We all hope for sunny, warm weather when the summer months arrive. However, when they do, many of us very quickly wish they would go away. Many homes in Europe just aren’t prepared for long, hot summers. Things get sticky and uncomfortable, and that makes even the most simple of tasks a real hardship.
If you’re tossing and turning at night in unbearable heat, don’t install an expensive air conditioning just yet. Instead, try one of these tips for keeping your home cool during warm spells.
1. Use your doors effectively
During the day, warm air can travel around your home pretty quickly. Make sure the rooms that don’t face the sun have their doors kept closed during the day. At the same time, ensure rooms that do face the sun have their doors kept open. At night, open all of the internal doors in your house to keep the air circulating as much as possible.
2. Change your bedding
Changing your bedding to lighter, natural fibres is a great way of updating your bedroom decor for the summer — but it’s also a great way of keeping things cooler. Swap flannel, wool and fleece for cotton, which breathes far better. Also, consider buying buckwheat pillows, which have air in them — meaning they won’t hold onto warmth in the way ordinary pillows do.
3. Keep yourself cool
Wearing cotton clothing through the day is the best way of keeping your body cool. Also, pay attention to the high-pulse areas of your body, such as your neck and wrists; keep them cool, and you’re halfway there. Stay hydrated, and use towels soaked in ice water to cool off when things get too much.
4. Keep things cool in bed
A lot of people struggle to sleep in the summer because of warm, uncomfortable pillows. To help in this regard, use a “cooling pillow” to keep the temperature down. They stay in the fridge all day, and come out at night to keep things cool. To keep your body cool, turn to your hot water bottle. Just fill it with icy water, and it should make you feel a lot more comfortable during those long, sticky nights of summer.
5. Have more barbecues
While this might surprise you, it actually makes perfect sense. Using your kitchen oven and range will heat up your home even further. Keep the heat outside by firing up your grill for dinner every evening — weather permitting, of course.
6. Make a homemade air conditioning system
Instead of forking out thousands for an integrated air conditioning system, you can make yours with a fan and a bowl of iced water. The basic principle of any modern air conditioning system is the passing of air over a cold liquid. You can achieve the same effect by placing a bowl of iced water under a fan. You’ll see that a swirl of cold, misty air floats around your bedroom like magic.
7. Get rid of all incandescent lights
If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, now is the time to get rid of them. The average bulb wastes around 90 percent of the energy it uses — in the form of heat. Compact fluorescent bulbs, on the other hand, are far more efficient, meaning they don’t emit nearly as much heat.
8. Heat-proof your house
A well insulated house will help to keep the heat out in the summer, as well as the heat in during the winter. Also, consider having insulating window films fitted, which will act like blinds. Outside, consider placing trees and shrubs outside south-facing windows — shielding your home from the most intense summer sunshine.
Most of us look forward to long, lazy days filled with summer sunshine. However, when they finally do arrive, we struggle to function. By making a few adjustments to your home and your lifestyle, you should be able to stay cool enough to enjoy the good weather.