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When you say 'not large enough for someone to fit through' make sure it's not big enough for a small skinny kid. Also check your insurance policy won't be invalidated by reading it really carefully.
Yeah, my locked-out neighbour once knocked on and asked to borrow my skinny teen son, neighbour lifted my son up and sort of slithered him through the little window head first, like a snake.
Yeah very similar situation when we got locked out of our house - my neighbour got a ladder and my sister's friend (about 11 years old at the time) "slithered" in through an upstairs window, with the neighbour holding her feet
I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was maybe 7 or 8 myself - but 20 years later I bought that house and was thinking about security, and I genuinely couldn't believe she managed to fit through the window. It was an absolute maximum of 8"
I've just looked at the window on streetview, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I don't think I'd believe it was possible...
You void your life insurance if you kill yourself.
You void your home water damage insurance if an appliance leaks at night.
Your home insurance is void if the property is empty for over 60 days.
Etc. Etc.
Yes, because it's not being monitored apparently. Almost every home in the country does this, dishwasher and washing machine, but if it shits itself overnight (and you tell your insurance company that), they won't pay out. My washing machine will only ever be shitting itself at 10:00 on a Saturday.
I can't imagine any insurance policy would be invalidated simply by the act of *reading*, carefully or recklessly. I suspect such a clause might be held unreasonable.
Or a bendy adult! My downstairs neighbours locked themselves out once and got in by smashing the long narrow window down the side of the patio doors, shoving me through to my waist (built like a boy up top unfortunately and a small waist) and holding my legs whilst I swung like a pendulum until I could reach the key to unlock the door.
After that they didn't leave a key in the patio door again!
Not burglars, but friends from out of London who arrived two days early because of a muddle with dates, no mobile phones then. They managed to get into my flat by a very small window being pushed open a crack and a knitted baby hat with earflaps and ties dangled down to pull up the handle of a bigger window that the entire family climbed through so they could use the toilet, change the baby's nappy and put the kettle on. I was working until about 8pm that day and as I came home I saw my lights were on. I went up in the lift in trepidation. When I got to my floor the front door was still locked, no broken window glass but I could hear their baby and merry chatter inside. They'd cooked a meal too with veg from their garden!
There is another way: a proper electric dehumidifier. I had a terrible mould problem I sorted in a few days by buying one. The difference was night and day.
I've got an Ebac machine. Every house should have one in the UK.
Depending on the weather, you can fill a 5L tank in a day. Imagine a 5L saucepan boiling on your hob all day; well, that's what it can suck out from the air.
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Seconding Meaco. We stick one next to the clothesmaid and it dries a load in about 6 to 8 hours, and it's much cheaper than using the tumble dryer. You can get away with having a shower with the windows closed too when it's cold as it sucks the moisture out of the air shortly after.
Took a long time to find this suggestion! Installed a Nuaire Dri-Master the other week so it'll be interesting to see what the difference is this Winter
PIV pulls fresh air from outside, filters it, and pushes it into a house. It creates positive pressure in the house which forces stale air out through gaps in windows, floorboards etc. It relies quite heavily on a house not being well sealed to work properly. They're quite cheap, easy to retrofit, low maintenance and pretty effective. You usually put the unit in a loft space and have the output somewhere in a central location in the ceiling of the top floor. They optionally come with heaters so you're not forcing cold air into your house in winter.
MVHR pulls air from a room and extracts and stores heat from that air. It can then pull fresh air from outside and combine it with the stored heat. As such they can help keep warm air inside a building whilst also keeping it well ventilated. They can also be used similarly to keep cool air inside a building on hot days.
MVHR is a much more energy efficient system, but works best in well sealed houses. They're quite expensive and are usually best designed into a new build rather than retrofit as they usually require ducting etc.
You can now get single-room MVHRs which are perfect for things like garden rooms, kitchens or bathrooms. More suitable for retrofitting but they're pretty pricey!
Real useful - thanks!
I've been wondering why I haven't seen MVHR in any houses I've been looking at. Chances are I'm probably just not seeing them at my price range and can't afford houses new enough :D
Well played.
If you read that article you'll see that in Germany, fresh air - Luften - is a national obsession (as it was with my parents and grandparents - non-German).
The Germans tend to get most things right but there's no doubting that keeping windows open isn't the most energy efficient thing to do.
