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Invest in some quality roller blinds or window coverings! Some can be pricey, but it will help you save on A/C bills.
Gwen McAuley (gmcauley at hhmedia.com)
You will benefit by doing many things, including insulation, but why don't you go for an energy audit of your house and find out what will work best for you and how much government money can be obtained.
The audit will look at windows, doors, insulation or lack thereof and come up with stats for you to show you were improvements are needed and where to spend your money. The audit costs about $350 and part of it was refundable from the government.
Thanks for the input. I have heard that if you place more insulation in the attic it will stay cooler because the attic is so much hotter. some of my exterior walls are not insulated do you think that has an effect?
Sorry but it seems to me you can't have a house lit by the sun and be cool too. Basically you have to pick one (light and hot or dark and cooler) and live with it during a hot spell. Even if you had air conditioning you need to watch how much sun is coming in the house or you end up with some very high cooling bills or an overloaded air conditioner so you aren't alone in living with the curtains drawn and windows shut right now.
I want to know other ways to cool my house during the day. I don't want to shut windows and curtains. I want my house to be ligted by the sun. I couldn't afford buying an airconditioning unit and have my house centralized. Do have any other ideas?
Keep your windows, doors, and curtains shut during the day.
If it's cooling off at all in the evening and through the night, your basement probably has some cool air. You can bring it into the rest of house by seeing if your furnace has a summer switch (also known as the fan...sometimes it's a switch right on the furnace or sometimes on newer thermostats but there are furnaces that don't have them installed (they cost whatever it costs for an electrician type for about an hour's work...or so I was told when I discovered the last house I had didn't have the switch)). That will help cool the rest of the house if you leave it on a half an hour or so.
If it's really hot on an upper floor or you are in a bungalow where you can reach it, pop the attic door and let the hot air rise into the attic instead of staying in the living space.
Get some fans going and even put bowls of ice in front of them. Just the breeze can help you feel cooler.
I feel for the areas stuck in that extreme heat. So far it's not a problem here but it may be coming.