Staying cool in the Southwest is a challenge. Once summer hits, keeping your home comfortable can feel impossible. Keeping your air conditioners running will drive up your energy bill and carbon footprint.
If you’re looking for ways to cool your home down that don’t involve an AC, here are a few things to help.
Refresh Your Paint
One of the easiest ways to keep your home cool is to refresh your paint. As silly as it may sound, specific exterior paint colors will help reflect sun exposure and prevent heat from entering your home. For instance, painting your home white, beige, or light blue will bounce rays of sun away from your surfaces, while dark colors absorb the heat. Simply refreshing the paint color of your home will help cool it down when the days get long and hot.
Painting your home a light color doesn’t have to be boring. By adding colorful trim and landscaping, you can maximize style while keeping your house cool. Painting a home is a big job, especially in hot climates such as the American Southwest. If you need help, consider hiring house painters in Phoenix to make the job easier. By brightening up the exterior of your home through light-toned paint, you can keep things cool and reduce your cooling bill.
Reduce Direct Light
Another way to keep the interior of your home cool is by reducing the amount of direct light coming in from outside. One of the main selling points of modern homes is natural light. Unfortunately, high levels of direct sun streaming into your windows will heat up your space. A simple way to reduce the amount of heat coming from your windows and doors is to keep them covered with blinds or curtains. Reducing the amount of direct light pouring into your home will keep things cool when summer hits.
In addition to keeping your blinds closed, your landscaping can also affect how warm your home is. Adding shade trees around windows and doors can reduce your interior heat by several degrees and even help air conditioning units work better. Of course, it’s essential not to mask your home entirely with trees and shrubs to preserve the property value. However, adding trees or awnings to your windows will help reduce the amount of light getting in. Keeping direct light out of your home will provide for a cooler environment, even in the middle of summer.
Replace Light Bulbs
Finally, simply replacing your light bulbs with LEDs can help keep your home cool. Traditional bulbs give off heat that quickly fills a room. By making the switch to LED lights, you can reduce the heat in each room while also limiting your energy consumption. While these lightbulbs may be a few dollars more up front, they tend to last longer and save you money on your energy bill in the long run. By swapping your bulbs and turning unnecessary lights and appliances off, you can keep your home cool.
Overall, you don’t need to break the bank with your energy bill to keep your house cool. With these tips, you can stay comfortable mid-summer, even in the American Southwest.
Photo. S. Hermann, F. Richte