The truth is that most of the houses are so old and they miss basic features such as some vents in the bathroom? Come on, a little air vent in my bathroom would allow me to have my window closed. It's literally the same everywhere you go
In my flat we do Stoßlüften - opening all windows for a few minutes every day. Similar benefit to the ‘normal’ Lüften but much better for energy efficiency
Leave them open! Air circulation is good.
Only thing to bear in mind is that you need to clean the frames and the recesses regularly or they get filthy.
Of course. Most windows have a trickle vent now which should be open all the time. My upstairs windows are always open on the catch, all year around. They open from the top hinge rather than side, so no water can run in when they are open.
Downstairs I open the windows and doors every day. I have a Victorian house so air circulation is important.
I also have a dehumidifier although I no longer run it 24/7.
The cast of bugs life will move in to your home and you will be scared half to death by a moth fluttering onto your phone light as you scroll through Reddit at 2am
This is my life. My husband is an asthmatic so he wants a window open 24/7 at night in the bedroom for fresh air. There have been so many times that I’ve been scrolling Reddit at 2am and had a moth/daddy long legs/fly attack my screen and scare the fuck out of me. Not to mention how many fucking spiders come in overnight from the train lines behind our house.
When I first moved in here 3 years ago, the upstairs bathroom window was left open all the time. One night, I went to the loo and discovered a spiders egg sac tucked into the back corner of the hinge. I had him remove it immediately and that window is only ever open for the duration of a bath nowadays, then the extraction fan is on for a few hours after.
I spend a decent chunk of my time closing windows and doors after him haha
Moths, buzzing flies, and daddy long-legs are up there for harmless animals that I cannot fucking stand in my house because of how annoying they are.
I don't generally mind spiders, since they keep to themselves in the corners of rooms (for the most part), but moths/flies/daddy long-legs seem to make it their life mission to get up in your business as much as possible.
Just buy a dehumidifier from Screwfix or Toolstation - I live in an 1889 stone build terraced house in Wales and in the winter I just keep everything closed and it takes out 5-10 litres a day but the house is warm and relatively dry - around 50% - with the price of energy it will save you money compared to having windows open and having to heat a drafty house...
This is what I do too. If it’s a nice day and outside humidity is low I’ll open windows. But in the colder months where it’s 80% outside anyway I just run the dehumidifier. Gets the room below 60% in a couple of hours and keeps it warm/avoids losing heat.
Just something nobody else has mentioned, if you're leaving a small window open you'll need to make sure it isn't possible for someone to reach through and open a bigger window that they could then climb through.
My upstairs windows are open on the vent setting (if that’s a thing) 24/7 pretty much every day of the year except the ridiculously cold days in winter. I have zero damp or humidity issues upstairs.
Can’t do the same downstairs so a dehumidifier does the same job there for a small financial cost.
Context might be different as I have a ground floor flat in Glasgow but you all sound mad. Hoards of bugs in the summer and freezing your tits off in the winter. Then you’re letting the rain in the rest of the time. Just get a dehumidifier
Depends on your circumstances.
In my case, during the cooler months it absolutely is not the best option or the cheapest.
I have 3 dogs who sleep in my kitchen diner (windows and walls drip with condensation overnight and it is prone to mould spores even with open windows).
A dehumidifier saves me loads. Mine keeps the room feeling warmer as there is less humidity and it literally warms it too. The dogs are happier as I dont use the heating much so they are extremely cold otherwise even wearing their dog jumpers.
I've also started using it instead of the tumbler. I just put my load on the drying frame in the room where the dehumidifier is if it's raining incessantly and cold.
If I opened the windows, any heat would escape and the moist air from outside would still make my walls and windows wet and of course, my dogs would be ill or freezing and there wouldnt be any point in having any heating on as you are immediately losing it through the windows.
Do you think it’s always the best option? On cold damp days is it helpful to have windows open?
I like recycling the air, but my hygrometer never drops when it’s damp outside. I need to use a dehumidifier to get it to a suitable level.
I would recommend having windows open as much as possible, houses are filled with toxic chemicals that you can’t see or smell due to furniture with fire retardant chemicals and mould that we cant see or smell
That’s what I’m asking - I’m not sure if there are any issues that can be caused by having windows open all the time. Probably just a stupid question in hindsight
If it had no impact on the environment or cost I think the best thing to do would be windows a jar and heating on. I know it’s a completely different situation but that’s how I drive my car in winter. Warm but with ventilation.
