Sleeping on the porch after a hot summer day was just out of necessity. The first floor of the farmhouse in 1940 had been in a sauna and sleeping in the upstairs bedroom not have been possible. Even after the sun went down, the floor seemed to get hotter. Let's explore some ways to look cool a house without air conditioning?
Now that I spend time figuring out how a house be more energy efficient, I think back to those hot summer days and wonder two things:
1 Where was the air conditioning?
I have several articles floating around this talk about air conditioning seen as an unnecessary device. That people have become soft, and if people would just treat the heat like a caveman, they would not need this energy wasting air conditioning.
Growing up in the North West farmhouse air conditioning was not expected. Sleeping on the porch a few times a year. The air conditioning was only for people, the city did not have the luck to live on a farm.
Where was the air conditioning? It was still in the Variety Store catalog.
2 Why has the floor so hot at night?
When you sleep on the porch and your 10 years, you do not really care why that is so hot upstairs. It is not something you try out before you sleep on the porch again to find himself. You like to sleep on the porch.
If the floor is too hot to sleep and you would rather not risk sleeping on the porch or elsewhere outside to consider, then, why the floor and the whole house is so hot in the evening is an important issue to resolve.
Air conditioners are fairly efficient devices, but they are not free to use. With the constant grinding of the A / C and the power bill rises by the hour, a person has a tendency to think why the floor is so hot and ways to cool a house.
Years later:
The old farmhouse has been moved to a new location, and I had a chance to look in the attic, while a portion of the roof was removed. Instead of the attic the dark, spooky cave is my childhood, it was a welcoming place to explore with plenty of natural light.
I was surprised to see that the attic had nothing in it. No old magazines, old socks or no toys, no old carcasses of rats or cats. Of course there was no insulation either, and I could see through the chimney chase from the attic to the basement significantly. This is a good place to start to answer the question of ways to cool a house.
The roof had no attic ventilation on the roof peak or the previous days. The only ventilation was provided by two gable vent, one at each end of the attic. The roof shingles were always a dark color.
I understand very well why now upstairs in the old house was so damn hot after a hot summer day. The attic collected the heat all day and then together with the down all evening.
How to keep the attic from overheating and ruining a good night sleep.
Here's 10 ways to cool a house before you add air conditioning. This will help your attempt to keep the house habitable in the evenings - try these upgrades and improvements.
1 Solar powered attic fan
A solar powered attic fan works very well and is a one time investment of $ 450 to $ 800. When installed on your roof, the self-sufficient solar unit hot air exhausted from the attic when the sun is to the solar system with enough light to direct sunlight to run the fan.
Best operation occurs when attic ventilation along the Eve is added and the roof top ventilation is limited.
2 Roof sprinkler
Well, it works on flat commercial buildings could work on homes. Everything the roof surface should be cool help you heat radiating into the attic. Unfortunately, this can increase your water bill significantly. Sprinkler and hose, $ 20th Water bill around $ 300.
3 Really big trees
Shade the roof and you have a cooler attic and home cooler. If you materialize to a two-story house and have only the movement to plant shade-giving trees can take this solution for a while. A sequoia 12 inches high, $ 4.95. Expect shades in 40 years.
4 Air sealing the attic
Especially before adding insulation - not add insulation in the attic without air sealing the air holes and penetrations first. Best method, good drop light, knee pads, and a can of Great Stuff spray foam insulation. Material costs, $ 30.
5 Add additional roof ventilation
Ways to cool a house begins with attic ventilation. Most older homes simply do not have enough attic ventilation. Should allow ventilation air flow from the eve of the summit. Take bird solid blocking and paste screened openings on the eve of. In made of metal or plastic roof window in the vicinity of the tip. When installing the new roof is the best time to add attic ventilation. Eve soffit vents, $ 8.50. Rooftop vents about $ 12
6 Adding insulation
Install insulation for air sealing. Insulation helps slow down the transfer of heat from the attic to the living space below. The more insulating the better. Maintain isolation by building codes in some of the colder parts of the country, insulating up to R-49 code. That's about 16 inches of insulation.
Do not worry, this could be a do-it-yourself project. The large building supply stores have the materials and equipment you need to get the job done.
Add insulation in colder climates too warm, add insulation in warmer climates to keep to keep a cool head. Add 12 inches of blown fiberglass insulation for about $ 1.25 to $ 1.75 per square foot of floor space.
7 Seal the knee wall ground connection.
Many older homes have two story floor attic knee. This is the space on the walls of one of the upper rooms, has reduced the headroom at the sides of the room. Do you know your standing upstairs and one must be careful to stand in the middle of the room to keep from bumping your head.
The problem is, the knee wall attic is often open into the space between the floor of the upstairs rooms and the ceiling of the ground floor rooms. This means that the hot air into the knee wall attic can drive right under the top bunk and help heat the whole house.
Stuff insulation in a plastic bag and a bag stuffing between each joist opening in the knee wall attic. This will keep the hot air from traveling between floor and ceiling. Sealing these openings joists is important during the warm season and the heating season. Plastic bags $ 0.50, insulation, $ 1.00 per bag.
8 Sealing chimney chase
Framed in older homes, the chimney balloon is often hunt open and allows heat and cold transfer between all floors, clear from the attic to the basement. For effective cooling and heating chase these corridors should be sealed. Spray foam insulation, $ 7.00 a can.
9 City fans in Upstairs Windows
Insert one or more major boxing fans in the upper windows. Install them so that they are blowing out the window. Close all other windows and exterior doors, but leave the internal doors open in all directions into the basement. Draw the cooler basement air up through the house and the upper windows.
Basements are always cool and may help cool the rest of the house. Hopefully you will not have a smelly oil tank stove in the basement! A good boxing fan about 30 $.
10th Installing solar panels
Usually when you install solar panels on the roof, the panels are on a shelf that the plates from the roof about 3 inches holds placed. The plates keep the sun's rays from hitting the roof surface and slow transfer of heat to the attic.
One of the advantages of solar panels on a hot day is the shade they provide the roof. Maybe not so good for shade than a large redwood, but it's still shadows.
Most power companies will help you to install solar panels. They know that when the weather is hot and start all these air conditioners, they need all the help they. Having ways to have to get to cool a house
I wish I still had the old farm house with the big porch and large yard. I had a few tricks ready for the hot summer evenings when the upstairs was so damn hot. After air sealing and insulating the attic, I would install a solar attic fan, install some solar panels on the roof, a few boxing fans in the upper windows and roll out my sleeping bag on the porch.
These are ways to cool a house, but you can still get a good sleep on the porch. Of course, these days it would take to improve air mattress than before.
Thank you for your visit, hope you a little cooler sleep tonight, do not forget to turn out the light ...
