Prepping homes for COLD weather

[Yorkshire Andy]

Guessing most have seen the states and the serious cold weather they are about to face if you look on the map the areas getting hammered are at a much lower latitude than the UK

Likewise parts of Russia in the Kamchatsky region on a similar level with the top of Scotland / Shetlands ....


Yes the gulf stream and the jet stream keep us warm likewise the usually warm Atlantic ...

So what if it goes sideways and the weather throws us a curve ball most of us will remember the -17°C or so cold and snow 15 years ago .... Many of us older ones I remember as a child the winters of the 1980s and dad digging out the drifts so we could open the front door

It's happened before.. so if I happens again are you prepared? Silly question for most of us but it's worth watching the American news... The grid regardless of type is stretched be it by ice storms bringing down the lines.... Or the race to go green and the data centre / industrial consumption likewise we've lost at least 4x BIG old school coal power stations ...


So it gets cold some russian boat gets choppy with the under sea intercontinental power links between us and Europe or they simply turn round and say we need it more than you and flick the off switch ... Then what??


So it's minus god knows what and the power goes off

What you going to do


Seen the states the supermarkets are striped likewise the DIY super stores of anything remotely practical. Petrol has run out at the pumps...


I'll go first

In the early stages both cars are as close to winter ready as they can be both are on winter duty tyres and both have kit onboard shovels chains etc...


Now the big one if you make it home and most will... Now what... Your boiler won't work... No power no lights or electric based heating... Your home is now no more than a cave

Alternative heating

Bio ethanol fire place X2 and about 20l of fuel..

Calor darlec heater and 2x calor bottles to suit so that's probably 2 weeks 50hr on full or 150hr on low based on a 15kg butane bottle don't need to kick it at 3kw constant just keep a room warm...

A buddy heater and a pile of matching cartridges as another option

And a diesel heater with 5kw output and 20l of diesel on stock ..

Cold is your enemy be it cold people but things like plumbing don't like the cold so isolate and insulate outside in or exposed taps and pipework


Ive bought some foil backed blackout sheets which come with stick on mounts already trimmed to size one side black the other foil .. cold weather black outside facing and foil inside ..... Will hide the fact we're light from those passing and add another insulated layer to keep the cold out... Along with thick curtains and or thermal roller blinds ...

Got a pile of wool blankets and pins

Our plan is to use the lounge as our refuge so thick blankets pined to the architrave means if we nip to the loo or into the kitchen we try and keep the heat in the refuge.. kitchen will be used for cooking gas 2x ring stove ..

We've a pile of sleeping bags some very warm ones I've 3x that are full on artic rated bags which unless it's flipping Baltic are too warm even just in underwear plus camp mats and a pop up tent if we decide to try the put a tent up to keep us a bit warmer but I'm dubious how a thin nylon tent will trap much warmth Vs cause a load of condensation


That's before you get onto alternative lighting and power...and food / dink

[jennyjj01]

I read an article recently about how ukranians are coping with extreme cold. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bo ... r-AA1UoTOk
Anyways, they came up with something we preppers might not have considered..... Communal warmth sharing: Warm spaces where communities huddle, rather than each home trying to heat itself.
Yes. Prep to keep your home warm enough, but take turns with neighbours if that's more effective.

[diamond lil]

We went through some seriously cold weather in the old house - temps down to minus 16, snow every winter, and powercuts of 5-6 days. We used propane to cook with and although that doesn't freeze the regulator valve on the cyllinders does freeze. Even packing it up with sheep's wool sometimes doesn't work. Looking after livestock like hens was hard work. Navigating the steps at front & back doors was a nightmare as no amount of salt works in extreme cold. Doors jam shut and the coal freezes in the bunker to one huge solid mass that needs a pickaxe to free it...
With modern houses I think it would be even worse as they arent built to deal with cold at all. Elect goes off in these places and you're stuffed. Good winter weather gear does stop you dying but it won't stop you feeling cold and miserable. The number 1 priority I'd say is a wee camp stove and plenty of gas for it. Good warm wool for throws and blankets. HWBs galore, these heat pads are useless if the elect goes off.
And I found a fabulous YT channel called "Homesteady"- a family with 7 kids who moved to an offgrid cabin in Alaska. Totally mad but they seem to have a good setup and the best of gear. Maybe loadsa money.

[GillyBee]

Traditional heat the person systems might be worth investigating too. I love the ideas of the platform beds heated by the cookstove but they are not very practical for a UK flat. The Japanese kotatsu heated table idea might be useful though.
Modern ones use electrical heating, the originals were placed over a small hearth or charcoal brazier. The idea is simple and could be used to convert a coffee or dining table in a pinch if a safe heat souce and safety grill can be improvised. I dont like the idea of the original charcoal brazier as it sounds like a recipe for monoxide poisoning in a modern home. I am wondering if heated stones or hot water bottles might work.
The elecrical one might be good in a grid up but sky high costs setting as it is a low power solution.

In a nutshell a kotatsu is this:
Put a table frame over a heat source. Top with quilt/blankets and then the table top to keep the table functional. Sit around the table with your legs under the quilt and in the warm.

https://www.japanlivingguide.com/expati ... e/kotatsu/

[Frnc]

Well, I can't burn wood or coal. So I hope the gas stays on. I could survive with elecricity, but it gets expensive.

