Feature Photo Credit: Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
There is a particular point during a British summer when the sunshine stops feeling quite so charming. At first, we welcome it. Windows open, washing dries outside and evenings stretch beautifully into the night. Then, after a few days of sustained heat, something changes. The house starts holding onto the warmth.
Suddenly, the bedroom feels warmer at midnight than it did at lunchtime, the sofa becomes somewhere you’d rather not sit, opening every window somehow seems to make no difference at all. And I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced this feeling at some point during the long heatwaves of this particular British Summer…
As our summers become warmer, I’ve become increasingly interested in how we can keep our homes comfortable without automatically turning to air conditioning. After all, the majority of households in England don’t even have AC at home. Instead, there are many simpler ways to work with our homes and the weather outside. The interesting part is that staying cool isn’t always about creating cold air. Often, the most effective thing we can do is stop heat from entering our homes in the first place. Once we understand that, heatwaves will start to look a little different.
WHY DOES YOUR HOME GET SO HOT?
To understand how to cool a home, it helps to understand how it becomes hot. During sunny weather, heat enters our homes in several ways. Sunlight passes through windows and warms floors, furniture and walls. Those surfaces then release the heat back into the room. Meanwhile, roofs and external walls absorb warmth throughout the day. This is often referred to as solar heat gain.
Windows play a particularly important role because sunlight travels through glass very easily. A room with large windows can therefore behave a little like a greenhouse. The sunlight enters, warms the surfaces inside and gradually raises the temperature of the room.
However, the problem doesn’t necessarily disappear when the sun goes down. Buildings can store heat. Brick, concrete and other materials absorb warmth during the day and release it gradually afterwards. Consequently, a house may remain uncomfortable long after the outdoor temperature has started falling.
BRITISH HOMES WERE BUILT FOR A DIFFERENT PROBLEM
Here in the UK, we have another interesting challenge. Historically, British homes have needed to keep heat inside. For most of the year, that’s exactly what we want. Insulation, double glazing and draught proofing help us stay warmer while reducing the amount of energy needed for heating.
During prolonged hot weather, however, our priorities change. Suddenly, we’re trying to prevent excess heat from entering while finding ways to release the warmth already trapped inside. Fortunately, we can do quite a lot before reaching for mechanical cooling.
Start before your home gets hot
One of the most useful things I’ve learned about keeping a house cool is that prevention matters enormously. Once a room becomes very hot, cooling it down can take time. Therefore, the best strategy often begins in the morning, before the strongest sunshine reaches the windows.
Close curtains and blinds before the sun arrives
It can feel counterintuitive to close curtains on a beautiful summer’s day. I certainly understand the temptation to let every bit of sunlight in. However, direct sunlight brings heat with it.
Closing curtains or blinds before the sun reaches a window can reduce the amount of heat entering the room. This is especially helpful for windows that receive strong afternoon and evening sunshine. Light-coloured window coverings can also help because they reflect more sunlight than darker materials.
Meanwhile, external shading can be even more effective. Shutters, awnings and external blinds intercept sunlight before it reaches the glass. Trees and climbing plants can provide natural shade too. In each case, the principle remains wonderfully simple: stop some of the heat before it enters.
Know when to open your windows
This is probably the summer habit I find most fascinating. When we’re hot, our instinct is usually to open every window immediately. Sometimes that’s exactly the right thing to do.
At other times, we’re simply inviting hotter air inside. If the temperature outside is significantly higher than the temperature indoors, opening windows can warm the house rather than cool it. Instead, closing windows during the hottest part of the day can help preserve cooler indoor air. Then, once the outdoor temperature drops in the evening, open them again.
Make the most of cooler mornings and evenings
Early morning can be particularly useful. Open windows on different sides of your home and allow cooler air to move through the building. Then, before the day becomes hotter, close the windows and draw blinds or curtains where direct sunlight will hit.
In the evening, reverse the process. As soon as the outdoor temperature becomes cooler than the temperature indoors, open things up again. It’s a small change in routine, but it can make a surprisingly noticeable difference.
Create a cross-breeze
Opening one window allows some air movement. Opening windows on opposite sides of a room or building can create something much more useful: cross-ventilation.