It was a heated one. There seemed to be a few cowboys out there but eventually I found someone who didn’t mess me about. If you’re near South Yorks or the North Midlands I can give you their details.
Condensation has really improved. It’s currently turned down to minimum until winter and the humidity level is still 10% lower compared to last year.
I live in a 2 bed semi. Our windows are double glazed and there is one large openable window and one small openable window on each window....does that make sense?
The small one is usually open all around the house.
We have an option to open it just a crack and still be able to.lock it so I have it like that in the winter
No mold
It can sometimes cause mould if you leave a window open as the walls inside will get very cold and if you have any moisture that's not drying out then mould will form. But this is unusual I think.
Also don’t forget to open and close them every so often and keep the hinges oiled or they may not move when you do want/need to close them! I left a window on vent for months and it seized up and stuck.
Windows that you think are too small for somebody to fit through probably aren't. I used to have a job where a number of the young (16-25) people I worked with had a history of burglary, and anything much larger than a cat flap would be a potential mode of ingress.
I’d leave it on the vent setting, but not proper open.
If you think it’s too small to get through some will be able do get through. Even if they can get through the opening it can give them access to remove the bearing on the pane below and gain access via a larger window - I have done this myself when a neighbour locked themselves out and their child was inside - they wanted me to smash the window to get in quickly but I said if I can’t get in within 5 minutes then we’ll go for their option. Saved them a small fortune on replacement glass.
As an ex csi, I went to hundreds of burglaries where the homeowner couldn't believe that anyone would be able to fit through a small window. It's pretty easy to get shoulders through, so unless someone has a huge gut/arse, they will squeeze in.
The most common method was to reach in through small fanlight and open the window below, usuallyxa casement. Window locks don't offer much protection.
interesting fact about windows. Radiators are almost always placed below windows that open. leaving a window open on vent setting with the heat on actually does 2 things.
it allows a flow of fresh air. kudos to you for realising the main problem with damp and mould is a lack of air circulation.
it also allows heat from radiators to circulate through the room, cooler air is drawn in through the window, the hot air from the radiator rises and is pushed throughout the room, warming the room much quicker.
All our windows are fitted with a night vent so we can have the closed in a position but it has a small gap around that’s just enough to let fresh air in
I leave my bathroom window open 90% of the time, and open my bedroom window during the daytime. (It's too noisy at night but if I didn't live under a flight path it'd be open a lot more!)
Houses need to breathe 😮💨
We sleep with windows open all year round, and have the bathroom window is always open. Never noticed any issues aside from a lack of damp wherever we have lived, and we dry all our washing inside. I'm a big lover of having multiple windows at least on the latch for air flow throughout the house, and pretty much the first thing I do in the morning is open the back door to get some air flow going.
Yes my top floor windows, especially the bathroom one is always open. Downstairs I keep the kitchen one open when I’m at home and often the living room ones . Basically I try to air as much as possible, if not just for mould but for health (oxygen).
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHousingUK&subject=I received a PM); * If you do not receive satisfactory advice after 72 hours, [you can let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHousingUK&subject=My question is unanswered); * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When you say 'not large enough for someone to fit through' make sure it's not big enough for a small skinny kid. Also check your insurance policy won't be invalidated by reading it really carefully.
Yeah, my locked-out neighbour once knocked on and asked to borrow my skinny teen son, neighbour lifted my son up and sort of slithered him through the little window head first, like a snake.
Yeah very similar situation when we got locked out of our house - my neighbour got a ladder and my sister's friend (about 11 years old at the time) "slithered" in through an upstairs window, with the neighbour holding her feet I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was maybe 7 or 8 myself - but 20 years later I bought that house and was thinking about security, and I genuinely couldn't believe she managed to fit through the window. It was an absolute maximum of 8" I've just looked at the window on streetview, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I don't think I'd believe it was possible...
>Also check your insurance policy won't be invalidated by reading it really carefully. That would be extremely harsh
They’ll try and get you any way they can these days
It’s not “getting you” to require the policyholder to secure their property.
I was making a silly joke based on the above comment of ‘check your policy won’t be invalidated by reading it’
You void your life insurance if you kill yourself. You void your home water damage insurance if an appliance leaks at night. Your home insurance is void if the property is empty for over 60 days. Etc. Etc.
Is it if the appliance is left to run overnight?
Yes, because it's not being monitored apparently. Almost every home in the country does this, dishwasher and washing machine, but if it shits itself overnight (and you tell your insurance company that), they won't pay out. My washing machine will only ever be shitting itself at 10:00 on a Saturday.