As I mentioned in another thread, heat loss in the first couple of hours is much faster than in, the next few hours. And after, say, 12 hours, heat loss is slower still. So it's important not to panic when you initially see a room cooling at a certain rate, eg 1° over 2 or 3 hours. Next 1° might take 9 hours, and next 1° take 14 hours. Obviously if you have no heat for multiple days in winter, it will get very cold. But it will take a few days for your house to get extremely cold.

I would have to rely on warm clothing, duvets, body heat, and the inertia of the house fabric. And hope the gas and electric comes back on.

I ran some figures I've recorded for my living room through Chat GPT, re-calculated for colder weather, average 2°. Started at 18 degrees. This is for a solid floor, so my bedroom might not be quite as bad.

Realistic timeline

Days 0–3: Indoor temp mostly >10°C → safe with warm clothes and blankets.

Days 3–5: Indoor temp drops 8–10°C → survival still possible, but sleep is uncomfortable and risk rises.

Days 5–10: Indoor temp 5–8°C → increasingly dangerous at night; hypothermia risk grows, even with blankets.

After ~10+ days: Indoor temp likely 5°C or lower → unsafe without additional heating or insulation measures.

Can add a day or two to survival range for my bedroom which doesn't have the solid floor, has door draught exluders, double glazed window, trickle vent shut, blind down, cutain drawn, attic insulated, and importantly, my body heat.

[Kiwififer]

Think we have done everything we can to prep the house, new boiler, windows and doors so it’s pretty warm.

Saying that, I’ve toyed with the idea of cavity wall insulation but we had a bad experience of pressure sales when we had our flat after a salesman cornered Mrs Kiwi on her way to work and she said ‘yes’ just to get away from him.

It’s not quite winter proofing but I’ve also been looking at solar panels again but I would want a battery as well. According to Google, it will be around £8k and it will take around 8-10 years to get the money back.

Any idea if this is correct?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Think we have done everything we can to prep the house, new boiler, windows and doors so it’s pretty warm.

Saying that, I’ve toyed with the idea of cavity wall insulation but we had a bad experience of pressure sales when we had our flat after a salesman cornered Mrs Kiwi on her way to work and she said ‘yes’ just to get away from him.

It’s not quite winter proofing but I’ve also been looking at solar panels again but I would want a battery as well. According to Google, it will be around £8k and it will take around 8-10 years to get the money back.

Any idea if this is correct?

I would not get cavity wall insulation on a old building they were designed to breath unlike newer homes dad's neighbour had it done and within a year were plagued by damp.... If your going to insulate insulate the inner walls with foam backed pir plasterboard and reskim bit more upheaval but the cavity can still work .....

A few government grants apparently up coming for solar installation but read the small print I'm hanging on for balcony solar 2x 400 w panels could potentially save me about £170 in 1.5 years even with the panels not optimally placed

[Winterprep]

We’ve just had the worst snow in fifteen years up here in Scotland.

The cars are all winter ready with winter tyres,shovels and winter gear inside.Though best bet is not to travel having witnessed the state of the roads during this fall. You may have a big 4x4 but if the road is blocked with vehicles then you can’t get through.

Heating the home is not too much of a problem,the advantages of a house built in the 1800 is having open fires and a log burner,disadvantage is no insulation! I have coal and logs to see me through till April.

Cooking should the gas go out will be done on Camping Gaz twin burners with grill or a Kampa portable oven if I need to get it out the shed.We used this system for four months during a refurbishment of our home a while back.

Clothing. We have a sufficient amount of proper winter mountaineering gear so we can always stick on our duvet jackets etc.

I try and keep,our paths clear and stick down liberal amounts of proper white road salt but during this fall of snow it was so heavy it was a daily job.

Neighbours.If your fit healthy and able then look out for those neighbours who can’t get out..

WP

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Down here on the South Coast, we rarely get the sort of bad weather I grew up with in the Midlands, or when I lived up North. However, if the weather does turn bad (the dreaded snow..) the its absolute chaos. Its such an out of the ordinary event, everything grinds to a halt.

In the case of bad weather, especially snow, I give up on the car. We are lucky that we have shops and a supermarket within an easy walk. However the bigger reason is the other drivers - people down here just don't seem to know how to drive in snow or ice.

We have gas central heating but our main source of heat is the wood burner. We tend to use that more than the central heating as it heats our main living room. At a push we can heat water on it and even cook / warm stuff up. Also have some propane/butane camping kit, so can use that. When its really cold, we tend to leave the wood burner ticking over - very low, just the odd piece of wood. That just keeps the stove warm. Also find that in the morning, the chimney breast still had a fair amount of heat in it.

So a combination of heating just a single room, and of course dressing appropriately, tend to see us through most cold spells.

[Ara]

Round here, most people have oil, electric or LPG central heating/storage heaters along with secondary heating from open fires or woodstoves. Yes, on still days you can see the smoke rising from the chimneys. In case of electricity failure we would use the woodstove to heat our living room and could also use it for cooking. Alternative cooking methods would be to use the Cobb oven and the Kelly kettle although these would have to be used outdoors to prevent the problem of carbon monoxide poisoning. We have enough wood to last us until May at least. We also have the benefit of having a south facing living room window which produces noticeable solar gain even in winter.
We still have outdoor gear from when we were young and fit - me walking in the hills and Mr A sailing so I'm just imagining us sitting in the living room dressed for outside. Not a good look but funny.