With the increasingly hot weather and periods of extreme heat, it’s useful to have strategies for keeping our homes cool in summer. Hot homes are unpleasant, and several consecutive nights when the temperature stays above 18oC can be dangerous for vulnerable people. It is best to stop excess heat ever getting in your house in the first place! Here are some suggestions:
- Whenever it is cooler outside the home than inside, open the curtains and windows, creating a through draught if possible, or use a fan to direct the hot air outside. But as soon as the air outside a window feels hotter than inside, be sure to shut the window and curtains to keep the sunlight and heat outside. If out during the day, shut windows/curtains.
- As the day wears on it’s worth going round the house regularly, testing the air temp outside each open window – they will behave differently depending on N, S, E or W facing, and shading by trees and buildings etc.
- Unplug unused appliances – they generate heat even on standby.
- During the afternoon, start to open windows once the air outside any of them is cooler than inside and the sun is no longer shining in. Create a through draught/use fans to cool the house, especially bedrooms.
- The downstairs may be cooler than upstairs, so in very extreme night-time temperatures consider sleeping there if feasible.
If investing in home improvements, external blinds, awnings and shutters are much more effective at keeping the heat from the sun out of a house than internal curtains. Various options are on the market, including manually operated and motorised retractable external blinds and awnings, suitable for both Velux and regular windows (Note: some awnings may be subject to planning constraints, so do check first).