How To Keep A Room Cool That Faces The Sun

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While we all need a little bit of sunlight in our lives, having a room that faces the sun can get a bit unbearable.

It’s important to know how to keep a room cool that faces the sun to ensure you’re able to survive the hot summer days without breaking a sweat.

There are many ways to keep a room cool that faces the sun, including using an air conditioner, fans, ceiling fans, opening windows and doors when cool, and closing when hot to create airflow.

Maintaining a cool living environment is an essential aspect of comfortable living on summer days. There are various simple yet effective things you can do to keep a room cool that faces the sun.

Table of Contents

Tips on how to keep a room cool that faces the sun

Here are some tips on how to keep a room cool that faces the sun.

Hardwood floor and ceilings in living room

1. Use Fans

If your kitchen is the room that faces the sun, or you find that the heat from cooking spreads throughout the house, consider using an exhaust fan while cooking to expel hot air from the room.

If you have a ceiling fan, turn on your ceiling fan, ensuring that your fan rotates in a counterclockwise direction to circulate cool air.

If you don’t have ceiling fans, consider installing ceiling fans throughout the house, as these will encourage air circulation and ventilation. Alternatively, you can use portable fans to keep the air flowing.

Due to the fact that ice is a natural coolant, placing a bucket of ice in front of a non-oscillating fan can help cool the room as the air will be chilled, and therefore cool air will circulate throughout the room.

Alternatively, you can save water by freezing a few bottles of water and placing them in front of the fan instead.

2. Do Chores at Night

Tasks such as cooking, running the clothes dryer, and running the dishwasher, contribute to the heat of the room and the overall heat of the house. Consider completing these tasks in the evening when it’s cooler.

installing windows tinting film to the sliding door

3. Install Energy Efficient Windows

Installing energy-efficient double-pane windows is a great solution if you would like to keep the sunlight while lowering the temperature inside the room, as double-pane windows reduce the heat entering the room while still providing natural light.

It is also possible to get window treatments with light-colored or heat-reflective films as this can block the light and heat of the sun from entering the room and also reduce the glare from the sun.

However, it’s important to bear in mind that these films will block the sun in winter as well, so consider only having these films installed on certain windows facing the sun.

wood and white living area theme with white and grey curtain

3. Use Drapes, curtains, and blinds

Apart from keeping your windows open when it’s cool and closed when it’s hot, you can also purchase curtains, drapes, or blinds that block the sun.

These items will allow you to block the heat and light that comes from the sun, providing you with a cool, shady room.

Alternatively, you can purchase drapes or curtains that are designed specifically to block light. Usually these have a heat blocking liner on the side that faces the window to help keep the house cooler.

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4. Open Windows

Opening your windows with your drapes, curtains, or blinds in the evening will allow the heat to escape your home, making it cooler in the evening.

You can maximize this cooling by making sure you close the windows and curtains before bed to ensure the sun and heat don’t creep in while you’re sleeping in the early hours of the morning.

5. Control Humidity

Cooking, showering, and using a hairdryer are examples of humidity-producing activities that contribute to the overall humidity in your house throughout the day—considering doing humidity-producing activities later in the day after sunset when it’s cooler inside as these activities increase the heat inside the house.

It’s worth noting that while using a cool-mist humidifier may make the room feel less humid and create a sense of freshness, it will not actually reduce the overall temperature inside the room.

6. Consider an Air Cooler

Investing in an air cooler may be more beneficial than a cool-mist humidifier as it cools the air in the room through the process of evaporation.

An air cooler is different from a fan or air conditioner. It is a simple, less energy-consuming process that reduces the air temperature through evaporation, creating a cooler environment and improved humidity in the room.

In this regard, investing in an air cooler is a smart bet when keeping a room cool. While a humidifier cannot substitute an air cooler, an air cooler will cool the air and improve low humidity.

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7. Pay Attention to Lights

Turning off lights and non-essential heat-producing appliances will reduce the amount of heat being produced in the room.

You should avoid lighting any candles as this light source will increase the room’s heat level.

8. Consider Your Roof color

Painting your roof white will reflect the heat from the sun, which will keep the rooms underneath the roof cooler.

While it may not be feasible for you now, if you do need to get your roof done in the future, talk to your roofer about options to help keep the house cool in the summer.

9. Add Awnings

Although awning will not directly affect the temperature inside a room, awnings provide you with shade to protect the room from direct sunlight.

It’s like a permanent sun shade. They can be quite pretty too (and my favorite place to hang a birdfeeder).

guy wearing mask checking old roof insulation

10. Add Insulation

If you have an attic, consider upgrading your attic’s insulation to 12-inches as this can reduce the amount of cooling that your house will need.

If you have an older house, inspect the insulation in the walls on that side of the house.

While it may be a big job to replace it just due to heat, if you are considering upgrading windows on that side of the house its the perfect time to see if the insulation should be redone as well.

11. Add Natural Shade

Consider planting a shade tree outside the room that faces the sun. This will provide not only a great source of shade for the room but also a source of extra oxygen for your household.

Check with your local nursery to see what fast growing options they have available.

12. Close doors

If you have any rooms that aren’t being used, close their doors on hot days to trap the heat and prevent it from spreading to other rooms.

Leaving these doors open impedes your cooling attempts as the heat travels from one room to the other.

technician guy cleaning air-conditioning unit

13. Add an Air Conditioner

Having an air conditioner is a great way to keep a room cool. It’s important that you install the air conditioner out of the sunlight, else the unit will have to cool itself and the room.

The more energy the air conditioner has to expend, the less effective it is and the more electricity it will use.

Therefore, it’s important that you make sure that all windows and doors are closed while the air conditioner is running so the air conditioner can focus on cooling the room it is situated in.

Of course, adding air conditioning is an expensive undertaking but, if you do go this route, talk to your contractor about installing air conditioning zones so that you only have to cool the rooms you are using, saving electricity in the long run.

Why are some rooms in my house hotter than others?

Certain rooms can be hotter than others due to possible air duct issues, closed vents, or dirty air filters.

Cleaning your air ducts and replacing air filters regularly can help prevent these rooms from getting hot during the summer months while also providing cleaner air for your household.

It is also possible that a room may be hotter than the other rooms in the house because there is not enough air flowing through the room regularly or that particular room doesn’t have as good insulation as the others.

How can I increase the airflow in my room?

Opening all the windows and doors allows fresh air in and stale air out. Doing this will increase the airflow in the room even if you just keep the windows and doors open for a short period of time.

You should aim to have cross-ventilation by opening windows diagonal or opposite one another as this will help the air circulate.

Conclusion

There are various techniques that can be used to keep a room cool that faces the sun. What works for you will largely depend on your budget, the size of your house, and the heat you are experiencing.

While you might work up a sweat implementing some of these tips, you’ll be able to stay cool throughout the warmer months at the end of the day.