With hot temperatures staying with us over the next couple of months, knowing how to cool your home on hot, sunny, and often humid days is essential. While a reliable air conditioning system is the obvious answer for those looking to cool their home, natural alternatives can help, especially when outdoor temperatures are higher than your unit struggles to keep up.
Here are ten methods that can naturally cool down your home:
Insulate your Attic
If you live in a house with attic space, it will be the primary source of overheating. If you keep your attic cool, the rest of your house will follow!
One way to keep your attic cool is to insulate it. This reduces the amount of heat entering your attic which then prevents that heat from getting to your home below.
Close those blinds
Up to 30% of unwanted heat enters your home via your windows. Closing your curtains can block out that heat and reduce the temperature dramatically. The most effective type of heat-blocking blinds are blackout curtains.
Close unused rooms
By closing the door to unused rooms, you can prevent cool air from entering these areas during the day when it's hottest outside. This means that the cold air your AC is busy producing will be reserved for the rooms you actually use throughout the day.
Hack a fan
If you have a fan available, you can place a large bowl of ice cubes in front of it and then turn it on. As the ice begin to melt the fan will start blowing a cool mist throughout the room.
Cotton bedsheets
Cotton sheets are more breathable than woven fabrics and blankets, which means they'll keep you cooler on hot summer nights.
Heatproof the foot of your bed
By placing a frozen bottle of water at the foot of your bed, you'll be able to remain at a comfortable level of warmth while you sleep, as the temperature of the frozen bottle helps keep your feet cool, which will lower your overall body temperature throughout the night.
Open your windows at nighttime
If you live in a place where the temperature drops at night, make good use of it! By opening the windows before going to bed, you can ensure that fresh air will enter your home keeping you cool until the morning.
Switch out those lightbulbs
If your light fixtures are incandescent, they emit 90% of their energy as heat. By contrast, compact fluorescents give off less heat and help keep your home cooler.
Fire Up the Grill
As anyone in the South can tell you, turning on the oven and cooking on the stove will heat up your home well after you’re done with supper. When you can, fire up the grill outside to prevent creating excess heat from cooking.
Unplug your devices
Electronic devices generate heat even when not in use. You can avoid this by unplugging unused appliances when you don't need them.