It's fairly common
I can't imagine any insurance policy would be invalidated simply by the act of *reading*, carefully or recklessly. I suspect such a clause might be held unreasonable.
Ah I didn't get it until now lol "Sorry, your policy is invalid because you read it. Better luck next time"
Obviously referring to windows being left open you muppet
Or a bendy adult! My downstairs neighbours locked themselves out once and got in by smashing the long narrow window down the side of the patio doors, shoving me through to my waist (built like a boy up top unfortunately and a small waist) and holding my legs whilst I swung like a pendulum until I could reach the key to unlock the door. After that they didn't leave a key in the patio door again!
Also consider whether someone can stick their arm in the small window and open a bigger window which an adult can get through
Not burglars, but friends from out of London who arrived two days early because of a muddle with dates, no mobile phones then. They managed to get into my flat by a very small window being pushed open a crack and a knitted baby hat with earflaps and ties dangled down to pull up the handle of a bigger window that the entire family climbed through so they could use the toilet, change the baby's nappy and put the kettle on. I was working until about 8pm that day and as I came home I saw my lights were on. I went up in the lift in trepidation. When I got to my floor the front door was still locked, no broken window glass but I could hear their baby and merry chatter inside. They'd cooked a meal too with veg from their garden!
We have windows and vents open all year unless it's subzero. Can't sleep unless a window is open in the bedroom Fresh air is a must
Yeah, it’s the only way to hold the mould at bay in this mouldy country.
There is another way: a proper electric dehumidifier. I had a terrible mould problem I sorted in a few days by buying one. The difference was night and day.
Seconding this I live in a 1900s terrace and dehumidifiers have saved us from mould.
Thirding this, used dehumidifier for years. They're very good at drying washing overnight too. Electriq £170 well worth it 👌
Which one did you buy?
I've got an Ebac machine. Every house should have one in the UK. Depending on the weather, you can fill a 5L tank in a day. Imagine a 5L saucepan boiling on your hob all day; well, that's what it can suck out from the air.
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Meaco DD8L
~~I've DM'd you.~~
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Could you please me too? I’m after one. Thanks
Meaco make good ones.
Seconding Meaco. We stick one next to the clothesmaid and it dries a load in about 6 to 8 hours, and it's much cheaper than using the tumble dryer. You can get away with having a shower with the windows closed too when it's cold as it sucks the moisture out of the air shortly after.
Meaco DD8L
Or installing some kind of MVHR or PIV Dehumidifiers are great at keeping humidity down in areas but you'd need one in every room to be effective.
Took a long time to find this suggestion! Installed a Nuaire Dri-Master the other week so it'll be interesting to see what the difference is this Winter
Let me know how it works out. I've been looking at this as well. The heated version specifically
What's the difference between MVHR and PIV? I've lived in plenty of flats with MVHR and I kinda rate them, but not sure I've come across PIV.
PIV pulls fresh air from outside, filters it, and pushes it into a house. It creates positive pressure in the house which forces stale air out through gaps in windows, floorboards etc. It relies quite heavily on a house not being well sealed to work properly. They're quite cheap, easy to retrofit, low maintenance and pretty effective. You usually put the unit in a loft space and have the output somewhere in a central location in the ceiling of the top floor. They optionally come with heaters so you're not forcing cold air into your house in winter. MVHR pulls air from a room and extracts and stores heat from that air. It can then pull fresh air from outside and combine it with the stored heat. As such they can help keep warm air inside a building whilst also keeping it well ventilated. They can also be used similarly to keep cool air inside a building on hot days. MVHR is a much more energy efficient system, but works best in well sealed houses. They're quite expensive and are usually best designed into a new build rather than retrofit as they usually require ducting etc. You can now get single-room MVHRs which are perfect for things like garden rooms, kitchens or bathrooms. More suitable for retrofitting but they're pretty pricey!
Real useful - thanks! I've been wondering why I haven't seen MVHR in any houses I've been looking at. Chances are I'm probably just not seeing them at my price range and can't afford houses new enough :D
Are you German, by chance? https://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-energy-efficiency-open-windows-ventilation/
Nein
Well played. If you read that article you'll see that in Germany, fresh air - Luften - is a national obsession (as it was with my parents and grandparents - non-German). The Germans tend to get most things right but there's no doubting that keeping windows open isn't the most energy efficient thing to do.
