1. Keep the sunlight out.
Sunlight beaming into your home looks and feels great at first, but it also brings with it additional heat. To help keep cool, ensure that the sun doesn’t shine into your home for too long. Closing the curtains can help, but if you really want to ensure it doesn’t get in, consider shutters as well if possible. Installing awnings is also a good way to keep the sun out, and this option would be great too if you’re allowed to add them.
On that note, choose curtains in light colours, such as yellow, white or other pale shades. These absorb less heat from the sun and therefore won’t radiate into your home.
2. Open your windows at night, close them during the day.
Once the weather cools off at night, it’s your chance to get cool air into your home. Open your homes’ windows at night to let in the air, and ensure there’s a cross breeze. You can place fans into windows as well to help with air flow.
And when you wake up in the morning, be sure to close your windows and close the curtains again before you leave the house. Doing this allows you to keep the cool air inside for longer.
3. Don’t use heating appliances during the day.
If you can, try to avoid using stoves, ovens, dryers, toasters, dishwashers and any other appliances that generate heat during the day. Since it’s so hot outside already, use that to your advantage and dry your clothes on a line outside. If you’re allowed to, use a grill outside on a patio or balcony instead of cooking inside, too.
Run other appliances, like dishwashers, at night when you’re asleep and the windows are open to help keep them from adding heat to your home.
4. Dehumidify your home.
Sometimes it’s the humidity that makes summer heat unbearable in your home. Investing in a dehumidifier could be a simple way to help make everything more tolerable. You will have to remember to empty it occasionally, but there are models that have drain hoses instead.
Keep in mind that, like any other appliance, dehumidifiers require occasional maintenance, too. The right model to pick will depend on the size of the room(s) you intend to dehumidify and your lifestyle.
5. Switch to energy-efficient lighting.
Are you still using incandescent lightbulbs in your home? These lightbulbs are highly inefficient and only convert around 5%–10% of the electricity they use to light; the rest is wasted as heat.
Switching to LED bulbs can help keep you cool and lower your electricity bills. LEDs convert around 80%–95% of the electricity they use into light. If switching all the bulbs in your home seems daunting, start with rooms you spend the most time in, like the living room, kitchen and bedrooms.
With some foresight and planning, you can keep your home cool as the weather heats up outside. So draw those curtains when the sun is out and enjoy the summer weather in your more comfortable home.
