13 aha! ideas for keeping your home cool this summer

Keeping your home cool in the summer can be a challenge at best. Here we’ve compiled 13 of the best tips for how to make your house cooler and help keep your family cool when the temperature rises.

If you have windows that receive direct sunlight at any part of the day, you’ll benefit from keeping the blinds closed or curtains drawn for at least the sunniest part of the day. For rooms on lower floors, try turning your blinds upwards to prevent rays (and heat) from sneaking through.

With roughly 30% of ambient heat coming into your home through the windows, one quick and easy fix to keep your home cool is to apply a reflective, heat-reducing window film to regulate the temperature. As a bonus, it even works in reverse, keeping more warm air inside during the winter months – and it’s quick and easy to install!

Installing a programmable thermostat can help keep your home cool and save a bundle on energy costs. If you’re out of the house all day, your thermostat can be programmed to reduce the temperature a few degrees before you come home, so when you arrive it’s comfortably cool without wasting energy all day.

With its easy plug-in-and-power-on design, installing a duct booster fan can draw more cool air into a room that’s too hot. Simply choose the design that’s right for you, place it in the register vent and plug it in for a quick and easy way to cool your space.

It’s no secret that moving air makes you feel cooler. By installing ceiling fans, you can create air movement that will help you cool down while avoiding the cost of dropping the thermostat temperature any further. In summer months, run your ceiling fan counter clockwise to draw the cooler air upwards. Additionally, you can run your bathroom exhaust fans during the summer months which will help expel the rising warm air to the exterior of your home.

This is how to install a bathroom exhaust fan in a flash.

A portable air conditioning unit is an excellent solution for cooling the most used areas of your home – and because they can easily be moved from room to room, you can be sure to have cool air wherever you need it most. Another alternative to keeping your home cool is a seasonal window unit which can be installed in a main room to get the most bang for your cooling buck.

Popular in Europe, a mini-split air conditioner is a mix between a built-in unit and a wall unit, providing whisper quiet operation and a small footprint so it won’t detract from your decor. A mini-split system can be mounted anywhere and is an economical alternative for ductless homes.

Though the payback on this may take a few seasons, planting shade trees and foliage around your home can help stop heat from seeping in through the windows and roof – and the result is pretty too!

Take advantage of those breezy summer evenings and open your windows at night to promote a cross-breeze that will help you and your family sleep better. The cooler air will circulate all night, allowing you to start fresh with a cool home in the morning.

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