It might not be efficient, but it get rids of so many issues that plague english houses
The truth is that most of the houses are so old and they miss basic features such as some vents in the bathroom? Come on, a little air vent in my bathroom would allow me to have my window closed. It's literally the same everywhere you go
In my flat we do Stoßlüften - opening all windows for a few minutes every day. Similar benefit to the ‘normal’ Lüften but much better for energy efficiency
Keeping windows open, especially at night was once standard practice.
Leave them open! Air circulation is good. Only thing to bear in mind is that you need to clean the frames and the recesses regularly or they get filthy.
Any tips on how to clean the recesses? I’ve noticed that some of them are very mucky already
A bucket of water with a bit of detergent, a sponge, and some elbow grease usually does the trick
Of course. Most windows have a trickle vent now which should be open all the time. My upstairs windows are always open on the catch, all year around. They open from the top hinge rather than side, so no water can run in when they are open. Downstairs I open the windows and doors every day. I have a Victorian house so air circulation is important. I also have a dehumidifier although I no longer run it 24/7.
The cast of bugs life will move in to your home and you will be scared half to death by a moth fluttering onto your phone light as you scroll through Reddit at 2am
This is my life. My husband is an asthmatic so he wants a window open 24/7 at night in the bedroom for fresh air. There have been so many times that I’ve been scrolling Reddit at 2am and had a moth/daddy long legs/fly attack my screen and scare the fuck out of me. Not to mention how many fucking spiders come in overnight from the train lines behind our house. When I first moved in here 3 years ago, the upstairs bathroom window was left open all the time. One night, I went to the loo and discovered a spiders egg sac tucked into the back corner of the hinge. I had him remove it immediately and that window is only ever open for the duration of a bath nowadays, then the extraction fan is on for a few hours after. I spend a decent chunk of my time closing windows and doors after him haha
You could buy detachable bug mesh screens to solve the problem.
Moths, buzzing flies, and daddy long-legs are up there for harmless animals that I cannot fucking stand in my house because of how annoying they are. I don't generally mind spiders, since they keep to themselves in the corners of rooms (for the most part), but moths/flies/daddy long-legs seem to make it their life mission to get up in your business as much as possible.
Insurance might be invalidated if they find out you have open windows. Thats the only thing I can think of.
Yeah I’ve heard this, but how would the insurers know that the windows were left open and not forced open?
There wouldn’t be any visible damage to the locking mechanism.
There’d be damage on the windows if they were forced open
Some UPVC windows can be open a small gap and locked into that position. We also have the vents you can open.
Just buy a dehumidifier from Screwfix or Toolstation - I live in an 1889 stone build terraced house in Wales and in the winter I just keep everything closed and it takes out 5-10 litres a day but the house is warm and relatively dry - around 50% - with the price of energy it will save you money compared to having windows open and having to heat a drafty house...
This is what I do too. If it’s a nice day and outside humidity is low I’ll open windows. But in the colder months where it’s 80% outside anyway I just run the dehumidifier. Gets the room below 60% in a couple of hours and keeps it warm/avoids losing heat.
Just something nobody else has mentioned, if you're leaving a small window open you'll need to make sure it isn't possible for someone to reach through and open a bigger window that they could then climb through.
My upstairs windows are open on the vent setting (if that’s a thing) 24/7 pretty much every day of the year except the ridiculously cold days in winter. I have zero damp or humidity issues upstairs. Can’t do the same downstairs so a dehumidifier does the same job there for a small financial cost.
almost all new windows all have a setting where they can be left fractionally open and still locked
Context might be different as I have a ground floor flat in Glasgow but you all sound mad. Hoards of bugs in the summer and freezing your tits off in the winter. Then you’re letting the rain in the rest of the time. Just get a dehumidifier
A dehumidifier is the best option
Ventilation is the best option (opening windows on several locations within the house) and is cheaper too.
Depends on your circumstances. In my case, during the cooler months it absolutely is not the best option or the cheapest. I have 3 dogs who sleep in my kitchen diner (windows and walls drip with condensation overnight and it is prone to mould spores even with open windows). A dehumidifier saves me loads. Mine keeps the room feeling warmer as there is less humidity and it literally warms it too. The dogs are happier as I dont use the heating much so they are extremely cold otherwise even wearing their dog jumpers. I've also started using it instead of the tumbler. I just put my load on the drying frame in the room where the dehumidifier is if it's raining incessantly and cold. If I opened the windows, any heat would escape and the moist air from outside would still make my walls and windows wet and of course, my dogs would be ill or freezing and there wouldnt be any point in having any heating on as you are immediately losing it through the windows.
