What Is The Ideal Temperature For Your Home?

When it comes to heating and cooling your home, everyone’s preferences are slightly different. Individuals in the same house may be affected by hot or cold temperatures more than others, while some people prefer different rooms at different temperatures.

You also need to take into account the fact that the ambient of a room will affect other factors, such as humidity, which can further impact comfort levels. While you can’t make everyone happy all the time, understanding what the ideal temperatures are within your home can help to improve comfort.

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Why Is It Important To Get The Temperature Of Your Home Right?

Beyond the general comfort factor, getting the temperature of your home right is important for several other reasons.

Temperature can affect your ability to concentrate, can impact your body and even affect overall air quality in your home. For example, if you work from home and your office space is too hot, it can impact your ability to concentrate, making you less productive and affecting the quality of your work.

On the other hand, keeping your home too cold, such as during winter, can mean that you are at a greater risk of developing illnesses, like colds. It can also increase the risk of mould or damp spreading, which affects the air you breathe and can cause health issues.

Getting the temperature right ensures that you can comfortably take part in various activities at home and look after your property. So what is the ideal temperature for your home?

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What Is The Best Average Room Temperature?

Generally, the temperature of your house should be between 18 °C and 20°C all year round. This is a good overall ambient temperature, ensuring your home is not too hot or too cold. Achieving this temperature means utilising heating during winter and cooling methods like air conditioning during the summer months.

However, each room of your house has a different ideal temperature to improve comfort and avoid you overheating or over-cooling your home.

Living Room

Your living room should be between 20°C and 22°C, as it’s likely that you’ll be less active in this space.

Most of us end up spending most of our time in our living rooms sitting down and this lack of activity means that our body temperatures can be cooler. This means that during winter, you may want to keep your living room warmer than other areas of your home while it should be kept cool and comfortable during the summer months, especially if your living room is well insulated.

Bathroom

Your bathroom should generally be kept warmer than other rooms in your house, especially when you’re going to have a bath or a shower. This is because stepping out of a hot shower into a cold room can actually put you at a greater risk of getting sick.

The ideal temperature for your bathroom is between 22°C and 24°C. This will keep you comfortable but also help to reduce moisture and humidity that can lead to mould and dampness.

Bedroom

While you may think that your bedroom should be kept as warm as your living room, this isn’t the case. In fact, the ideal temperature for your bedroom is between 16°C and 19°C. Keeping your bedroom too hot can actually impact your sleep quality, so cooler is better.

When it comes to children’s bedrooms, they should be slightly warmer, with between 17°C and 20°C being optimal.

As you sleep, your body temperature decreases and a cooler room helps your body to regulate its temperature more effectively. This ensures a good night’s sleep so you can wake up feeling rested.

During the winter months, this is fairly easy to maintain, although you’ll likely want to turn on your bedroom heating to avoid the room becoming too cold. While temperatures drop at night during the summer, they are often still too warm, so air conditioning can help keep your bedroom comfortable.

Home Office

Not only are you likely to be sitting for long periods of time in your home office, but you also need to maintain concentration. This means the room should be kept at a similar temperature to your living room, so between 20°C and 22°C is ideal.

Maintaining this ambient temperature all year round will stop you from getting too cold or too warm, boosting your productivity levels.  

Kitchen

You may think that your kitchen gets warm enough while you’re cooking, but it’s still important that you regulate the ambient temperature of the room.

Typically, you want your kitchen to be between 18°C and 20°C. This will help to reduce humidity caused by cooking, which could cause mould growth.

Hallways And Entranceways

As you won’t generally spend much time in your entranceway or the hallways in your home, they don’t need to be heated as much as other rooms in your house.

This means that keeping them between 15°C and 18°C in winter is generally the best option. During the summer months, you won’t need to cool them as much as other rooms, so hallways can be kept warmer.

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When Should You Change The Temperature Of Your Home?

While these temperatures are the best options all year round, there are some cases when your average ambient temperature might need to be adjusted. These include:

• During pregnancy: Women often feel warmer during pregnancy so it is important to stay as cool as possible. This means adjusting the temperature of your home to see what is most comfortable.
• Babies and children: Babies and young children are not able to fully regulate their body temperature. This means their bedrooms may need to be kept at a different temperature than adults’ rooms. The sleeping temperature for a baby should be between 16 and 20°C, while a toddler’s room should be between 18°C and 21°C.
• Over the age of 65: Those over the age of 65 are most at risk from illnesses caused by cold temperatures or sudden spikes in temperature. It is recommended that those over the age of 65 heat their homes to at least 18°C during winter. Avoiding overheating is also important so properties should be cooled during the summer months.