S/o closed doors

[maize]

Is no one else bothered by stale bedroom air?

 

I have never slept in a bedroom that did not begin to feel stuffy with the doors closed; perhaps if the central fan were running all night it would be OK but if the fire safety concern is smoke suffocation that would seem to counteract any advantage.

 

I can only sleep with the door closed if a window is at least cracked open, which isn't so good in the winter.

 

I need air!

Edited October 18, 2017 by maize

[HomeAgain]

We all have ceiling fans in our rooms, so no, the air doesn't bother us as long as it's moving.

[BarbecueMom]

Each bedroom has a ceiling fan, I run the blower fan on the HVAC all night (more for noise, it wakes me up every time it kicks on and off), and also use a pedastal fan in our room.

 

We shut doors, but after ripping out carpet and putting down vinyl plank, there's a huge gap under them. We're going to replace them soon.

[regentrude]

We always sleep with the windows open, unless it is below 10F

[MEmama]

We sleep with windows open until it's too cold, the door wide open and the ceiling fan on. We turn the heat off at night in winter and run an extra fan on summer nights if it gets hot. We definitely need fresh, moving air when we sleep! Lol

[Word Nerd]

We don't sleep with our door closed.

[EKS]

We sleep with the windows open even in winter.  But my kids don't.  I think they're nuts.

[maize]

The ceiling fan makes no difference to the quality of the air to me, it moves it around but it still feels and smells stuffy.

Edited October 18, 2017 by maize

[MysteryJen]

We have the windows open, unless it is really, really cold like below 10 F. I do hate to have the windows closed otherwise.

[maize]

Hey, someone has researched the effect of bedroom air quality/CO2 levels.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ina.12254/full

[heartlikealion]

I'm a vampire. I like darkness. I close doors for quiet and darkness. If no one else is up I don't mind the door open as much. We have not had our new ceiling fan installed. Other one is broken. If a/c or heater isn't on I can see it getting stuffy. Actually that room gets too hot sometimes with door closed and heater on, but I closed it because ds slept in there last night and I was keeping cat out.

[Butter]

We keep the doors open precisely because I can't stand the lack of air movement that comes with closed doors.  Ceiling fans don't help.  It just pushes around the stale air.

[Word Nerd]

I'm glad I don't have to share a bedroom with a "windows open unless it's subzero" person. I would perish by morning!

[heartlikealion]

I don't really notice "stale air."  I do however notice noises and lights.  DH is one who wants the windows open, the fan blowing, the doors wide open and some lights on.  And I try to compromise but it drives me absolutely insane.

 

So, when he travels for work, I close ALL the doors, turn off every light I can get away with (the kids need at least the light on in the bathroom in the hall in case they need to potty.)  and close the windows.

 

Part of the problem with having the windows open is that I end up waking up with a stuffy nose and scratchy throat.  And the fan on, it makes me cold.  And with the doors open, because of the way everything is situated in our house, lights end up shining RIGHT in my face. 

 

We could be roommates :laugh:

 

I get so mad when people lose the TV remote. I am not sleeping with the stupid Roku menu bouncing around. Light drives me nuts. I have unplugged our tv before. Dh likes to leave lights on in the house all the time, like for safety? I sometimes wonder how much electricity we're paying for that.

 

I get a scratchy throat or draft from fans sometimes. And ds and I do not like to get up in the morning if we're cold so if dh doesn't turn off the a/c when he leaves for work it's miserable. I switched it to heater last night.

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't have a door to my bedroom.  How's that for weird?!

 

 

[heartlikealion]

I don't have a door to my bedroom.  How's that for weird?!

 

Did it ever have one? Is there a frame?

 

[maize]

What is ironic to me is that DH wouldn't be affected by CO2 levels because he has a full face CPAP. His O2 levels are constant all night lol

I don't see how a CPAP would make much difference, it pushed air but doesn't remove CO2 from it or oxygenate it.

[Ausmumof3]

Doors closed to stop the cat coming in and scratching on stuff she shouldn't. Ceiling fans on and windows open though.

[Zinnia]

The ceiling fans are always on here.

 

Until this week, our AC was running at least 14 hours a day. It usually stops around 3-4am when it finally catches up with the afternoon heat.

