How to cool an apartment without air conditioning
At the beginning of summer, many of us think about buying an air conditioner. But this is so much trouble: to find, buy, install … And I don’t want to spend money, because it’s much more pleasant to save it for shopping or traveling. But there are other ways to keep your apartment cool. And no tricky technique is needed.
July 26 2016
Change home textiles. Start with the curtains, but first assess the location of the apartment. If the windows face south or west, then it is worth hanging thick linen curtains on them. The choice of shade is yours, but it is better to give preference to white or beige. This palette has a reflective effect. It is better to draw all the curtains during the day. But if the room faces north or east, it is not necessary to cover the glass with a thick cloth. You can hang organza in light colors.
Remove warm blankets and carpets on the mezzanine. In summer, they only collect dust and prevent the apartment from cooling. Are the floors not beautiful? Take a closer look at inexpensive bamboo mats.
Pay attention to the bedding. In hot weather, it is comfortable to sleep on silk sheets. But not everyone likes this smooth fabric to the touch. Plus, silk sets are very expensive. You can choose a compromise – linen. It absorbs moisture well and remains dry. By the way, the cost of sheets made of such a fabric is justified, because linen maintains body temperature, and therefore is suitable for a bedroom in both summer and winter.
If the curtains don’t keep you warm, try protecting the windows with heat-reflecting film, which is available in stores and comes in a variety of shades. But do not tint the windows of the apartment too much. Too dark color of the film will obstruct the room lighting. The cost of a heat-reflecting roll of 1,5 mx 3 m is 1,5 thousand rubles. Don’t want to spend money on film? Replace it with regular food foil.
For blackout, you can also use roller blinds. They are attached to any window. The price for them depends on the material. You can find very budget options – from 400 rubles.
In addition, there are blackout curtains. Their peculiarity is that they do not transmit sunlight at all. Such curtains are both roller and regular. The price tag starts at 500 rubles. By the way, considering that doctors advise sleeping in complete darkness, such curtains are worth buying regardless of the weather.
And one more thing – it is necessary to ventilate the apartment in any weather, but in summer it is better to do it at night and in the morning. During the day, do not leave the windows wide open, otherwise by lunchtime the room will be hot, like in the desert.
Do you like flowers? In the hottest room, plant a money tree (fat woman), ficus, chlorophytum, sansivyera (“mother-in-law’s tongue”), dracaena, nephrolepis (home fern). They evaporate moisture, however, only if they themselves have enough watering. By the way, nephrolepis has another positive property – it reduces the concentration of harmful substances in the air. For example, it reduces the amount of formaldehyde, xylene, toluene. These substances release some finishing materials.
Air conditioner without air conditioner
You can create a conditioning effect. To do this, you need to freeze several plastic water bottles, close all windows with curtains, and place the bottles next to the fan so that the air from its blades is directed to the containers. Switch on the device. After a couple of hours, the air in the apartment will cool down.
In order not to freeze the bottles, you can hang a damp cloth in front of the fan, however, it will need to be moistened regularly.
A spray bottle is also suitable for cooling; it is better to fill it with water with a few drops of essential oil. Mint, lavender will create the effect of frosty freshness.