Designing for Warmer Summers – Part 2

Easy, low-cost ways to cool your home right now

While we work on the longer-term design fixes, here are a few free or near-free things worth doing this week to take the edge off the heat:

Close curtains and blinds on south and west-facing windows during the day, especially before you leave for work. Keeping the sun out is far more effective than trying to cool a room once it’s already hot.
Open windows early morning and late evening instead, when outside air is cooler than inside. Opening windows on opposite sides of the house creates a through-draught that clears warm air far faster than a single open window.
Point fans upwards from floor level. Warm air rises, so a fan on the floor pushes cooler air up and around the room rather than just recirculating hot air.
Switch off anything that generates heat unnecessarily this includes halogen bulbs, chargers left plugged in, tumble driers. Small heat sources all add up in a warm room.
A damp sheet hung in front of an open window, or bowls of water placed around a room, can genuinely take a couple of degrees off as the water evaporates.

None of these fix a home that overheats every summer but they can help make your home more comfortable.

If you find you’re reaching for these tricks year after year, that’s usually a sign it’s worth looking at the building itself.