'Clever 70p tin foil heatwave trick works wonders - but only if used correctly'

16 June 2023 , 05:00

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I tried putting tin foil over my windows to keep my house cool (Image: The Mirror)

As much as many of us love the warm weather that summer brings, we can all agree that it's pretty rubbish to be cooped up indoors when the sun is shining - not least because our houses are terrible at coping with any sort of heat.

If you work from home like I do, you'll know that this week has been uncomfortably warm, and even if you have the luxury of an air-conditioned office, then I'm sure you'll at least relate to how stuffy and sticky the past few nights have been.

But before we all buy up the country's stock of desk fans and send our energy bills skyrocketing, it turns out there are some things you can try to keep your house cool that won't cost you an arm and a leg to do.

One of those handy tricks is, apparently, to cover your windows in tin foil. But how well does taking the kitchen staple and cello-taping it to your window frames actually work? That's what I'm here to find out.

The foil did help to keep my room cool (The Mirror)

My bedroom, being an extension of my house and having a flat roof as well as one large window that stretches across the back wall, is akin to a sauna in the summer. It's by far the hottest room in the house, and it also happens to not only be where I sleep on those clammy nights but also where I work.

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So, therefore, it made perfect sense for this to be the room where I test out the much-lauded tin foil trick.

I bought mine in a pinch from my nearby Spar for around £2, but you can buy the foil for £1.20 from Asda, £1.55 from Tesco, or for as little as 70p from Wilko.

All you need to do is take the tin foil - actually made of aluminium these days and not tin at all - out of your kitchen drawer and rip off large strips, taping them to the plastic frame that lines your window until the whole thing is covered.

In theory, the trick should work because glass windows magnify heat, but the shiny foil reflects it, meaning that it should bounce the sunlight off of your windows and prevent the heat from entering your house.

All you need is kitchen foil, which costs as little as 70p (Getty Images)

And I have to say, it does work, though maybe not to the degree you would hope.

I put the foil trick to the test after I finished work on Wednesday afternoon, and while I was in the middle of standing on my bed and wondering if the neighbours thought I was insane, I was working up quite a sweat.

However, by the time I had half my window covered and I was standing in the shade of the foil, I could already feel the difference as my body temperature started to balance out.

According to the thermometer app on my phone, my bedroom had been a balmy 28 degrees before the tin foil went up, and after taking a well-deserved dinner break once the job was finished, I tested the temperature again and found it had already dropped to 26 degrees.

Getting to sleep on Wednesday night wasn't as much of a chore as it had been earlier in the week either, as although I did have my fan on for a little while, I stayed cool once I switched it off, instead of instantly wishing I could leave it on all night.

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Thursday morning was a similar story, as by 10 am my bedroom was reading a fairly reasonable 23 degrees. Yes, I was definitely still hot and had to put my fan on, but I wasn't sweating buckets, and the fan actually helped cool me down instead of just blowing hot air in my face.

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But is a two to three degree drop in temperature really worth it, and is the trick safe?

The tin foil trick is safe to use, as experts at H2ouse said that sunlight won't melt the foil, nor will it release any harmful toxins once it starts to get hot.

They said: "The heat of the sun cannot melt the aluminium foil - it is tough enough to handle high oven temperatures, so it can certainly handle the power of summer sunlight. And exposure to heat will not radiate harmful toxins into your house when it's exposed to sun and heat, either."

However, according to Adam Pawson, Head of Digital at Safestyle, kitchen foil should be placed outside your windows and not inside, as the sun bouncing off the foil can make the glass too hot.

This isn't necessarily dangerous but can cause the seal in your window to break, meaning you may have to replace it.

He told Ideal Home: "Blocking your windows with tin foil will help to keep your rooms cooler in the heat as it reflects the heat back outside. However, one mistake people make is by placing the foil on the inside of the window. It is really important to be careful to place the tin foil on the outside of your windows rather than the inside to prevent the glass from getting too hot."

This might not be practical if you don't want to be climbing ladders to cover your upstairs windows in foil, and when combined with the odd looks you'll get from your neighbours, you might be better off just sticking with the classic ice bottle behind a fan trick.

Zahna Eklund