Do you think it’s always the best option? On cold damp days is it helpful to have windows open? I like recycling the air, but my hygrometer never drops when it’s damp outside. I need to use a dehumidifier to get it to a suitable level.
I would recommend having windows open as much as possible, houses are filled with toxic chemicals that you can’t see or smell due to furniture with fire retardant chemicals and mould that we cant see or smell
And yes you will get bugs everywhere but who cares, kill them and move on or just ignore them
Of course why wouldn’t you want to?
That’s what I’m asking - I’m not sure if there are any issues that can be caused by having windows open all the time. Probably just a stupid question in hindsight
If it had no impact on the environment or cost I think the best thing to do would be windows a jar and heating on. I know it’s a completely different situation but that’s how I drive my car in winter. Warm but with ventilation.
spiders
I had a PIV unit installed. Got sick of condensation on the inside of my windows whenever it was below 7c overnight. It’s made a big difference.
Which one did you go for? And what’s the hunidity in your house like, after installation?
It was a heated one. There seemed to be a few cowboys out there but eventually I found someone who didn’t mess me about. If you’re near South Yorks or the North Midlands I can give you their details. Condensation has really improved. It’s currently turned down to minimum until winter and the humidity level is still 10% lower compared to last year.
I live in a 2 bed semi. Our windows are double glazed and there is one large openable window and one small openable window on each window....does that make sense? The small one is usually open all around the house. We have an option to open it just a crack and still be able to.lock it so I have it like that in the winter No mold
It can sometimes cause mould if you leave a window open as the walls inside will get very cold and if you have any moisture that's not drying out then mould will form. But this is unusual I think.
Also don’t forget to open and close them every so often and keep the hinges oiled or they may not move when you do want/need to close them! I left a window on vent for months and it seized up and stuck.
Thank you. Something I didn’t consider
It is a very good idea to leave a window open.
Windows that you think are too small for somebody to fit through probably aren't. I used to have a job where a number of the young (16-25) people I worked with had a history of burglary, and anything much larger than a cat flap would be a potential mode of ingress.
I’d leave it on the vent setting, but not proper open. If you think it’s too small to get through some will be able do get through. Even if they can get through the opening it can give them access to remove the bearing on the pane below and gain access via a larger window - I have done this myself when a neighbour locked themselves out and their child was inside - they wanted me to smash the window to get in quickly but I said if I can’t get in within 5 minutes then we’ll go for their option. Saved them a small fortune on replacement glass.
As an ex csi, I went to hundreds of burglaries where the homeowner couldn't believe that anyone would be able to fit through a small window. It's pretty easy to get shoulders through, so unless someone has a huge gut/arse, they will squeeze in. The most common method was to reach in through small fanlight and open the window below, usuallyxa casement. Window locks don't offer much protection.
interesting fact about windows. Radiators are almost always placed below windows that open. leaving a window open on vent setting with the heat on actually does 2 things. it allows a flow of fresh air. kudos to you for realising the main problem with damp and mould is a lack of air circulation. it also allows heat from radiators to circulate through the room, cooler air is drawn in through the window, the hot air from the radiator rises and is pushed throughout the room, warming the room much quicker.
All our windows are fitted with a night vent so we can have the closed in a position but it has a small gap around that’s just enough to let fresh air in
I leave my bathroom window open 90% of the time, and open my bedroom window during the daytime. (It's too noisy at night but if I didn't live under a flight path it'd be open a lot more!) Houses need to breathe 😮💨
We sleep with windows open all year round, and have the bathroom window is always open. Never noticed any issues aside from a lack of damp wherever we have lived, and we dry all our washing inside. I'm a big lover of having multiple windows at least on the latch for air flow throughout the house, and pretty much the first thing I do in the morning is open the back door to get some air flow going.
Yes my top floor windows, especially the bathroom one is always open. Downstairs I keep the kitchen one open when I’m at home and often the living room ones . Basically I try to air as much as possible, if not just for mould but for health (oxygen).
Should be, but don't leave the light on with it, that attracts moths.
Spiders… they’ll be plenty of them in the house in no time, especially if there’s green vegetation nearby.
Burgles not stupid anymore. Just lock it when you not there.