Keeping Your House Cool During Summer

0
80
Keeping Your House Cool During Summer

For many of us, trying to beat the heat this summer season will be a daily challenge. With blinds tightly closed and doors to unused rooms blocked off like your house is on lock down, it can be hard to enjoy all that summer has to offer when you’re so busy trying to escape the temperatures it brings with it. But, with these tips, you can have both a comfortable and fun summer spent at home.

#1 Check For Drafts

Drafts are definitely something you’ll want to seal up come wintertime to avoid cold air from drifting in, but during the summer time, gaps in your windows and doors can do just the opposite: allowing your cool indoor air to escape outside and allowing the hot weather on the outside to come right in.

That’s why you should make sure your doors and windows are all properly insulated. Older windows should be replaced with energy efficient double paned windows as well. For the summer, remember that heat rises so make sure your basement is properly insulated. To help keep cool air in and prevent the hot sun from baking your house, check your attic’s insulation as well.

If you do happen to have some issues with your home’s insulation but you can’t afford to call in a professional right now, there are lots of DIY solutions that can help until you are able to get things look at. For instance, an uninsulated attic can be appropriately blocked off so that, even if the attic reaches boiling temperatures, you can do everything you can to stop that hot air from reaching your living area.

You can also find affordable foam insulation panels at your local home improvement store. They come in large sizes and, when laid on the floor of your attic, can help control your home’s indoor living climate.

#2 Get Fans At The Ready

When summer is nearing, you probably know that just about every store in the vicinity is going to be sold out of fans. That’s why you need to look far in advance and have lots of fans around for your home. A table fan, a desk fan, a window fan, and so on will all help keep air circulating in your home. While this won’t necessarily lower the temperature inside your home, it feels better to sit in a slight breeze than it does to sit in stagnant, hot air.

Fans will also help reduce humidity, and if that’s a big issue in your house, you should consider getting a dehumidifier as well. Wet air feels warmer, so be sure you are keeping things cool and dry inside your house. Now, when you do need a quick cool down, a table side mister will help you temporarily feel cooler since the water will be on your skin in front of a fan. These are also great for the patio.

Fans can also help pull the cool air coming from an air conditioning unit into other areas of your home, or help circulate the cool air coming from your home’s central cooling unit. On a cool day, they can also bring in fresh air from outside and pull it around the home, keeping things moving, preventing stale air, and helping everyone feel a bit closer to the breezy beach side.

#3 Prepare Your A/C

Nothing is worse than having your A/C break on you in the middle of summer! Chances are, you are going to be using it full-force when the heat kicks in so be sure to have get your air conditioning service scheduled now. This will make sure that it is in proper working order and ready to go for the summer season.

You should also stay on top of your own duties to maintain the unit, like removing the filter every so often to clean it out as dust and debris can clog up the air intake and eventually burn out the motor. For the same reason, you should keep curtains and other fabrics away from the air intake so that the A/C can do its job as easily as possible.

When possible, you should also support your A/C unit with smaller units placed throughout your home. Be mindful of the square footage your unit is designed to cool.

When a room is not in use, you can turn the air conditioner up by a few degrees so it doesn’t have to run at full force. However, don’t turn it all the way off as that will make it work a lot harder to get the room temps back down to where you want them when you go to be in the room again (and it will take a very long time).

And, most importantly of all: Stay cool this summer by seeking shade. Pull blinds closed and prevent the harsh sun from roasting your home.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here