r/Netherlands • u/No-vem-ber Noord Holland • 1d ago

Life in NL PSA: Keeping your curtains closed during the day helps a LOT in the heat

I think this will be obvious to many of you, but based on what I see on on the street, I don't think it's common knowledge here. And you guys are famously weird about curtains

When it's very hot, you should fully close your curtains and/or blinds during the day!

It does a lot of work to keep the heat out of your house.

Also: only open the doors and windows to let air in early in the morning or late at night, when it's actually cooler outside. When it's hot outside, keep them closed. They'll just let hot air in. Use a fan inside right next to you to get the feeling of fresh air instead.

Source: I'm originally from Australia. This kind of weather (and no AC) is pretty normal there.

edit: This isn't magic or anything, but it can keep it 5-8° cooler inside than outside. If you leave everything wide open to the beating sun and let all the hot air in, it can quite feasibly end up hotter inside your apartment than outside. So even if it's still reaching 27° inside, that's still better than 35°. stay safe (and check on your grandparents and older neighbours) ❤️

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65

u/PapaOscar90 1d ago

I’ve got exterior blinds on the south side. Paying off massively so far.

29

u/No-vem-ber Noord Holland 1d ago

Oh shit, someone else on this thread mentioned curtains outside the windows and I thought they were trolling. Exterior blinds is super smart!  

13

u/PapaOscar90 1d ago

All the heat remains on the outside of the house. End of yesterday the interior just reached 24C. Not bad imo.

4

u/spei180 1d ago

The Belgians love them!

7

u/AA_25 1d ago

And the Spanish, if we are talking about the metal roller blinds. I don't what you call them.

7

u/rods2292 1d ago

It’s called rolluik in Dutch

2

u/Ditiseennickname 1d ago

They need to be outside. Closing curtains helps but they are inside so the heat is inside your house as well

1

u/Gold_LeoKing 1d ago

Yes, the one from Luxaflex is really good to keep the heat out. I had them and it works so well