Everyone wants to have a comfortable summer. It’s the time of the year when you expect to endure the scorching heat of the sun and the substantial increase in energy costs. But while you’re prepping to make sure you don’t spend that much on air conditioning, you also need to ensure your home is ready for the season. Getting ready means you’re prepared to take on the heat by making sure your home is comfortable to live in.
If you wish to know our tips on how to prepare your home for the summer, continue reading.
First of all, let us talk about the components at home that need maintenance and inspection. See this set of tips from the website FCIHomes.net:
Have roof flashing, caulking, shingles inspected in preparation for the spring storms. Check for continuity of shingles on the planes of the roof and on the ridges. The areas with flashing should be tight and sealed with some type of approved roofing sealant applied.
Inspect caulking around windows, doors, and any openings into the home. Many times during the cold season windows and doors will slightly separate from the frame. This can be remedied with an application of external silicone caulking or sealant. Clear silicone may be used to seal under door thresholds and stained wood frames.
Change your ceiling fan’s direction. In the summer you want your ceiling fans to blow air down to give the room a breeze and make it feel cooler. This is the opposite of the winter and running a ceiling fan can make a room feel cooler while leaving your air conditioner setting a little higher.
Clean your dryer vents. A clogged dryer vent causes warm air to blow back in to the room where your dryer is located, eventually raising the temperature in the whole house. A simple cleaning can prevent this from happening and keep your home cooler.
Check insulation around windows and doors. Make sure that your door and windows are properly insulated to keep the warm air out. For door you want to make sure that the weather stripping is intact and providing a good seal around the door. For windows you want to check the seals around the windows to make sure there is no cracking, splitting, or peeling of the seals.
Repair HVAC filters regularly. Blocked air filters can reduce the efficiency of your air conditioning system’s ability to push and pull air through air registers. Also during spring and summer allergens are higher and if your family suffers from such symptoms you may want to replace your filter about every 60 days.
Run the bathroom exhaust fan during showers. During the summer, an air conditioner’s primary purpose is to replace warm, moist air with cool, dry air. A long, steamy shower can create muggy conditions in your bathroom that spills out into adjacent rooms and hallways when you open the bathroom door.
Switch to compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. This is a standard tip on any energy saving list, but it is important for reasons other than direct kilowatt savings. Compact fluorescent bulbs give off less heat than regular incandescent bulbs. CFL bulbs will cause less impact.
See the full version of this post here.
The tasks above need to be performed before summer comes. Once you perform them or have someone do them for you, you achieve two things: efficiency in the use of energy and utmost comfort. The greatest enemy you face during this season is the heat, so you want to make sure your air conditioning is working flawlessly.
Meanwhile, in this article titled “Prepare Your Home To Beat The Heat This Summer” from SafeElectricity.org, there are several tips that teach you how to stay cool while spending less.
- Update your insulation. This will keep cool air in your home and hot air out. You can add more insulation on top of existing insulation in your attic. For more information on the type of insulation you should use, visit EnergySavers.gov.
- Ventilate the attic. When the outside temperature is in the 90s, your attic can easily reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Adequately sized vents and/or an attic fan can help keep hot air from building up.
- Avoid unnecessary trips in and out of the house. Heat and humidity come in each time you open the door.
- Keep the sun out of your house. Close blinds, shades or draperies during the hottest part of the day. Consider planting fast-growing trees and shrubs near your home, but away from power lines, to provide shade.
See the other tips from this post by clicking the link.
Not a lot of homeowners, and maybe including you, realize how important the role insulation plays in keeping the home cool during the summer. If you have no ideal insulation in your attic, you are prone to wasting energy during the summer and even the winter. So it is best that you talk to a qualified professional or expert if you don’t have a clue about your home’s insulation.
Finally, here are some more tips to keep everything comfortable during the summer season, but this time, TheHouseDesigners.com gives you casual tips which are as important as the previous ones we talked about.
Getting your garage organized will make going to the park or spending a day at the beach a lot easier and enjoyable if you know where everything is. They’re plenty of storage solutions available in various price points at most home improvement, hardware and retail chains.
If you’re like most homeowners, you enjoy cooking out so make sure you have all your grilling essentials in order. Don’t wait for that first barbeque to find out your propane tank is empty.
After being unused during the cold months you will need to do some cleaning and preparation so you can enjoy your backyard swimming pool all summer long. Be sure to stock up on filters and chlorine.
Don’t let the setting sun end your time outside. By adding outdoor lighting you can turn your patio or deck into an outdoor room that you can enjoy. Look for energy efficient fixtures like solar and low voltage lights. For added ambience try lanterns, a wood-burning stove, fireplace or fire pit.
See this article “Prepare Your Home for Summer” by visiting the link.
Your summer does not necessarily have to be that awful if you know how to prepare your home for it. It does not always mean you have to go somewhere to escape the heat. You have a home that protects you from the summer heat and all you need to do is prep it.
The blog post Top Tips on How to Prepare Your Home for the Summer is available on Real Estate How
Sam Haggar's Blog 