The FastDay Forum

Today is foggy at 10.35 am, soaking consistent rain and 9 degrees celcuis.

I find it really difficult even walking out the front door, but things need doing.

I can't even fathom folks in other countries going out that front door when the temp goes below zero.

How do you all do it? I'm interested. Do you have different linings in your coats? duck down? Do you wear thermals everyday?

Are your homes warm? Do your homes have thicker insulation batts in the ceiling and walls.

I would think it extremely difficult to warm a house with temps below zero. If we go below zero, its only 2 digits and then not for long.

Sorry, I am a bit nosey, maybe the answer is that your body acclimatises.

I have a wood heater, and the rooms are freezing, I keep the doors closed to maximise the wood. and only use one room.

Silly question for ya all, as you must be basking in some sunshine.(mid spring)

Yes, I am odd, but very interested.

I'm the totally wrong one to post here, living on a subtropical island where the temperature rarely goes below 10C and that would likely be on the coldest winter night.

I actually love bundling up in winter clothes and going out in the cold. Probably because I only experience it on holiday. The past few times have been for ski trips, so I was in ski clothes, which do a great job of keeping you warm. Maybe you need a ski jacket.

I think in Australia heating and cooling is often an after thought. At our old house even with the heater on full bore my feet would freeze on the timber floor. So we have built our new home with this in mind and put in under floor hydronic heating as well as fully a ducted airconditioner, stacks of insulation. We're hoping the floor heating will do the trick, once we figure out how to turn it on, so many switches!!

We had a tough winter here (northeastern U.S.). It was pretty cold and snowy and took forever to get warm. It doesn't get below 0 too often, but it does happen. (Although it you mean 0 Celsius, then it happens a lot!) We have mostly oil or gas heat (which does get expensive) and we have lots of warm clothes. We bundle up with hats, gloves, scarfs. And normally we just go from house to car to building and try not to be out much more than that! You do kinda get used to it. My parents and sister who have moved to a warmer climate, really have a hard time with the cold when they come to visit!

What Wineoclock said - European and N.American houses are well insulated.

Australian houses are awful when it gets below about 20 degrees (okay, okay, some people may be better with colder temps than me!) and I hate winter over here (hence l live in Qld so at least it's only 3 months long). I spent a few years in the UK, and was fine in winter. Even most of the dodgy share houses I lived in had central heating - and the ones that didn't were snuggled up closely to other houses and well insulated, so I hacked the winters no problem.

Clothes are also a factor - coat racks suddenly made sense to me. You never go out without your coat or a jacket. Everything is heated - the underground, pubs, shops, offices, houses - so you don't even need thermals unless you're going for a ramble.

I do much prefer being able to wear singlet and shorts for 9 months of the year, but winter in Europe is much much much easier than winter in Melbourne.

[Debs]

Yep, agree with Wino and Kat, Australian houses are hopeless, no thought for heating or cooling at all. The house we moved into has a wood heater and it would get so hot they opened the windows, but the floor was freezing as there was no insulation whatsoever and holes in the floor!!!! We installed insulation under the lfoor and in te roof and are going to get it in the walls, as well as double glazing. The problem is, authorities don't have the ba@#$ls to dictae that houses have to have a proper rating for efficiency and then plonk great stupid air conditioners on the roofs!
Insulate where you can, in some of the rooms we put up temporary double glazing. As a last resort we have lovely thin merino layers which help an awful lot.
Sounding a bit English Zamale, where are you?

[carieoates]

Sorry, but I had to laugh, then got my thinking cap on zamale.

My brother in law owns an insulation business in Auckland. And when we were there Xmas 2012 I was frozen in his house when the sun wasn't out, We have very good insulation and central heating here in the uk. We wear layers, we drink hot drinks, we also wear slippers and socks around the house.
I would move to Oz or NZ in a heart beat, but maybe we are accustomed to the elements here in the uk. And we struggle more when it's very warm

In Finland they have a saying "there's no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing"

My husband goes there to visit a friend. The houses are super insulated to the point where little heating is required. Porches have underfloor heating so wet boots are dried out and warm to put back on. Likewise they usually have a heated coat cupboard. Really good quality thermal clothing is reasonably priced and people buy for practicality not fashion. Even the snowmobiles have heated hand grips. Cars are plugged into a thing that means they are warm (or not freezing anyway) to get into. Hubby has a great Finnish hat with modern waterproof fabric on the outside and soft bearskin on the inside, very handy here where we get icy winds on the sea front!

