For the season of excessive heat and unbearable summer, it is imperative to understand how to keep your home cool. This can be tricky, very tricky, especially if you must deal with the scorching temperature in your apartment or home. However, this is not an impossible task. You only need to follow a few simple tips and tricks for making your home comfortable in the extreme heat.
Summer is here and with it comes higher temperatures. In fact, this year we’re in for a hotter summer than usual. Summertime can be brutal for homeowners who want to keep their house as cool as possible. After all, we don’t often associate hot days with the inside of our homes. However, there are ways to keep your home cool without blasting the air conditioner 24/7.
Here Are Some Simple Tips and Tricks For Making Your Home Comfortable in the Extreme Heat.
Block The Sun
– This helps to prevent excessive heat from entering your home, which can help save money on your air conditioning costs. If you want to take it one step further, invest in thermal backed curtains or blinds as these will help reduce heat radiation that comes through your windows.
– By keeping your windows covered during daylight hours, you can easily reduce heat gain in your home by up to 30 per cent. Even better, use awnings or external shutters that provide shade.
Open Windows and Balcony/Garden Doors Within the Early Morning and at Night.
How to do it:
– Open windows and balcony/garden doors within the early morning and at night.
– It’s best to open doors and windows first thing in the morning and late afternoon – basically after the hottest part of the day has been and gone. The trick is to keep air moving through your home. Did you know that moving air is cooler than still air? Think of a breeze moving through your home. To do this, make sure you have windows open at opposite ends of your home with the doors open in between. This will create a draft and allow air to move freely through your home.
Turn Off Unused Appliances
– Close your blinds and curtains – this will help stop the sun from making your home warm.
– Open your windows at night when it gets cooler and closes them again in the morning before it gets too hot. Then open all internal doors so that air can move around the house.
– Turn off unused appliances. Like ovens, other appliances around the house will generate unwanted heat in a home over the summer.
– Consider turning things like desktop computers and kitchen appliances off – don’t just leave them on standby. This will stop them from overheating and warming the rooms they are in.
– Use a fan to stay cool during the day if you don’t have air conditioning or a ceiling fan
Turn Off the Lights and Invest In Energy-Saving Light Bulbs
– Most homes are filled with light bulbs — from the lamps in your living room to the fixtures in your kitchen and bathroom. But here’s a secret: Light bulbs are another source of heat in homes, and should be kept off when trying to cool your house down.
– The type of lightbulb you choose can also have a big impact on their heat-generating abilities. Incandescent bulbs release most of their energy as heat, so they’re not an environmentally friendly or cost-efficient choice. Switching to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or LEDs will cut down on the amount of heat they emit, and cut down on your electricity bill at the same time.
Invest in Some House Plants
– House plants have really been having a moment recently and we can’t deny that they certainly make our houses happier. As well as being proven to boost your mood, house plants can also help keep your house cool. Plants act as natural air conditioners and generate moisture into the atmosphere through a process known as transpiration.
– The most heat-efficient plants are peace lilies and rubber plants as they work best in humid conditions.
– So having a house plant or two around will help keep the house cool in summer naturally. Just don’t forget to water them – especially as the temperature creeps up outside!
Use a Fan to Cool Down a Room
– Positioning your fan correctly for optimum cooling is also important.
– Fans, when left to their own devices, can just circulate the same warm air. It may seem counterintuitive, but the trick to getting the most out of your fan isn’t actually to always point it in your direction. Rather, you want to consider pointing your fan towards an open window – especially at night.
– As the sun goes down, temperatures drop too, so you can use this opportunity to let fresh, cool air into the house with an open window, and then point your fan towards that window to spread the cooler air around.