstairs it's open plan, lounge to dining room to kitchen and also going upstairs (no hall area downstairs). While I like open plan living like this heating the whole downstairs can be difficult. Has anyone ever 'shut off' the living room to the dining room by use of a curtain? We'd have to fix something to the ceiling to attach curtains and it might look daft but seriously we're considering it!

Hmmm....I'm wondering whether you can "box in" the stairs....I'm visualising the stairs going straight up out of the lounge - and a lot of your heat going up those stairs. Think that would be the single best thing you could do to save fuel if its possible. When I was viewing houses decades ago now I looked with horror at arrangements like that - at the thought of what my fuel bills would be like once fuel became dear (ie now).

My house had a through lounge when I bought it - I had a wall put up between my dining room and sitting room again (easier in my case - as thats what the house used to have originally - being Victorian). Luckily for me - my father was able to put the wall up - and shift the sitting room radiator. So - I have had two separate rooms for some years now - and believe me the two separate rooms are WAY easier to heat. I only have to give the sitting room 10 minutes blast from the gas sitting room fire (its one old enough to be effective as a fire - rather than those modern ones that look lovely and turn out very little heat) and bingo - sorted. So - a curtain would help a lot, a wall would help a heck of a lot more. A wall is permanent by definition. A possible compromise would be to take the 1970s route - dont know what they are called - but I recall those pretty rigid foldback things that often got put between 2 rooms back then (havent seen one for YEARS) - but I think they are still manufactured. Not a thing of beauty in my book - but then neither is a curtain - and it would be a lot more effective than a curtain. So - keep the thing shut in cold weather and roll it back in warmer weather or when entertaining - sorted.

Think the 1970s foldback option thingy is probably your best option if you can find one.

oldMcDonald

Horace wrote: »

I looked at the shipping forecast for that area and winds are force 6 gusting to 8 with seas being rough to very rough - I am glad I am not out in it:D

Well, he probably did it in record time!!

Could you please tell me what the sun looks like? I haven't seen it for a few days and according to our local forecast I am not expected to see it until Monday.

It was a very fleeting glimpse, the sun can be such a tease! From what I saw, it was very weak, slightly yellowish (a kind of water colour yellow!) and round! Evoke any memories?

bertiebots

Well I have just added some pearl barley @ 30 something pence a bag to my online shop for tuesday! I have enough to make a wheat bag for mil as she has arthritus in her kneck, as well as for the kids beds .So I will be getting the sewing machine out and will probably do some draught excluders at the same time!! :T Thanks again Shaz for the link thats a great site - now on my favourites.