Also, Finnish guys (and I guess some girls) stay fit and warm over the long winter by shovelling snow! Our friend is over 60 and works as a teacher, but he is really fit because the lifestyle is so active.

I think in Australia heating and cooling is often an after thought. At our old house even with the heater on full bore my feet would freeze on the timber floor. So we have built our new home with this in mind and put in under floor hydronic heating as well as fully a ducted airconditioner, stacks of insulation. We're hoping the floor heating will do the trick, once we figure out how to turn it on, so many switches!!

Did put in a new split air con system for the new kitchen but the last 4 years, only used a heater 2 or 3 days in the entire year. solution was... hats and socks. i find if top and bottom extremities are warm all is warm. Power bills very low

would never walk in bare feet in a house ... my mum never let me as a kid and i cant shake it off.

I am in Northern France where winters can be -13. I live in an old granite farmhouse we are renovating. Upstairs is heavily insulated and double glazed and doesn't need heating. We have an electric under blanket for the coldest nights. Down stairs is still original and we have a wood burner in the lounge. I cook with a wood burning Esse that warms that room. Wood is not too expensive here and is Oak so burns well. We wear more clothes in winter. When visiting UK and staying in centrally heated homes we find it too hot! I think you do get used to it. One day we will get downstairs insulated which will make a big difference.

@Juliana.Rivers, my feet were cold in slippers and socks.

@Juliana.Rivers, my feet were cold in slippers and socks.

I always have shoes on too and on a very cold day its not just cotton socks but the warm hiking socks I wear. Sometimes under jeans i felt the need to add warm tights and i was "toasty" warm always. And under a very warm woollen hat. so even on the tiled floor i was fine. Im not in the mountains but in central Sydney so not as cold as you up there but reckon my wool hat, wool socks and tights trick could be find for the Mountains.

I was so interested in this discussion that I burned the stock which I was un-freezing on the stove and burned the pot. Now I am standing over the stove, typing but keeping an eye on things. My rule for living in Tasmania is : don't get cold! Our house - where we have lived for 20 years is warm and fairly well insulated - although not the walls and not all the windows are double glazed. Wood is expensive and we start putting money aside after Xmas. We have the wood heater burning slowly day and night for 6 months. It isn't as cold as many parts of Europe, Asia and the US but by Australian standards, Tassie is cold. But I am always colder when I go to Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney in winter because houses are so poorly heated.

I guess the good thing about living in northern Europe is the alternating seasons. The joy of spring after a freezing winter more than compensâtes for the cold. And I find that after a relentlessly hot summer (I live in southwest France), I really look forward to the coolness of the autumn.
Nothing compares to a crisp, sunny, frosty winter's day (especially if you can make it to a ski resort!). The real misery comes when humidity joins up with the cold, just as it is doing today.
Inside, our houses are pretty warm. Central heating, good insulation and double glazing keep us covered. I live in an eighteenth-century apartment that is not very well insulated and rarely get the heat above 17-18°C. Most French people would find that too cold. I have also read somewhere that are also some health benefits to living in an environment of around 17°C (maybe a real scientist would like to comment on that).

In Finland they have a saying "there's no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing"

They have the same saying in Sweden too

I don't think the insulation is that great in English houses, but maybe it is in newer ones, I only ever lived in two and both were very drafty! My parents built a Swedish house when I was 11 with triple glazing and great insulation, I'm always boiling when I visit, I'm now used to our quite drafty flat with no proper heating in Paris. As I work from home and don't want to spend a fortune on heating I got a portable oil heater, and I wear a lot of clothes in the winter to keep warm.

It always makes me laugh when we go to Sweden in the winter and it's -20 outside yet we're in t-shirts inside because it's so hot, the Swedes really know how to insulate their houses!