How to Keep a House Cool in Summer: 9 Tips & Tricks

You’ve tried everything and you just don’t know how to keep your house cool. We’ve all spent those summer days, drenched in sweat, wondering how we’re supposed to keep the house cool without spending a fortune on air conditioning. Feeling the heat already? We all know what we’re in for with such hot temperatures. It can be too hot to relax at home, too hot to take a nap, and even too hot to enjoy a cold beverage in comfort. How can we get back to that?

Ideally, you will want to spend the summer in an air-conditioned room, where you can sit back, relax, and soak in the coolness of your home. But we know that running the AC unit all the time gets pricey. There are a few home hacks that can keep the temperature down during the air conditioner’s down-time.

If you’re dreading the peak summer temperatures or wondering how you’re going to handle the next heat wave, here’s some seriously helpful tips to help keep the house cool, without spending a small fortune on your electricity bill!

1. Use an air conditioner

Use an air conditioner to keep a house cool in summer.

While this might sound like the most obvious solution, installing an air conditioner in your home is your best bet if you don’t have one yet. You don’t need to break the bank on a big fancy AC unit. A small simple air conditioner unit will do wonders in keeping your house cool during the hot summer months, especially in specific rooms. There are many different types of air conditioners with various features available.

Thanks to modern science, there are even portable air conditioners that allow you to walk around your house and remain cool. These portable ACs have wheels that make transportation effortless as you travel from room to room. An advantage of portable air conditioners is that you get to cool only one specific room, instead of investing energy and money into cooling the entire house.

2. Give your AC unit some TLC

Maintain your air conditioner to keep a house cool in summer.

Sometimes, the reason why it is extremely hot in your house may be as simple as an inefficient cooling machine. We can help to maintain your air conditioner and repair it if necessary. You wouldn’t want to find the problem in the middle of the night.

3. FAN-tastic tips

Use an electric fan to keep a house cool in summer.

Electric fans may not be as effective as an air conditioning system, but they are handy and extremely easy to set up. They’re classic: plug in the machine, turn on the fan, and walk slowly around the front of the fan as it oscillates keeping your face directly in the airstream. We’ve all done it, and it works.

You can get creative with your electric fan and enhance it with a bowl of ice. Sit the bowl in front of the fan, and as the ice evaporates, it creates a cool mist. Immediate arctic breeze!

4. Get cozy in cotton sheets

Use cotton sheets to keep a house cool in summer.

Silk sheets are the worst type to sleep in during the hot weather, and we won’t even mention flannel. If you’re looking for a better, more breathable fabric, try good old 100% cotton sheets. Go an extra step and try light coloured cotton sheets, as they absorb less light (and therefore heat) and are a little cooler to sleep in. This works just fine with tip 6 as well!

5. Draw the shades

Keep your blinds and curtains shut for a cool house in summer.

During a lovely summer day, the first thing we tend to do is to open the curtains and allow the sunshine to seep in. This is super beautiful, yes, but by doing this, you’re allowing the house to absorb heat. This consequently causes a greenhouse effect right in your home. The heat from windows contributes up to 30% of the heat absorbed into your house.

To keep the heat outside, close your blinds and curtains, or if you have plants or basking-loving cats, lower your blinds. It’s also advisable to use thick, dark curtains with a reflective backing of colours (such as red, orange and yellow) for an even cooler effect.

6. Fill up the freezer!

Stock your freezer to keep a house cool in summer.

Our freezers can be super underappreciated, especially in the summer. While they’re the home of popsicles, freezies and a quick momentary face chiller, they can be used for so much more.

Next time you’re dreading a hot sweaty sleep, try placing your sheets in a plastic bag and put them in a freezer for a few minutes before going to bed! Boom. Easy cool sheets. It may not be a permanent solution, but it will give you a well-deserved break from the heat!

7. Cook in the great outdoors

Use your outdoor space for cooking to keep a house cool in summer.

Nothing raises temperatures in your house like a hot oven baking some cake, stove slow-roasting poultry or even a toaster oven crisping up some fries. Instead of staying indoors and getting cooked along with your food, use the outdoor spaces you have to dispense some of that heat. Summer means barbeque, and if you don’t have one, tabletop grills are easy to find, and can do just as good a job!

8. Heads up, insulate your attic

Insulate your attic to keep a house cool in summer.

You might think that insulating anything for the summer would be a bad idea, keeping the heat in and all? A well-insulated attic actually inhibits the transfer of heat between the attic and your living space during summer. It also prevents warm air from getting into your attic during winter. With this type of extra forethought and care can reflect in the value of your home if you sell in the future.

9. Think outside the house

Manage the exterior to keep a house cool in summer.

It’s not something you usually think about, maintaining the outside of our home. Managing certain parts of the house can help immensely with keeping things cool. The roof, walls and other insulating areas protect from weather of all sorts. By using different materials, like sheet metal, you can reflect heat and light away. Easy first step to making your home a cooler place!

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