Home Too Hot? Here Are 10 Easy Ways To Cool It Naturally
There’s not much time left before summer in Roseville begins. When temperatures rise, you’ll want to find ways to keep your home cool. While using your air conditioner is the easiest and most effective way to cool your home, using it does come with higher utility bills. Fortunately, there are some great, natural methods to cool your home that, when used concurrently, can be nearly as effective as a central air conditioner. Check out this insider guide from your friends at C & C Heating & Air Conditioning to keep your home cool throughout the summer.
1. Shade Your Home
When trying to keep your home cool, it’s best to start from the outside. By planting some shade trees or large bushes, you can protect your home from some of the sun’s heat. Pay close attention to any westward-facing windows since these windows will receive large amounts of sunlight during the hottest part of the day. Since shade plants take a while to grow, you can also install shade sails in strategic locations around your home to produce the same effect.
2. Use a Fan
Fans are extremely effective in keeping your home comfortable. You can use ceiling fans to circulate air in warm rooms so that the air feels cooler on your skin. You can also place box fans in windows to help draw cool air in and eliminate warm air. You can even put a bowl of ice in front of a fan to create your own homemade air conditioner! A tip from the pros at C & C Heating & Air Conditioning is to only run a ceiling fan when you’re in the room with the fan since these fans only make the room feel cooler instead of actually lowering the temperature.
3. Protect Upper Levels
Since heat rises, it’s vital to protect the upper levels of your home against rising temperatures. One great way to do this is to keep the blinds in these upper rooms closed when the sun is shining on the windows. If possible, try not to use the upper rooms in your home during the hottest hours of the day since this could cause the warm air in these rooms to mix with the cooler air elsewhere in your home.
4. Open Windows at Night
One great thing about Michigan summers is that there are often comfortable temperatures at night. You can use these comfortable temperatures to your advantage by keeping upper-level windows open to allow your home to cool down overnight. You can even put a box fan in certain windows to help draw in more fresh, cool air. Just make sure to shut the windows as temperatures increase in the late morning hours so that you don’t allow excess warm air into your home.
5. Install an Attic Fan
Your attic is the hottest part of your home. Since all that separates your attic from your living space is some insulation and a piece of drywall, it’s important to keep your attic as cool as possible. To help keep your attic cool, it’s a good idea to install one or more attic fans. These devices help remove the hottest air in your attic and draw in fresh air. This process decreases the attic temperature so that no excess heat energy sits directly above your living space.
6. Don’t Cook Inside
Many of our employees at C & C Heating & Air Conditioning love grilling outside during the summer. That’s because cooking your food outdoors can help keep your home cool inside. Using your stove or oven will release a surprising amount of heat energy into your home, forcing you to turn on your air conditioner to keep things cool. By using your grill, you can enjoy the delicious flavor of grilled food without adding extra heat to your home.
7. Add Some Insulation
Adding insulation to your attic is an excellent way to regulate the temperature in your home. Insulation is especially helpful in the winter since it slows heat loss through the attic. In the summer, a thick layer of insulation can significantly reduce thermal transfer between your attic and living space so that heat from the attic doesn’t make the rest of your home uncomfortably warm. The best part is that when you do have to run your HVAC system, adequate insulation helps you maintain your desired temperature, thus reducing the load on your HVAC and leading to lower utility bills.
8. Avoid Warm Rooms
Despite your best temperature-proofing efforts, there are still likely to be certain rooms in your home that are warmer than the rest. If you can, avoid these rooms during the day. Try to keep the doors closed so that the warm air stays in the rooms you aren’t using instead of circulating throughout your entire home. In addition, staying out of warm rooms will help your body temperature stay cooler so that you are more comfortable when your air conditioner isn’t running.
9. Check Window and Door Frames
The last thing you want is for warm air to creep into your home when you’ve managed to get the interior to a comfortable temperature. One way to prevent this is to seal any cracks around your windows and doors. In most cases, caulk is enough to fill the cracks that develop between the structure of your home and the door and window frames. For larger cracks, you may need to use expanding foam sealant to avoid using multiple tubes of caulk. If you discover a lot of cracks around windows and doors in your home, you may want to schedule a home energy audit to ensure you catch every last space that could let warm air in.
10. Make Use of Your Bathroom Exhaust Fan
The exhaust fan in your bathroom helps to remove methane gas odors and water vapor to help make your bathroom more hospitable. Since this fan vents to the outside, you can also use it to push excess heat out of your bathroom. Just leave the fan running for a few hours during the hottest parts of the day and let the fan do the rest of the work. If the fan has adjustable speeds, it’s a good idea to set it to its lowest setting to avoid using too much electricity.
Keeping You Comfortable Throughout the Year
At C & C Heating & Air Conditioning, we take pride in the fact that we help our customers stay comfortable in all types of weather. That’s why we install air conditioners, maintain furnaces, and repair heat pumps. We also install ductless systems, clean and repair ducts, replace water heaters, install smart thermostats, and much more. For over 70 years, we’ve proudly served the people in Roseville and other Metro Detroit communities with unparalleled integrity and technical excellence. That’s why we’re rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and continually receive five-star customer reviews. To learn more about keeping your home cool this summer, contact us at C & C Heating & Air Conditioning today.
