How do I make my room or even an apartment warmer/cozier?

Question

I'm currently living in an apartment paid by the company I work for, It's a 3 bedroom apartment, and each room has a bed for whoever is staying/living at the moment, the apartment tends to get really cold even when the sun is already rising everyday, I blame the coldness of the apartment to the lack of furniture in this apartment. I've managed to turn my room into a partial home by getting some basic furniture, 2 coffee tables, a dresser, a couch yet the apartment keeps getting so cold during nighttime, I know buying a heater is the easiest way to go, but I really want to fly low expense wise, since I'm only gonna be here til June. What are some easy and cheap alternatives to heat up my room(maybe, if possible, even the whole apartment) and keep it warm during the day and specially during the night? PS I've covered my window with a thick blanket to avoid some of the cold getting inside but it's still not enough.

Answer 1

I assume the heat is escaping through the windows - which means they are probably single glazed.

Even if they are double glazed, you will get a big improvement by putting plastic film over the windows to increase their insulation level. It's very cheap and easy to fit. Here is an example on Amazon UK:

Answer 2

Let the sun in during the day, without opening windows. You need as much sun light as possible. Clean the windows, remove the curtains and blinds. The sun will warm the floor and walls and they will stay warmer during the evening.

You also have to reduce loss of heat. During the night close your windows and doors tightly. If there are gaps - use isolation band for doors and windows. Put thick curtains on the windows after sunset.

You can try to paint the outside wall in black, but it wont be cheaper than buying a simple electric heater and you will have the opposite problem during the summer.

Answer 3

The furnace in my house went out in the dead of winter last year (I live in Cincinnati, Oh - so it gets a little cold in the winter) I still haven’t bothered getting it fixed even though this winter. All I did was bought a few little space heaters online (the best ones are the radiator style electric oil heaters they crank out some serious heat), some plastic sheeting that has adhesive strips to put over the windows and vents, some semi thin foam strips with adhesive to put on the inner sides of the door jams, and keep any doors closed to unused rooms putting blankets under the door to cut down on the draft. This all may be slightly excessive for you, but maybe some of the ideas could improve the temp for you.

Answer 4

In houses I lived in, Windows were often the weak spot of the heat insulation where heat is lost at night. Make sure the window and frame tighten correctly and you don't get wind through. You can buy rolls of rubber in case it isn't shutting tight e.g. on ebay. Alternatively and additionally, close the roller shutter do reduce wind blowing past the window and carrying heat away or pressing through remaining gaps (haven't wrapped my mind about how much of infrared radiation gets kept in the flat by closing the roller shutter). On the inside of the window, close the curtains at night to reduce air circulation past the window (you may notice weak cold wind next to your window). (Again, if you don't have roller shutters, the curtains should lock infrared raddiation in, no idea how relevant this actually is)

Hack yourself. Ginger makes you warmer. I didn't investigate if it only makes you feel warmer or actually raises the body temperature (there are many people on the internet claiming it would increase your metabolism). My guts feeling is it feels 1-2°C warmer when you had a ginger tea on top of having had a warm drink. In Nepal in mountain huts they freshly rasp 1-2 teaspoons of ginger into the tea, I usually slice 1cm to 1 finger thick ginger into ~1mm thick slices (as thin as possible while still easy to cut), and put them in a cup of boiling water. If you don't like the taste, maybe add a bag of any kind of tea/infusion. In the office I don't want to worry about storing fresh ginger and have a caster of dried ground ginger which I put in a cup of infusion. It's a bit annoying to have the powder in the infusion when drinking though. NB: I've been told that various kinds of drinks/fruits have the opposite of the desired effect (making you feel colder), so combining the ginger with those in the infusion might be a bad idea. Blamed were anything with caffein and citrus fruit, I didn't test that.

Answer 5

Keep your oven door open after cooking dinner, if you dont have a oven, you can also create your own candle heater using terra cotta pots.

Link here if interested... how to make your own candle heater

Answer 6

Put on some more clothes when it gets cold, and get a thicker (or another) blanket for your bed.