Feeling comfortable in your home is absolutely essential. After all, this is your sanctuary. It’s the place where you relax, entertain guests, and where you spend the majority of your time. One issue that many people struggle with in their homes is keeping them at a constant temperature. Maintaining a comfortable temperature in your home can often feel like an endless battle. You may struggle to keep your home warm enough in winter. However, for many people, the biggest battle comes when the summer heat hits. Amid the scorching temperatures of summer, it can be especially challenging to stay cool in your home. This often makes for an uncomfortable few months. 

Summer should be a time of year to truly enjoy your home. Spending time in the backyard, cooling off in the pool, and enjoying those warm evenings on the porch can make it the perfect opportunity to make memories with your family and friends. However, with summers seeming to get hotter each year, it’s wise to take action to minimize the impact the heat will have on your home. The good news is there are many ways you can prep your home for the summer temperatures and ensure maximum comfort when the heat hits. Here are some of the ways you can prep your home for those scorching summer temperatures:

Check and Service Your HVAC System

No one wants their air conditioning to give up at the hottest time of the year. To prevent this from happening, it’s wise to have your HVAC system serviced and maintained regularly. 

Scheduling regular services is essential for a few reasons. Firstly, if there’s an issue with your air conditioning, you want to find out about it now. This gives you plenty of time to get an air conditioner repair organized so that the problem is fixed well before the summertime arrives. Making repairs as soon as an issue is detected also prevents it from escalating into a much bigger and more expensive problem.

Air conditioner servicing is also crucial to keep your HVAC running smoothly and efficiently. This involves having the ducts and the filters cleaned regularly. This will make it easier for your HVAC to keep your home at a constant temperature. When your air conditioning is running efficiently, it requires less energy to maintain your chosen temperature, so it should cost you less to use it. 

Prepare Your Windows

Your windows play a major role in keeping your home cool in summer and warm in the winter. So, dedicating some time to prepare your windows ahead of the summer is a really wise idea. The cool air your air conditioning has worked hard to produce is easily lost through gaps around your windows and doors. You can fix this issue by using caulk to seal any gaps, or by renewing your window and door weather strips to stop your cool air from escaping. 

If you don’t already have shades or drapes on your windows, now is a good time to add them. Hanging drapes or shades on your windows is more than just an interior décor choice, it can also help to block the sun’s rays from entering through your windows and causing your rooms to heat up. This is a simple but really effective way to keep the heat out of your home. Of course you can always pull them open when you want to enjoy the summer sunshine.

Improve Your Insulation

Many people think of insulation as a way to keep the cold out of their homes. However, having adequate insulation is also vital to keep your home cool in the summer. A well-insulated home keeps the outside temperature from entering the building. The insulation also stops the cold air your HVAC system generates from being lost through your roof and walls. This means you keep the sun’s heat out of the house, and the cool air from your air conditioning system remains in your home.

So, checking your home’s insulation may be worthwhile if you think there is room for improvement. In addition to helping to keep your home cooler, improving its insulation can also help to boost its R-value. Having your home insulated to achieve the correct R-Value for your location can help you reduce your heating and cooling costs, and make your home more appealing to prospective buyers if you decide to sell it in the future.

Utilize Cool Areas of Your Home

Every home has some rooms that are cooler than others. These are usually the rooms that receive the most shade or those with few windows. One area of the house that’s often the coolest is the basement. Whether you have a basement or other rooms in the home that are considerably cooler than others, it’s wise to make the best use of this space over the summer. 

Ensuring the coolest parts of your house have everything you need to spend plenty of time in them is a great way to beat the heat. Equipping these rooms so that the family can relax, study, play, etc. while staying cool will provide a comfortable haven for you all to use on the hottest days of the year.

Refresh Your Interior Décor

The winter is all about making everything as cozy as possible and ensuring you feel comfortable snuggled up at home away from the cold. In the winter, everyone craves the comfort and extra warmth of blankets, throws, extra pillows, and soft rugs beneath their feet. However, when a heat wave hits, all of these extra accessories are the last thing you want to be around when you’re trying to stay cool. 

Switching up your interior décor for the summer is an excellent way to feel more comfortable when you’re trying to relax at home. Removing thick and heavy throws, cutting down on the number of pillows you have on your couch, and even rolling up the rugs if you want to feel the cool floor under foot, are all small ways to help your home feel cooler through summer. You can always bring all these items back out and start using them again when temperatures finally drop and the fall arrives.

Avoid Adding Uneccesary Extra Heat to Your Home

Preparing your home for summer involves lots of steps designed to keep the heat from entering your home. However, you also need to prevent your home from heating up from the inside. Cooking large meals that involve you keeping the oven on for extended periods can significantly raise the heat in your home, and leave you feeling uncomfortably warm if you’re the one doing the cooking. 

Using the stove and oven may be an obvious way for your home to become even hotter on a summer’s day. One thing you may not have considered is your lighting choices. Light bulbs often give off heat, so if you have several light fixtures or lamps in your room, they could be generating a reasonable amount of heat between them. Using candles can also add to the warmth in your home, so you may choose to skip lighting these for now. Switching your standard incandescent light bulbs for LED light bulbs will prevent lighting causing extra heat in your home. LED light bulbs are also offer greater energy efficiency, so they’ll also help you reduce the cost of powering your home. 

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Install Some Shade

While most efforts to prepare your home for the summer happen inside your property, it’s important not to forget about the outside. Spending extended periods of time outdoors when the heat is intense is never a good idea. However, there may be times when the heat drops off a little and you want to step outside. 

Installing areas of shade in your backyard is an excellent way to keep parts of your garden cooler. An awning attached to the back of your house can provide the dual benefit of providing an area of shade where you can sit outside, while also helping to keep the sun off your windows so the inside of your home stays cooler. This can make a big difference to your comfort levels both inside and outside of your home.

Making time to ensure your home will be cool throughout the summer is essential for you and your family to live there comfortably throughout a heat wave. Living in a home that’s too hot can have a significant impact on your health and well-being. So, making your summer preparations a priority is a must. Incorporating tasks such as replacing window and door weather strips, and having your HVAC system serviced a regular part of your home’s maintenance schedule will make it so much easier for you to keep your home running efficiently and will ensure it’s a comfortable place to live throughout the entire year.