Keep 'er Cool

I left on business for about a month in mid-June; at the time we were still wearing sweaters in the evening, and I, with my extreme and new-found distaste for the cold, was still rocking wool socks while hiking! We’d managed to avoid lighting a fire since about mid-April since the house heats up so much during the day but I was worried that I would get back to early on-set of winter given how short our spring and complete lack of summer had been.

However, upon my return I was pleasantly surprised to find out that summer had finally arrived! And all the complications that go along with maintaining an off-the-grid house were in full-swing. Big concern: cooling the place.

Let me start by mentioning that I am originally from a region of the world where AC is a must-have! There is absolutely no possible way one will survive an August day in the deep south without it unless they are prepared to smother themselves alive between the heat and humidity, often pushing the heat index to well above 100 degrees. To suddenly live in a world where central AC is a commodity is one thing, but to be thrust into a world where AC isn’t an option, has been quite an adjustment. It’s strange to reminisce how use to the humming of an AC unit or a ceiling fan I’d become…

Our house appears on a south-facing slope so during the winter, we enjoy the luxury of the mid-afternoon sun heating up what the wood fire hasn’t already taken care of but in the summer, it gets a bit toasty. The first floor is buried into the side of the hill so we incur mild ranges in temperatures on the first floor, where the kitchen, living room, laundry room and bathroom are situated. The second floor, however, bears the brunt of the sun and can heat up pretty quickly! On both floors we’ve taken a passive approach primarily, having the windows situated on opposing sides of the floor plan, creating a nice cross draft. Often times, this is plenty of cross-ventilation for downstairs but on really warm days, we will use an old wall-mount fan that rotates through the open floor plan, creating a gentle breeze. It's not exactly energy star rated but in the world of "green" I think reusing counts just as much.

On the second floor, a warm afternoon outside can turn into a smoldering hotbox inside. Sometimes the cool breezes just aren’t enough so we are in the process of purchasing and installing some sun shades, which are currently on-sale at JCPenny. In theory, these shades will reduce the sun’s glare and UV rays reflected onto the house by an estimated 66%. (Again, we are in the process of trying these so no word on if they are effective or not.) The shades are transparent so you can still enjoy the scenery but hopefully, from a cooler window. The specific shades I am looking at are item # K736-6177, which I would use on the interior of my windows but there are also exterior, heavy duty options available. All the exterior shades that I have seen tend to be opaque and resemble a vinyl material but I have also seen bamboo and various knitted versions. The exterior shades tend to block UV rays by an estimated 20% increase to the interior shades, varying depending on the material used.

We’ve also considered trying an attic fan; the primary issues we have with the attic fan is it requires a certain depth to your roof (including the ceiling, installation and roof) which we do not have. They are tube like devices and I hear, pretty easy to install. A solar panel sits on your roof above the fan, powering it directly. Another concern that we have with the solar fan is placing panels directly onto our roof with snow being such a significant problem during the winter months – we’re unable to get up on our roof and clear the snow. A website to check out to find out a bit more information about solar attic fans is: http://www.solaratticfans.com/. I have done minimal exploration on this site and can only provide you with very basic details of how a solar fan should work if you’re interested.

I have found that using curtains year-round really reduces the indoor temperature range, making a HUGE difference during winter. We keep drapes on all our windows during the winter and in the summer months I switch to lighter weight curtains; when we’re not home or not in a specific room, we pull the drapes/curtains to help insulate. We’ve picked up second-hand drapes/curtains along the way and I hope to, or recruit some of my more sewing savvy friends, to make some that match for the house in preparation for winter.

That’s all for now!

Check back to found out how we’re combating another summer dilemma - drought!

Peace,
B’Bellie