In recent years, you’ve hardly needed to book a getaway to Hawaii or the Costa del Sol to enjoy a scorching hot summer. That’s thanks to climate change – but, if you can’t stand the heat, you might have to do a little more than get out of the kitchen.
As for what you actually should do, there are a few myths about this – but, here, we’ll deconstruct some of the less well-founded pieces of advice and explain what action you ought to take.
Create a fan-assisted icy breeze
When your home is unbearably hot, one seemingly obvious remedy might be switching on a fan. However, as Saga warns, fans simply move air around rather than cool it. Fortunately, though, a fan can still help you to cool the air, provided you know what you’re doing.
Follow House Beautiful‘s advice to fill a mixing bowl with ice before positioning that bowl at an angle where a large fan’s breeze can catch the cool air resulting from the ice melting.
Strategically grow some plants
This can reduce the amount of warming light that unhelpfully hits your home’s sun-facing sides. “Keeping the sunlight out will prevent some 800 watts per square metre coming through the windows,” Roland Ennos of the UK-based University of Hull explains to New Scientist.
You could help yourself to shade those walls by growing plants outside the house. Ennos advocates wisteria and climbing roses up the south side and ivy for the building’s other sides.
Decorate your home in more white
Ever been enjoying stays in hot Mediterranean countries while wondering why so many of the villas you rent have been painted white? It’s because, as white reflects heat instead of absorbing it, the colour is ideal for encouraging coolness around a home.
You could paint your own home’s outside walls white or even just apply white paint to your roof instead. Attaching white curtains and blinds can further assist in reflecting heat.
Don’t leave electrics running when they aren’t in use
This is good for reducing both your energy bills and carbon footprint anyway, but it’s easy to underestimate how much of your home’s heat could be coming just from electrical appliances being left running. Hence, remind yourself to habitually switch off TVs and computers after using them.
As light bulbs contribute heat, too, you should substitute them for natural light when you can, as can often be straightforward when summer sunlight pours abundantly into your home.
Upgrade your roof’s current insulation
While you might already know how good roofing insulation is for stopping heat leaking from your home during the colder months, this type of insulation can also play a part in preventing heat from entering the building in the first place.
If the insulation already in your roof was fitted a while ago, there might be better, more technologically sophisticated alternatives available now. These could include TLX Gold and TLX Silver, either of which can be expertly fitted by roofers from the Washington-based company Findley Roofing & Building.