A cold snap

When one lives in a warm-temperate climate, one is often caught napping when there is a sudden spell of cold and rainy weather, as we have experienced in Johannesburg this week. Our  houses are simply not equipped for the cold and damp, and are often very difficult to heat effectively and affordably. This is often exacerbated in older houses, when many generations of repainting the steel window frames prevents them from shutting completely.

I have installed wall-mounted panel heaters in three of my rooms, but I find that they do not really make much difference on their own - one needs a more developed strategy to be really cozy when the temperature drops below zero.

One of my panel heaters

One of the biggest problems we face when heating our houses is that any warm air very quickly leaks out, under the doors, through the large panes of glass, through the ceiling and roof if the roof-space is not insulated, and even through the walls and floors. I am lucky in many ways, in that I live on the first floor of an apartment block, so my neighbours above, below and to both sides act as very effective insulation. Even with this, my place is very difficult to heat

I have a multi-pronged strategy, starting with selecting the best room to create a cozy nest. My entrance that doubles as a dining room is my first choice, as it is very small at under 5㎡, and the extendable table is great for a number of different activities, given that the TV and sound system are in the other rooms. A smaller room will be the most economical to weatherproof and heat, and open-plan rooms are much more difficult. When I was a child, our living room opened into the entrance and dining room with huge openings, so my dad came up with a very simple solution - to hang heavy curtains to each of the openings, which were kept closed through winter and drawn back to maximise the airflow in summer.

The first step is to close all the doors - sounds obvious, but every time a door is opened, for the cats or humans, the warm quickly leaks out. As a passionate recycler, I never throw away old towels, as these are excellent draught-excluders when rolled loosely and wedged under each of the doors. 

The poorly-closing windows are more tricky, as they would be quite unsightly with rolls of towel in all the gaps, but here I use paper kitchen towel, which can be rolled small enough to be invisible. One of my neighbours tried to resolve the problem the "proper" way, but it took him several months of scraping to remove 90 years of paint that had accumulated. Glass is also a good conductor of heat, allowing an easy exit for warm air, so it is a good strategy to shut blinds and curtains in the late afternoon in all the rooms of the house.

Before switching on the heater, I go through a mental checklist of everything I may need for the next few hours - snacks, activities and a couple of cosy blankets or throws. On very cold evenings, I may even bring through the kettle and everything for making warm beverages. I am also a big fan of hot water bottles, especially as they attract my cats!

All set for a cozy evening

As the heater warms the room, all the surfaces start to warm up, so after about an hour, one can open a door briefly without losing too much heat - always a good plan to give the cats a bathroom break regularly. Having small bursts of fresh air every hour or two is important for your health, especially if your room does not have air-bricks. These were introduced in houses that had open fires or gas heaters, so that the inhabitants were not asphyxiated, but have slowly disappeared in more recent homes.

An air-brick above the door

These air-bricks do allow some of the warm air to escape, but this is minimal, especially if you have sealed all the sources of draught. Only the top layer of warm air percolates out, and not quickly enough to create massive heat loss.

If the cold weather lasts for several days, it is tempting to keep everything shut tight for the duration, but it is worth following the practice in many of the colder countries of opening all doors and windows for 15 minutes every day. This is particularly important in wet weather, as one's spaces can quickly become very humid and the blast of fresh air helps to prevent condensation.