Air enters from one side and leaves through another, helping move warmer indoor air out of the building. If you live across several floors, you can also use the natural movement of warm air to your advantage. Heat rises, so opening suitable windows upstairs can help warmer air escape while cooler air enters lower down.
Of course, every home has a different layout. Therefore, a little experimentation helps. Notice which windows catch the breeze and which rooms stay coolest, then use those patterns rather than fighting against them.
Make your fan work harder
I love a fan during summer, but it’s worth remembering what a fan actually does. Most household fans don’t significantly lower the temperature of a room. Instead, they move air across our skin. That movement helps sweat evaporate, which makes us feel cooler. Therefore, leaving a fan running in an empty room usually achieves very little. Use it where you are instead.
Use fans to move hot air out
Fans can also support ventilation. When the air outside becomes cooler in the evening, you can position a fan near an open window to help move warm air towards the outside. Meanwhile, opening another window elsewhere gives cooler air somewhere to enter.
You can also place a fan near a cooler part of the house and use it to encourage air towards a warmer room. Again, the idea isn’t necessarily to manufacture cold air, it’s to help existing air move more effectively.
Look at what's creating heat inside
Sometimes we’re so focused on the temperature outdoors that we forget we’re producing heat indoors too. Ovens and hobs are obvious examples. However, tumble dryers, dishwashers, computers and other electrical appliances can also release warmth. Individually, the effect might feel small. During a hot day, though, every little bit adds up.
Change the rhythm of the kitchen
This is one area where I think we can learn a lot from countries that regularly experience hotter summers. Instead of cooking a large meal in the oven at the hottest point of the afternoon, change the rhythm of the day.
Prepare food earlier in the morning, use the hob for shorter periods, cook outdoors if you already have a barbecue or suitable outdoor cooking space. Alternatively, embrace the foods that summer does particularly well. Salads, cold soups, fresh fruit, grains, dips, breads and simple plates of vegetables can all become part of a lighter summer way of eating.
There is something rather lovely about allowing our food to change with the weather instead of expecting the kitchen to function exactly as it does in December.
Run appliances later
The same principle applies elsewhere. If possible, run dishwashers, washing machines and other heat-producing appliances during cooler parts of the day. Then switch off electronics you’re not using rather than leaving everything running unnecessarily.
Small changes won’t turn a hot house into a refrigerator. Together, however, they can stop us from adding unnecessary heat to an already warm space.
Cool the person, not the entire house
And now, to my top tip. We often think we need to cool an entire room to feel comfortable. But actually, our bodies have their own cooling system. Sweating allows heat to leave the body through evaporation. That’s why moving air from a fan can feel so refreshing even when the room temperature hasn’t changed. So, instead of focusing entirely on the house, think about what you’re wearing and doing too.
Choose loose, lightweight clothing. Natural, breathable fabrics can feel particularly comfortable in hot weather. A cool or lukewarm shower can also feel wonderfully refreshing. Meanwhile, staying hydrated supports the body’s natural ability to regulate temperature. Sometimes comfort comes from changing the immediate environment around us rather than trying to control every degree on the thermostat.
A DIFFERENT WAY OF LIVING WITH OUR NEW SUMMER TEMPERATURES
Writing this article has made me realise that many of the best ways to stay cool aren’t really tricks at all, but simple adaptations. There are places around the world where these habits have shaped daily life for generations. Homes, meals and routines developed around the climate rather than in opposition to it.
Modern life has made us incredibly good at controlling our surroundings. We heat buildings when they’re cold and cool them when they’re hot. We can buy strawberries in winter and cook a roast dinner during a heatwave if we really want to. There is, of course, enormous comfort in that.
Yet sometimes I wonder whether we’ve become so accustomed to controlling the seasons that we’ve forgotten how to live alongside them.
Maybe keeping cool doesn’t always begin with creating colder air. Maybe it begins with paying attention, watching where the sunlight falls, noticing when the breeze changes, learning which rooms stay coolest, opening the house when the evening arrives and protecting it when the afternoon sun becomes intense. Then adjusting our routines accordingly. There is something surprisingly intuitive about that way of living.