 

In the winter, we have dehumidifiers and ceiling fans, too.

 

Edited to add: sometimes it does feel stuffy in here if it's too hot, but it will usually get down to at least 78 before we go to bed (our AC isn't great), so that is tolerable. Warmer than that, and I don't like it. I don't like camping in summer because of this.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Zinnia

[shawthorne44]

We leave our bedroom door open.  Probably because we didn't even have a bedroom when we first moved in.  Daughter was the only one with a door.  Pre-child it was just the two of us, and pre-marriage it was just me.   So, door closing hasn't been a big thing for me.  

[sassenach]

Our weather is such that the windows can be open most of the year. I like doors open In the day but not overnight. Otherwise, I can hear everyone get up and go to the bathroom and anytime the dog is pacing the hall. I’m a light sleeper.

[creekland]

We only close bedroom doors when company is visiting or we're at someone else's house spending the night.  Otherwise, they're open.  I totally agree that air gets stuffy when doors are closed and I don't like it.

 

We only open windows when the temp outside is one we want inside.  I'm not paying for heat or AC just to have windows open when an open door can do the same thing.

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Catheryn

[gaillardia]

I can't stand still air anymore, used to have no problem with it. However, the ceiling fan makes miserable noises on low and medium speeds so I have to have it on high, which means it is fairly breezy. Window open slightly 2-3". It has felt nice in the high 40s at night, no heat turned on yet. 

But the door must be closed because of the hall lurkers and bathroom visitors and lights and the cat and the dog. Even still, without all of that, I think I would prefer to have the door closed. 

Where is the s/o for paper thin walls and no privacy in conversation or other interesting activities?

[katilac]

 perhaps if the central fan were running all night it would be OK but if the fire safety concern is smoke suffocation that would seem to counteract any advantage.

 

 

Slowing down smoke entry is just one reason that closed doors are safer in a fire. Doors also shield you from heat and toxins, and possibly alter the path of the fire. 

 

I sleep with the door closed and a fan going 90 miles per hour. We live in the land of heat and humidity, so all of the windows are closed - the air in the rest of the house isn't going to be any fresher. 

[LMD]

lol, I thought we were going all meta, and discussing opportunities now closed to us.

 

I don't like the bedroom door closed all night.

Haha great minds, that's also why I opened the thread.

 

We generally sleep with all the bedroom doors and house windows open. I like fresh air, it's one of my favourite things about the country - I feel like I can breathe.

 

If it's cold we keep a few windows open and a log on the fire.

[MistyMountain]

I am very bugged if the heat is on too high even by one or two degrees but that is even in a more open room. My room does not feel stale or stuffy at night but maybe because it is not kept too warm. I can tell when someone moved the thermostat pretty fast.

[Barb_]

Hey, someone has researched the effect of bedroom air quality/CO2 levels.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ina.12254/full

 

That was fascinating and I'm going to experiement.  I have a Fitbit charge 2, so it should be easy to see whether keeping a window open at night makes a difference in the soundness of my sleep.  I keep my door closed because it's just what I am used to. If it helps, I'm going to make some changes to the routine of my two youngest.  Anything that helps concentration is a worth trying.

[Barb_]

Slowing down smoke entry is just one reason that closed doors are safer in a fire. Doors also shield you from heat and toxins, and possibly alter the path of the fire. 

 

I sleep with the door closed and a fan going 90 miles per hour. We live in the land of heat and humidity, so all of the windows are closed - the air in the rest of the house isn't going to be any fresher. 

 

I can vouch for this.  Our house fire was prevented from entering rooms with doors closed to the extent that if people were home, it would have been lifesaving.

[cjzimmer1]

I won't even let DH put a fan in the bedroom because moving air makes me so cold.  Like it can be 90 degrees but if there is air blowing on me I will have goosebumps all over.  We have two vents (and use central air due to allergies) in our room but I always keep the one on my side closed because so much air pumps through it it makes me freeze (Even when it's it heat blowing through there I keep it closed because again it's the air movement that bothers me more than the actual temp).  

 

It's funny because even though we keep the door to our room closed all day the air smells fresh in there.  In the kids rooms that is opened and closed 5000 times a day, sometimes the air can smell stale.  

