Old homes are not necessarily known for their climate control, leaking both warm and cool air from their tired frames. There’s only so much weatherizing and sealing of windows you can do, but eventually the heat just gets in during the summer. And if the home doesn’t have central air conditioning, a swamp cooler isn’t going to cool off the entire home. In fact, it may struggle to cool down just one room alone. Fortunately, there are still some old, natural ways to reduce the temperature in your home.

Dehumidify

If you can, get a dehumidifier for your home. These units essentially pull the moisture out of the ambient air inside your home. When that occurs, you’re able to cool down naturally faster because your body is not fighting the surrounding air to cool off.

Fend off the Sunlight

The insulation in your walls and roof will still do a good job of fending off outside heat, however, your windows are literally an open barn door for sunlight to barge in. And when it does, the sun heats up the inside of your home. Window shading, blinds and curtains combined, provide a powerful barrier in keeping the outside heat out. And that reduces your internal temperature considerably.

Turn Off the Lights

Your house lightbulbs are little heat generators. While it makes sense to use them when you’re in the room, don’t leave the lights on if you leave. Those bulbs keep generating heat even when you’re gone, adding a few degrees to the room. Combined, they raise your home temperature, heating up the air around them. If you need to have light, switch your bulbs to the newer, energy-saving type. They give off far less heat and still produce plenty of light.

Stop Using Appliances During the Day

Your dishwasher, washer and dryer all generate an incredible amount of heat that spreads in your home. Save that function for nighttime when it’s a lot cooler to operate. Otherwise, you’re negating any effort to cool your house by generating more hot air and humidity.

Use That Barbecue, a Lot

One of the biggest heat generators comes from the kitchen: your cooking. Even with a vent, that stove or range is giving off a lot of ambient heat that takes a while to cool down. In the meantime, your downstairs just heated up 10 to 15 degrees. Use your barbecue and cook outside during hot days instead. You keep the heat outside and the well-cooked food inside on your dinner table. Besides, you may find a whole new set of recipes for cooking on a grill, which is different from stove food.

Vent Your House

In the evening in most locations, the wind kicks up with cooler air. Open your home windows and vent out the house’s heat. It will cool down tremendously. In fact, many older homes were built specifically so air would flow better through the home, positioned for local wind patterns. Combined with your ceiling fans, the wind will push heat out for a cooler house by nighttime. As a triple effect, point your box fans outward at the window, and you push hot air out.

If you want to find out more about what else you can do to cool things down, check out the Knight’s Mechanical website or contact us for more information.

Photo From: Depositiphotos