Summertime is the best season to enjoy time with your family and friends and to disconnect a bit from work and responsibilities. Just keep in mind that to get the most out of it you want to have everything ready before the hottest days arrive.
As summer gets closer, the days get warmer and longer and the first thing you should do 10 or 15 days beforehand is to prepare your home for the hot weather and make it as comfortable as possible.
In this article, we will give you some key chores to do before the summers arrive.
Illumination
If your house is already getting hot, we recommend that you dim the lights to the lowest level so that the room temperature is cooler.
If you don’t have dimmers installed, it may be a good time for you to get ones because this will help you modify light to your needs. Also, by using dimmers you will notice how your electricity bill drops considerably.
Textiles
It’s time to change the home textiles if you haven’t already. Get rid of dense or dark upholstery, both indoors and outdoors, switch to light and breathable fabrics, such as cotton or linen, and combine with natural fibres.
A white environment is always perfect for summer decoration. It is a perfect colour for the light and feeling of freshness and well-being.
Air conditioner
Make sure your air conditioning is working properly, otherwise, it will be a disaster for you and your family to stand the heavy hot weather, even if it is just for a few days.
For this reason, you need to do proper aircon maintenance and clean the filters beforehand.
Remember that the air filter should be checked and cleaned regularly, at least once at the beginning of the hot season and once during it.
Also, remember that when the air conditioner takes away dust and dirt, it cools much less and consumes more electricity, so proper cleaning is important. Keep in mind that It is usually noticeable when the filter is not 100% good since the ability to cool your home drops significantly.
Appliances
Appliances emit heat, especially the oven, dishwasher, washing machine or dryer, so the idea is to use them in the hours of lower temperature. Also, it is a great idea to get highly efficient appliances to favour savings.
Also what you should do to avoid undesirable heat is turning off those appliances that nobody is using during the day, such as the television or the computer. Remember to disconnect them as well
On the other hand, do not sacrifice essential appliances like air conditioning, which we are pretty sure will be on almost at all times due to the high temperatures.
With efficient use of appliances can save up to 30% on the electricity bill during these months. Also, do not forget to maintenance is key for the appliances to work perfectly as dust on inlets and outlets worsen the performance of the equipment.
Protection
If you protect your house from the sun, you will be more comfortable, you will make the most out of the aircon and also you can have energy savings of up to 10%. For this to happen you need awnings and blinds that will make less heat enter and therefore you do not have to put the air conditioning so strong.
Also, this will help you to protect from exposure to ultraviolet rays and avoid discolouration of the furniture.
Blinds
You may be thinking that opening the windows is a good idea to cool down the house, however, windows can be responsible for up to 40% of heat gain in your home.
If you have windows that face the sun, close the curtains or blinds to keep the sun out from coming directly into the house. Also, by using shades you can lower the temperature up to 20 degrees.
Curtains
You can invest in neutral-colour, white curtains or in blackout curtains to reduce the heat up to 33%.
These curtains should be made from a heavy material like velvet as its purpose is to keep the sunlight from streaming into the home when it is not wanted.
Windows
Check your windows as they are the most vulnerable part of your home. This is because it is a part of the house that cause more energy losses. Aluminium windows with double glazing will be a good ally to achieve good thermal comfort in the house.
Also, different glasses with low thermal transmission and low solar factor or windows with thermal bridge break can be considered.
Also, be sure to close the windows when the aircon is turned on, not doing it is a common air conditioning mistake you should avoid.
Lights
Put an end to incandescent lights to reduce heat but also consumption, you must change all the bulbs in your house for LED light or low-consumption lamps.
Incandescent bulbs convert 90% of the energy they consume into heat and what you want to avoid this summer is excessive heat in your house.
Isolation
Improves the insulation of ceilings and walls because good insulation can reduce the energy consumed by air conditioners by more than 30%.
Keep in mind that in summer what you want to do is get the most out of your air conditioning and a good way to do it is by improving energy efficiency.
Garden
Finally on our list is the garden. Such an important place when it comes to summer because you and your family will be spending most of the time here.
But keep in mind that keeping your garden healthy during the summer months is one of the biggest challenges you may face, as excessive heat can be very damaging to your plants.
To avoid that remember to water the roots but never the leaves and add compost to your plants regularly. Also, you can use some useful tools and decorations to keep it vibrant at this time of the year.
Remember that organization and planning is key to make the most out of your time, in this case, organizing yourself and do these chores 10 to 15 days before summer will make it a more enjoyable experience.
