Save me from my bedroom (insulation problem)

[ChTTay]

My bed room connects directly onto the balcony (without any kind of door) and as the weather is getting colder I notice a terrible draft coming through. The rest of the apartment can be quite warm then my room is like an icebox. When we moved it was warm so we didn't notice. I have to say, I'm pretty inexperienced at renting/houses so I didn't think about the issue of having the balcony open to the room.

The "doorway" to the balcony is about two standard doors in width and about that height. I am trying to find a way to either insulate all the windows (there are a lot - 8 pairs) or to close off the door way. We asked the landlord to get us a large curtain but he hasn't.

The only thing I have come across so far is getting either bubble wrap or the sandwich wrap stuff and covering all the windows with it. It just seems like trying to seal the door would be easier but I have no idea what with or where to buy it.

Any one got any advise?

If not, I might seriously have to move out. I guess if I told the landlord that they might actually do something but I won't cross my fingers.

Thanks

[anonymoose]

What do you mean "without any kind of door"? What is separating your room from the outside? Windows? Are the windows not in a door?

I had a similar issue (not a balcony, but a draughty window) in Dalian, which can get bitterly cold during the winter. Sealing the doorway with bubble wrap or a plastic sheet would be a good start. Don't just put the bubble wrap over the window panes, but actually cover the entirety of the doorway so that there are no gaps for air to pass through. For example, you could use sticky tape to tape the edges of the bubble wrap to the walls.

Nevertheless, whilst it will help, your room will probably still be cold. I ended up sleeping with all my clothes and a coat on during the coldest days.

I enjoyed my time in the north of China, but the long cold winters are the one factor that would severely dissuade me from spending another winter up north.

[ChTTay]

Sorry, I guess that wasn't clear...

There is a balcony and there is my room. The connection between the two - my room and the balcony - has no door. There are windows, yes, they are technically on the balcony though. If I closed up the gap between the room and the balcony, my room would be dark but less windy / cold.

Any idea where to buy such a quantity of bubble wrap?

[captainren]

@ChTTay, the product you need is the 3M window insulation kits, see here. Try taobao, aka the local eBay, to see if they have them.

[Cat Jones]

Keep pestering your landlord. Become so annoying that it's worth sorting out the curtains for him to have a quiet life. Worth a go.

[roddy]

Curtains will help, although it may well be quicker to buy a couple of big army blankets like they use in shops, than to wait for your landlord. But number one thing you need to do is fix the drafts. Tape 'em up one way or another and see how that works. Supermarkets will have various types of tape - can't recall what it is in Chinese, but this kind of stuff. Also scout around for any random holes in your wall - air-conditioner outlets, that kind of thing. Not sure I ever had an apartment where there wasn't some large hole to the outside world that needed plugged.

Assuming your heating is working ok, that may well do the job, especially if you get some of that glorious winter sunshine on your windows.

I wouldn't use bubble-wrap, it won't let the light through. But the post office will probably sell you big rolls of it.

Don't forget that if you're on any kind of decent wage, electricity is cheap. Not sure what current costs are in Beijing, and I think it's tiered, but I bet you can afford to just have a single bar heater on 12 hours a day for 3 months. That's probably a better idea than doing without daylight.

[gougou]

electricity is cheap.

But its effects are not. That glorious winter sunshine will stay hidden behind smog if everybody uses heating where insulation is needed.

[ChTTay]

Good advice all, thanks a lot!

I had a look for those window kits online but couldn't find them in China. Also, I guess one kit won't cover 14 windows?!

Today we fashioned a curtain made out of spare blankets and safety pins. You start to realize how much of draft you've got when your home made curtain gently sways throughout the day. It has actually made a noticeable difference but I think it's just a stop gap.

Next step to get taping up gaps and windows (we have a hell of a lot of windows though). I might use the bubble wrap as part of my home made certain if I can't find a heavy duty one to buy.

Electricity is cheaper than GAS so I think we will probably use an electric heater more often that the apartment heating (which isn't good).

Any ideas where I'd go and buy one of those heavy blankets that shops use??

[roddy]

Army surplus places. Whereabouts in Beijing are you? But thinking about it, I'd be inclined to try actual curtains, or just a lighter blanket - you want something that looks reasonable and doesn't require two men to move. And really, don't do anything till you've stopped the drafts - until then you don't even know if you need a curtain.

[ChTTay]

Sensible. I will try taping everything up this weekend - I haven't seen any of that heavy duty tape though so it might just be normal parcel tape. Once everything is taped, I might reinforce my home made certain with bubble wrap. I read online someone had good luck using a big shower curtain and just glueing bubble wrap onto it.

I live in Wudaokou at the moment so as to be near to Tsinghua.

[gougou]

In the dormitory I stayed in in Moscow, official operating procedure was to stuff newspaper into all cracks and then to seal that with a good layer of tape.

[ChTTay]

Thanks for the trip, I think I'm going to try plastic bags in gaps as we've got loads then a good deal of tape!

Will try and post some DIY photos

[ChTTay]

In case any one has a similar problem;

We made our own curtain using three different sheets that we overlapped then pinned together. On top of this we used a shower curtain on the balcony side so try and stop the wind even more. I may still use some bubble wrap between the two of these as further insulation.

For the windows I put plastic bags in all of the gaps then taped them up. This seems to have worked well for the most part. We still have a draft during strong winds but I'm yet to find out where from. The worst two windows have had bubble wrap tabled over them too. It wasn't a problem as they don't provide any light into the room or even really the balcony.

We also have a small heater to make up for the inadequate gas heater. The landlord hasn't got us a curtain or given any kind of assistance.

Thanks again

[skylee]

photos?