 

My grandma always did the keep the windows open year round thing.  I could never relate to the need for that.

[maize]

I won't even let DH put a fan in the bedroom because moving air makes me so cold. Like it can be 90 degrees but if there is air blowing on me I will have goosebumps all over. We have two vents (and use central air due to allergies) in our room but I always keep the one on my side closed because so much air pumps through it it makes me freeze (Even when it's it heat blowing through there I keep it closed because again it's the air movement that bothers me more than the actual temp).

 

It's funny because even though we keep the door to our room closed all day the air smells fresh in there. In the kids rooms that is opened and closed 5000 times a day, sometimes the air can smell stale.

 

My grandma always did the keep the windows open year round thing. I could never relate to the need for that.

Perhaps in her generation it helped prevent carbon monoxide poisoning?

[SporkUK]

I live in an old Victorian terrace home that leaks like a sieve and has quite high ceilings so it doesn't get stuffy until it's hot enough for open windows and multiple fans to create cross breezes (as we also do not have air conditioning or central fans or even ceiling fans). 

 

I can certainly see it being an issue in more air tight houses. I've been told plants can help with that but I've never tried and unsure about risking it (mainly the risk of knocking them over and creating a mess, we recently redid part of our room as my spouse paints in there because I kept knocking parts off the table). 

Edited October 19, 2017 by SporkUK

[J-rap]

For about 5 months out of the year, we keep our windows wide open, and a door open too (that leads off our bedroom upstairs to a screened porch).  The rest of the year we generally keep it open at least a crack, even when it's really really cold.  But I really don't seem to notice the stale air so much in bedrooms on cold winter nights.

[El...]

I read a Charlotte Mason book once, and I don't remember which one, that strongly insisted that a window should be open in a child's bedroom at night.  I think she was concerned about poisoning due to the heating methods of the time.  Our houses are built differently today.  

 

I sleep better with a little more oxygen in the room, but my husband hates an open window because the early morning sounds wake him up.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I always have to have the window by my head cracked open.  I can't stand stuffy rooms.

[kewb]

I know what you mean about the stuffy air. The ceiling fan doesn't make a difference. The closed door blocks the air flow.

[Sarah CB]

I've slept with the door closed my whole life and never been bothered by a stuffy room - except for summers I spent in Ontario where it gets awfully humid. 

 

Maybe it's a regional thing? 

 

I like dark and quiet. In fact, I'm a terrible mother now because I sleep with ear plugs and a sleep mask. My boys are 17, 15, and 12 and the two older ones are up later than I am. I don't want them waking me up. 

[Carrie12345]

I'm jealous of those of you who can keep a cat out (or in) with a shut door.  Mine has DESTROYED my door frame and the carpet, and he's allowed in and out!  He just decides he'd rather be on the other side of wherever he happens to be when it does get shut.

[shawthorne44]

Perhaps in her generation it helped prevent carbon monoxide poisoning?

 

I've heard that it stems from gas lighting.  

[Amber in SJ]

Our door is shut to keep out kids & pets who don't belong in our room.  I am very sensitive to light.  Even the electronics in my room have to have the little power dot covered.  One kid works late and while she is as quiet as she can be I will always wake up when she turns on the bathroom light.  Sometimes the same kid works @ 4am.  I don't want to wake up at that time either :)  A different kid has a 6am religion class.  I don't want to get up with her, therefore door closed!

 

If we leave the windows open we can often smell the skunk family that cruises our neighborhood in search of dogs to torment or the neighbor teen smoking weed or vaping outside his house.  The last week or so has been "spare the air" days because of all the smoke from the fires in our area.  We can't keep the windows open because all the particle pollutants irritate Dh's asthma.

 

All Summer long I get up very early in the morning, to beat the heat & open all the windows.  The kids complain that the house is cold.

 

If it is hot the fans are on.  If it is cold the fan is on for the noise & circulation but not pointed at the bed to avoid dry throat & nose in the morning.  

 

Amber in SJ

 

 

 

[lailasmum]

The only bedroom I notice getting stuffy is my 13yr olds. It's a tiny box room though. The rest of the rooms seem to be fine but the rest of us generally have windows open. I've also got several plants in my bedroom but I'm not sure how much that contributes to improving the air quality.