Windows open or shut?

It is so humid here, that we don't open our windows very often.. Usually a few times in the winter it is cool enough AND dry enough to open them and actually have it feel pleasant. I love those days!

Other fit my situation more than the others.

My bedroom windows are open during the winter for sure....but during the summer the A/C is going continually so they are closed.

The sun room windows are open in the summer time but this time of the year I have them closed at night...too cold for some of my house plants already.

The rest of the house, I only open windows and vacuuming/cleaning time for part of the day and then they are closed. Living in the country...too much dust comes in.

Before A/C.....they were open late Spring to mid Fall.

I never open the windows. If they were nailed shut I wouldn't know. It's too hot here most of the year to turn off the A/C. Even when it seems nice outside, it's hot inside without the A/C. Also, I'd be afraid to leave the windows open while I'm away or to sleep with them open. It would just be too much of a hassle to have to run around opening and closing all of the windows everytime I come and go and/or go to sleep.

I must have a open window in the bedroom year round. Since we have an evaporative cooler all the others are opened too. If DH does'nt catch me I have a couple cracked open through the house year round.LOL if he does I just wait a couple of days and re crack them open..Lauri

Having all the windows closed is out of the question for me. In the summer I run the A/C during the hot period of the day and as soon as it cools off in the evening, ALL the windows get opened. In the winter I usually crack open the window near my bed a little bit. I need AIR and hate feeling trapped in a closed up house. I love to hear the sound of the birds, wind and insects chirping and buzzing.

Like scutler said, it is too hot here 99% of the time to open windows but I do open things up that 1% when things are perfect.
Just a few of the things we have to deal with are high humidity, high night time temperatures, sand gnats that are so tiny they get in through the finest screens and bite like the devil and of course the thick yellow pollen that is greasy and sticks to everything.

My neighbors keep their windows open and their house is filled with mildew from the dampness. Not my cup of tea, i keep using the AC.

Oh, my. It sounds like St. Helena Island is Allergy City, USA.

At least half the year, we leave the back door open in the mornings. The rest of the windows are kind of a pain to open - reaching around the furniture and undoing all the latches and stuff, though DH opens the kitchen windows when he's home. When the mornings are mild enough to have the door open, the afternoons are too hot to have the door open. I hardly ever open any of the upstairs windows unless I get really hot in bed. Various neighbors have dogs and dogs bark. (The dogs aren't out all night, but I go to bed before the dogs do.) In the winter, it is too cool in the morning to leave the door open. My simple rule is that if it's hotter or colder outside than you want it to be in the house, keep the door closed.

Open in summer, when the #@%X"&* [expletive deleted] neighbour has not got a fire burning

Shut in winter, or when it is windy, or when the %X#@"*& [expletive deleted] neighbour has a fire burning

Resin

My cat Pixie would do serious damage (she doesn't have claws, she has scimitars) if I didn't keep windows open when the outdoor temp is at all reasonable. Also my allergy to house dust is seriously mitigated if I have outdoor air coming in. So if it's between 55 and 85 outside and not actually raining sideways, they're open.

This message was edited Sep 11, 2006 11:40 AM

They're open spring and fall usually. Of course we went from having the air on to me too cold to open them up now, but that will change.

I said "as often as I can" but that generally does mean for a while in spring and fall. I LOVE a cold bedroom, so I do keep them open at night in winter ("winter" being a relative term... this is SE Texas...)

Close them when it's cold, or pollen counts are up (definitely at night), or when the %X#@"*& [expletive deleted] neighbour has a fire burning (Cheers, Resin).

Hi Resin, Now we all know that in Northumberland it can blow a bit, and get cold a bit, and snow a bit! I was in Lancashire for a year (evacuee) and that was bad enough! Now I am in a nice hot spot - Oh yes give me Florida every time!

Open as much as possible even tho a gravel road leads into town. We don't get the alot of the dust unless someone screams into town. I like to be able to hear outside. I love the soft dry breezes in the spring and fall. We only get to open them so long. Then it's time to run the air or furnace.

We also have a neighbor up the alley that burns some horrible smelling trash.

what did folks do before there was AC?

Our windows stay shut all summer and winter.

I like the spring air and fall air.

you can put a fan in a window on the shaded side of the house pulling cool air in----and a fan on a sunny side blowing it out and its like a wind tunnel of cool air.

what did folks do before there were fans?
They grew treeeeeeeeees, trees and more trees.

