Heatwave Hot House?
Like many people my windows and doors are wide open and I have two fans blowing almost 24 hours a day during the recent heatwaves. Like everyone else, even though I love summer, I need to stay cool enough to feel comfortable, so here are two tips to help everyone stay cooler under heatwave conditions, the second may surprise you!:
I. Early in the morning open all windows and doors to allow cooler air to circulate, close curtains and blinds to keep the sun’s rays at bay and turn on fans to aid the cooling effect. About mid morning close all windows and doors and keep curtains and blinds shut. If feasible spray the exterior of the house with cold water.
II. Spread natural Greek yoghurt over the outside of your windows. That’s right natural Greek yoghurt! This is not an April fools joke in July. According to Dr Ben Robert’s from Loughborough University it forms an opaque film which filters out enough of the sun’s heat to reduce the temperature by 3.5 C. He carried out a months experiement on two identical test houses at the University of Loughborough site and assures us that the sour smell of the yoghurt disappears in 30 seconds as it dries. He used a supermarket brand of youghurt with a fat percentage of about 10% and sees this as a low cost solution to staying cool. (Source: Dan Hunt and Ady Dayman, BBC Leicester, 12/07/25)
