A Guide on Keeping Your Home Cool During the Summer
Winter seemingly came and left in the blink of an eye. Gone are the bone-chilling days of darkness, occasional snowstorms, and an ever-pressing need to cozy up underneath a mountain of blankets. Yes, summer fast approaches, and with that turning of the seasons will come a whole new circus of you needing to find effective and inventive ways to keep your home cool.
Within that desire to keep your home cool when that blazing summer sun turns things up a notch will also be a motivation to not completely break your bank. The whole process of cooling down a home can end up being a pricey one if you don’t approach it with a bit of strategy. All that air conditioning can run up quite the hefty tab. So, with that being said, let’s take a look at some effective ways that you can keep your home nice and chill during the balmy summer months.
1. Have your cooling unit inspected.
We can’t emphasize the value of having a paid professional HVAC inspector come out to your home to ensure that everything is running properly. An HVAC service might even be something that you’re able to get your landlord to fund. The point is that the last thing you want to deal with as a homeowner is a faulty HVAC system when the summer heat has come into town. So take a look at your options. For example, if you’re located in Albuquerque, search online for heating and cooling in Albuquerque. One visit from an HVAC inspector could be the difference between your home being genuinely pleasant or absolutely miserable.
2. Adjust your ceiling fans.
When your home is overwhelmed by unforgiving waves of summer heat and your air conditioning isn’t able to offset all that heat by itself, it can be highly beneficial to welcome some fans into the party. The key thing to remember about those fans though is that you want them to rotate counter-clockwise. When you have your fans rotating counterclockwise that ensures that they push the cold air down. This can literally make a world of a difference. Plus, having your fans on and doing their thing while you also have your air conditioning working will make for a speedier process of cooling the whole heat chamber that is your home, down.
3. Make sure you sip on cold drinks.
This might seem like common sense, but many of us are so conditioned to drink down those warm, caffeinated drinks as we cruise through our day-to-day obligations that we totally overlook the value of putting cold drinks into our bodies. On top of that, it’s crucial to stay hydrated during the hot summer months.
Your best bet for being properly hydrated is to invest in a bottled water dispenser. The water cooler should become your new best friend. It wouldn’t hurt to invest in a nice water bottle while you’re at it. It’ll spare you from the process of having to continually toss out empty bottles. The more mindful you’re able to be about proper hydration, the easier time your body will have when it comes to weathering hotter temperatures.
4. Keep those blinds down.
We get it. It’s all too tempting to want to keep the blinds up when the radiant blue sky is out and the sun’s rays light up the world is nothing short of a heavenly glow. The sunlight is truly something magical. But, when you let that sunshine into your home, you allow it to significantly warm up your living space. So, make a habit out of keeping those blinds down on the north and west-facing windows. You can also consider investing in some blackout curtains which are great for offsetting the fiery gaze of the summer sun.
5. Take cold showers.
Naturally, many of us have a mindset that gravitates towards warm and therapeutic showers. Coldwater can feel so harsh. The thing is that you’re only making it that much harder for your body to cool down when you decide to soak it in hot water. You don’t have to fully commit to a cold shower though. You could finish your warm shower with some cold water at the end. That step alone might be enough to cool you down for a while. Plus, cold showers have been shown to provide some pretty exciting health benefits like increased clarity and energy. So, there’s always that to consider if you need extra motivation.
We’ve provided a solid, comprehensive rundown of what boxes you need to check off to ensure that your home is able to stay nice and cool when the summer heat is out in full force. Just make sure to keep calm and level-headed, and rest assured that you have all the resources you could need available to do a great job at keeping your home cool during the summer.