Trees work!

We would love to open our windows - but allergies won't allow it, in addition to bugs and snakes.

Eons ago when I was a kid, Daddy used to insist that windows be opened at night. "The fresh air is Good for you". I hated it - it was either too cold or too hot - it was humid and I had naturally curly hair! Really, Really learned to hate the windows open. I envy people who can have open windows during the day and no screens.


Ann

For voting purposes, I have chosen to interpret the word "we" as the Royal We. I love to have the windows open to smell the outside air and hear the sounds of nature (such as the crows complaining loudly that I am late with their breakfast). My husband, on the other hand, would prefer to keep out the humidity in summer, and in winter retain the heat. It's a running battle.

At least one or two windows are open all year - except when the winter temp is below zero or the AC is on for a few days in summer. We spent three weeks in summer for 18 years with our 5 children camping across the US and "living outside". Open windows aren't as good - but almost.

One word.........ALLERGIC!!!! My husband and I are allergiec to everything outside. Open window are not an option.

No central AC in my house, so with the exception of my bedroom where I have a window AC, my windows are open all summer.

I was amazed twenty mins ago when the AC kicked on with a setting of 75°, the temp outside 71.4°(F). So I shut it off and opened the windows.

Always; some are open - maybe just a crack during winter, but, open..
kiska
alaska

Windows open spring, summer and fall. We even keep most of them open during rainstorms. Fortunately, they call this area of West Virginia "the air-conditioned city", so it's never too hot or humid. I just love having open windows!!

We try to coordinate having our windows and shades open or closed to maximize our passive solar gain in winter and heat loss in summer. So I guess it depends on the season. And when the frogs are singing we leave the window open, just crack if it's cold outside, so we can hear them at night.

Windows are open whenever weather permits. Sometimes even in the winter when the wood stove is going good

We almost always have our bedroom window(s) open at least a crack especially at night because it helps us sleep better. LIving in a single-wide 1975 mobile home with no A/C means we keep the whole thing closed up as well as possible when it gets hot, then open it up wide when it cools down outside. We've had a lot of practice with that this summer! :-)

I can't imagine not being able to open windows. In NH we get some hot days, but we only run the A/C on the hottest and most humid days of the year (maybe 10-15 days) so it's mostly windows. I love the fresh air and personally do not like being in a house that's always closed up.

I used to love having them open all spring and all fall for all the glorious air but my son is asthmatic and it is seriously aggravated by the change of season air so I rarely get to open them anymore.

I agree with Marylyn from Texas...to humid here. Plus I live in the suberbs where houses are close together (you could hear neighbors out and about) amidst more housing construction being done....if I didn't leave the windows closed I'd never get any rest! We do try to have them open in the late fall instead of running AC though.

I know I'm spoiled here in sunny San Diego. It does get a little warm sometimes, and with no AC, it can be necessary. Although most of the time the fresh city air is nice.LOL

Always open here. DH has learned not to be late on his allergy shots.

We have them open whenever weather permits. I would leave them open almost always, if it wasn't for the high humidity around here, in the summer.
Sometimes I have to shut them, tho, even when it's nice-because my DH hates all the "street" noise in the summertime!
We live on a busy street in town, and it gets pretty noisy summer evenings.
We both would love to be in the country, where the only "sounds" at night are the sounds of nature.
Nothing beats fresh air, tho, in my book.
DeannaV

Wish the weather would allow me open the windows more.!

I'd have the windows open all the time, but DH doesn't like it. The pollution gets to him. So we only open the windows when the temp is below 70 and the pollution is below 50. That only happens a few time a year.

It gets chilly here at night in Colorado, even if it's hot during the day, so I don't have my windows open in spring or fall. Winter of course is a no-no, and in high summer I have the air conditioning going. But in late spring/early summer I like to have them open. I like to have fresh air in my bedroom at night. And I'll keep them open to regulate temperature. If it's too hot in the house and opening the window will cool it off some, I figure that's better than spending the money on air conditioning.

So I voted "Other."

I'm an absolute fanatic for wide open windows - to say that I love to open the windows whenever I can is by far an understatement.... LOLOL

I'd rather put another blanket in my bed and sleeping with at least a bit of the windows open, even if it's reaaally cold outside!

So I had to go for other....

Our windows are open when it cools down here. At night - late October (still in the upper 80's) to March. Open all the time during our "winter" months January and February!
Closed for summer late March through October.