Living in an apartment without central air conditioning can be a trial of endurance during the summer months. Although many apartments have at least one AC unit, it’s usually found in the living room area and unable to sufficiently cool the entire residence. Fortunately, keeping your apartment comfortably cool all summer long doesn’t have to be a challenge. A few minor décor changes and common sense measures are all that are needed to turn your apartment into a refreshingly cool oasis from the brutal summertime heat. Apartment residents who are tired of sweating the summer away will be well-served by the following pointers.
Keep the Sun Out
In many apartments, the sun can serve as a fantastic source of natural light. However, during the sweltering summer months, the more sun you let in, the warmer your residence is likely to become. With this in mind, you should take measures to keep sunlight in your pad to a bare minimum, particularly during the sun’s peak hours. The simplest way to do this is to keep your curtains and/or blinds closed throughout the day.
If your current window dressings are unable to sufficiently block out the sun, thermal curtains may prove to be a worthwhile investment. Because they’re composed of thick thermal materials, these curtains are able to limit indoor sunlight to the barest possible minimum. Just make sure that you purchase the blackout variety, as not all thermal curtains are necessarily blackout curtains. You may also want to consider placing stick-on blackout screens over your windows, particularly the ones found in areas that receive a significant amount of sunlight. Keep in mind, however, that once these screens have been removed from their respective windows, they generally can’t be reattached.
Use Your Oven Sparingly
Oven use can make your kitchen – and any rooms in the immediate vicinity – warmer. Although this can be convenient during the winter months, it can prove extremely inconvenient throughout the summer. This is particularly true in the case of smaller apartments, where residual oven heat is likely to impact the entire residence.
As such, it’s recommended that you use your oven sparingly during the summer months. Granted, this is liable to prove much easier for some of us than others. If not using the oven simply isn’t an option for you, try to limit oven usage to the nighttime hours. Furthermore, limiting oven use doesn’t have to be a bad thing. By experimenting with tasty oven-free recipes, you’re liable to find some new favorite meals to add to your usual rotation. Additionally, if your complex or building allows outdoor grilling, this could be the perfect chance to hone your barbecuing skills.
Put Ceiling Fans to Good Use
Dependable ceiling fans are a welcome presence in any apartment. For starters, you can use them to circulate cool air from outside during the nighttime hours – provided, of course, you live in an area where the temperature drops overnight throughout the summer months. Secondly, you can enable your ceiling fans to produce a downward-flowing cool breeze by adjusting their blades to turn counterclockwise.
If the ceiling fans currently installed in your apartment leave a lot to be desired, talk to your landlord about having them replaced. Depending on your lease or rental agreement, replacing inadequate ceiling fans may be your responsibility, but more often than not, this will be a task that falls to the landlord. Additionally, since ceiling fans are available in an expansive array of sizes, you should have no trouble finding fans that are perfectly suited to your humble abode. For example, if your apartment doesn’t have a lot of ceiling space to spare, you should start searching for small ceiling fans.
Getting through a brutally hot summer in comfort can be an uphill battle, particularly if you live in an apartment that lacks air conditioning. Furthermore, even if you do have AC, it’s unlikely that a single unit will be able to provide effective cooling to your entire pad. However, this isn’t to say that you should resign yourself to a summer full of discomfort and sweatiness. Utilizing the measures discussed above can help apartment residents combat extreme heat and maintain comfortably cool homes all summer long.
