How to keep your home cool without A/C

Most towns in New England contain houses built in the 18th and 19th Centuries. While these houses have great character and charm, they were built long before the days of air-conditioning.

Here are some tips for keeping cool in such houses during the summer. The simplest are: keeping blinds down and windows mostly closed during the day to keep the hot air out, and opening windows at night to let the cool air in.

Many older and historic homes had large, double-hung windows. Opening the top sash would allow hot air near the ceiling to escape. Opening the bottom sash, especially at night, allowed cool air to flow inside. Rooms had many windows, some as large as doors. Thick, long draperies were often used in these large windows to keep out the heat.

When outdoor air is cooler than indoor air, just opening windows and doors to let air flow through our houses can have a natural cooling effect. For maximum ventilation, open windows high and low in the house, which creates a stack effect, pulling cool air into the house down low and releasing hot air up high. Or open windows at both ends of a house to let air move freely through the whole structure.

And here is a longer list from Huffington Post: 12 Ways to cool your home.

If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected].

Read Which broker should sell my house?

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated

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