While it may not be that hot in your area just yet, summer is just around the corner, and with it, likely plenty of heat to contend with. You want you and your family to be comfortable in your home no matter the external temperature, so it’s vital to think about ways to prepare your house effectively so it stays cooler and you keep your sanity!
Read on for five vital things to start doing right now to help summer 2022 be one you don’t look back on with a sigh.
Install Fans
If you don’t already have some cooling fans in your home, now is the time to get some. Buy ceiling fans with lights or without to put in bedrooms, living spaces, offices, patio areas, and other parts of the home where you want to move hot air around. These appliances can be especially beneficial at night when there are decent breezes, and the temperature has dropped, but we feel a little sticky and stifled.
Often, we turn on air conditioning units around the home when all we need in a room is a fan that will get the air flowing better. Alternatively, you may find during some summer days when it’s boiling that you don’t need to run your air conditioning for as long or as low if you have ceiling fans. These devices can be switched on simultaneously to move the hot air and cool spaces more quickly and for longer.
Utilize Air Conditioning
However, you likely will want to have some HVAC units, too. This investment is particularly crucial if you live somewhere that gets very hot or even humid during the summer months. Happily, though, these products aren’t anywhere near as expensive as they used to be. You can buy single, more affordable units for a living room or main bedroom, for instance, and get enough cooling to make your home comfortable with just one or two in total.
If you’re prepared to outlay some more money, you could opt for ducted air conditioning throughout your home or a mixture of different types. Now, most new appliances are much more eco-friendly than ever before, so they shouldn’t drain an excessive amount of power. Maintain them correctly as time goes on, though, by cleaning them and changing filters and the like. This makes them not only last longer but run more efficiently.
Add More Insulation
A task that isn’t the quickest or cheapest solution but can have significant long-term benefits is adding more insulation to your home. If you’re living in a new property built in the last few years, it should already contain plenty of insulation and give you all the help you need in this area. However, older homes generally never had much put in to start with, or the quality of the insulation at the time wasn’t anywhere as good as it is these days, which means the products may have fallen apart by now.
To keep your house cooler, search for suitably qualified contractors who can install excellent insulation for you or consider learning how to do the job yourself. Insulation blocks out a lot of heat and will mean you don’t have to use cooling units as much. Less air escapes from within rooms due to the special padding, plus hot air from outside is blocked, so there’s a two-fold advantage to having decent supplies in the roof and walls of your home.
Pay Attention to Heat-Generating Appliances
You may end up with a hotter-than-you’d-like property if you use many appliances that generate significant heat internally. For example, clothes dryers, hot water units, dishwashers, ovens, fridges, TVs, computers, monitors, and other electrical items create heat to run. You can reduce this issue, though, if you take a few steps.
Lower the thermostat on your hot water unit, turn off appliances whenever you’re not using them, wash clothes in cold water rather than hot and then dry them on the line. Plus, try to run machines later in the day when it’s not so hot, and maintain them well, especially things like fridges that get clogged coils, so they don’t have to work so hard to operate and won’t generate as much heat in turn.
Reduce Heat that Enters Via Windows
Don’t forget that quite a bit of sun comes in from the windows during the summer months, which will rapidly heat your home if you don’t take steps to address this source. It’s necessary to shade windows with blinds, curtains, or other drapery and keep panels closed when air conditioning units are on so hot air can’t keep entering.
If the windows at your place are old, it’s also worthwhile swapping them out for new products that will adequately seal air leaks and that come with double-paned glass, too.
Address these five critical areas in your property in the coming weeks, and you should find that this summer is a lot more comfortable for you and your family. Your power bills should reduce, too, which is a bonus.
