How to Prepare your House for the Summer Heat

When summer is approaching, the stress that faces most homeowners is dealing with high energy bills from trying to cool the house. We’re here to help.

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There are several measures to have in place as summer approaches, while on a budget or not. In this article, we have compiled some major tips to allow you to enjoy your summer with low energy bills. So, keep reading and have an idea on how to keep those hefty power bills at bay.

1. Upgrade your insulation

A sound insulation helps maintain cold air in the house and keep hot air out. As such, you should take some time to install new insulation. Once you take such a measure, you can be sure to prevent hot air from the outside heating your attic thereby raising the overall temperatures in the house.

2. Maintain your attic cool

In a house, the place that heats up fast is the loft. This room can accumulate a lot of hot air, considering that it is on the highest point, while the hot air in the house accumulates there. So, begin by ventilating the attic as well as installing an attic fan. This will draw out the warm temperatures, thereby enabling you to maintain the cool temperatures in your home.

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3. Keep your air conditioner ready

Here, you will need to check if your air conditioner is functioning as expected or if you need to replace your air conditioner. It’s so important to maintain your HVAC to ensure it’s functioning at its best, all year long. In this step, begin by switching off the power. On the exterior air conditioner unit, remove the debris, clean and straighten up the fins and clean the area around it. What’s more, vacuum and replace the removable filters in the internal air conditioner. Once done and you still note that your heating and ventilation unit is not functioning as expected, consider getting a professional from Air Duct Cleaning Denver.

4. Utilize a programmable thermostat

A programmable thermostat will help you save a lot of energy bills. Once you set it to either warm or cool your house during the preferred time, you can be sure that you will save much. You can consider setting it in at a higher temperature when you are out of the house, and a lower temperature in some minutes before you come back. This will enable your air conditioner only to cool the room a few minutes before you get back to the house.

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5. Install awnings

Another way to stay prepared for summer is to install awnings in the windows exposed to direct sunlight. Such structures will lower the intensity of the warm rays that get to your house thereby reducing the need to cool the temperatures in the room.

6. Get a ceiling fan

Rather than just using an air conditioner to cool your house, install a ceiling fan. You can consider using this during the scorching days so that it only cools the space you are occupying.

Other tips:

Apart from installing and repairing the units that aid in making your home energy efficient, there are other measures that you can adopt, and these do not call spendings. So, read on to have an idea of these tips too.

Let fresh air in

One of the natural ways to cool and improve your home’s air quality during a normal day is to open the door and windows to allow cold air in. This method will not raise your energy bills, and at the same time, you will benefit from a cooling effect. However, make sure that you close these openings once you have your heating and ventilation system running to avoid raising the energy bills caused by overworking of the air conditioner.

Try to stay put

By this, I mean, try to avoid unnecessary trips in and out of the house. If you want to remain in the house, do that and avoid leaving and coming back into the house regularly. The reason behind this is to avoid letting heat and humidity in, each time you open the door. Once you allow your door to remain closed most of the time, you will let your air conditioner run undistracted meaning that it will not overwork to adapt to the new temperatures.

Keep the sun out

What does this mean? Try as much as you can to ensure that the hot rays of the sun do not get their way through your house. You can do this by closing the blinds or coming up with a method to bring a shade around your house. Consider planting fast growing plants so that once summer strikes in, they can provide enough shade.

No heating-producing devices near the thermostat

Set this as a rule that every household member should follow. The reason behind this is that your thermostat is the one that controls the working of heating and cooling devices. As such, if you let the heat be produced near it, the air conditioner will begin working, trying to cool down the heat that doesn’t exist. So, ensure that your lamps, iron boxes, cookers and other heat emitting devices are far away from the thermostat.

You do not have to spend your hard-earned money paying for amenities that you can save on. As such, apply the tips covered above as they will help you maintain an energy efficient home during the summer season.