It's HOT in here. How do you keep the house cool? We have a 1wk old baby. (houses, crawl space)

[skubaman]

Hey Guys,
We just had a baby 1 week ago. Besides already dealing with sewer/water work outside our house (in Noe Valley) with tractors all week, now it's the weather. We don't have A/C and it's been really hot. Last night at 9pm it was 81° in the bedroom. We had a fan and an air purifier acting as fan on. Baby ended up sleeping ok after temp dropped to around 77° around 11:30pm.

We recently moved so we don't have shades in the room yet, just hanging a sheet on the window. But all my windows are high efficiency. Do I keep them closed all day or open them? I don't know what's worse.

In the kitchen is where we can get the most air flow because there is a deck and skylight, but it's also south facing so it gets the most sun during the day. What to do about that? Keep deck window and skylight closed or open?

Today I am trying a new thing. I open the door from our floor to the garage and open the garage door to backyard. Trying to create an up draft. Not sure it will help if air outside is also hot.

Any advice is very appreciated.

Thanks so much

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by skubaman

Hey Guys,
We just had a baby 1 week ago. Besides already dealing with sewer/water work outside our house (in Noe Valley) with tractors all week, now it's the weather. We don't have A/C and it's been really hot. Last night at 9pm it was 81° in the bedroom. We had a fan and an air purifier acting as fan on. Baby ended up sleeping ok after temp dropped to around 77° around 11:30pm.

We recently moved so we don't have shades in the room yet, just hanging a sheet on the window. But all my windows are high efficiency. Do I keep them closed all day or open them? I don't know what's worse.

In the kitchen is where we can get the most air flow because there is a deck and skylight, but it's also south facing so it gets the most sun during the day. What to do about that? Keep deck window and skylight closed or open?

Today I am trying a new thing. I open the door from our floor to the garage and open the garage door to backyard. Trying to create an up draft. Not sure it will help if air outside is also hot.

Any advice is very appreciated.

Thanks so much

Even though everyone says AC isn't necessary in the Bay Area or Seattle, I always recommend that people get a window unit for the bedroom to have just for those heat wave periods. You may not need it 95% of the time, but when you need it, you'll be glad you have it. Get one for the bedroom so you and the baby can sleep.

The usual strategy is to open the windows at night to let the cool air in, then close off the place after the outdoor temp warms up in the afternoon. Shades on the southside windows, or retractable awnings, help keep things cool. The problem with houses that are squeezed in close together like in your neighborhood is that it doesn't allow for air circulation on the two sides of the house that are just a few feet away from the neighbors. Your updraft idea could work. If the basement is cooler, consider getting a fan installed in the furnace/duct system, so you can bring cool air from the basement up through the house. I'd have an awning installed over that kitchen window. There's special material you can get to cover skylights with (on the roof), that cuts down on the heat and bright light, too.

[skubaman]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Even though everyone says AC isn't necessary in the Bay Area or Seattle, I always recommend that people get a window unit for the bedroom to have just for those heat wave periods. You may not need it 95% of the time, but when you need it, you'll be glad you have it. Get one for the bedroom so you and the baby can sleep.

The usual strategy is to open the windows at night to let the cool air in, then close off the place after the outdoor temp warms up in the afternoon. Shades on the southside windows, or retractable awnings, help keep things cool. The problem with houses that are squeezed in close together like in your neighborhood is that it doesn't allow for air circulation on the two sides of the house that are just a few feet away from the neighbors. Your updraft idea could work. If the basement is cooler, consider getting a fan installed in the furnace/duct system, so you can bring cool air from the basement up through the house. I'd have an awning installed over that kitchen window. There's special material you can get to cover skylights with (on the roof), that cuts down on the heat and bright light, too.

Hi Ruth,

My furnace is brand new and now I wonder if I should have bought a furnace/AC unit instead. It does have a fan function but I haven't turned on yet because with the baby in the house I am worried about all the dust in the vents during remodel. They had the vents somewhat taped during most of the remodel, but I am sure some dust got into it. So I want to run it first time when she is out of the house. Anyway, it's not setup to take in air from garage. Garage has also lots of dust, not to mention car fumes. The intake is in the house. It will just circulate the air.

Awning idea is good. I was just at the deck and thinking about it. I am also considering putting E-film on the skylight and on 1 original high window (don't know how they are called, they are horizontal and close to the ceiling and don't open. Just a glass) in the kitchen. We also have 1 of those windows in the bedroom as well.

I am considering a portable air conditioning as well.

Thanks

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by skubaman

Hi Ruth,

My furnace is brand new and now I wonder if I should have bought a furnace/AC unit instead. It does have a fan function but I haven't turned on yet because with the baby in the house I am worried about all the dust in the vents during remodel. They had the vents somewhat taped during most of the remodel, but I am sure some dust got into it. So I want to run it first time when she is out of the house. Anyway, it's not setup to take in air from garage. Garage has also lots of dust, not to mention car fumes. The intake is in the house. It will just circulate the air.

Awning idea is good. I was just at the deck and thinking about it. I am also considering putting E-film on the skylight and on 1 original high window (don't know how they are called, they are horizontal and close to the ceiling and don't open. Just a glass) in the kitchen. We also have 1 of those windows in the bedroom as well.

I am considering a portable air conditioning as well.

Thanks

Yeah, too bad about the furnace choice. Again, people probably told you that you wouldn't need AC in SF, but as you can see, it does come in handy.

Bummer about the furnace/garage/fan issue! You don't have windows that open in the b-rooms? I thought you did. I remember the long, high windows, but there were a couple that overlook the backyard that open, I thought. So anyway, with this experience, you now know that (as I keep posting on this forum, in spite of everyone disagreeing) September is the hot month in the Bay Area. You may have noticed there's no fog? Whatever atmospheric conditions that prevail every Sept. turn off the fog, and temps soar for a couple of weeks, at least. So, knowing that it's an annual thing may help you decide the best way to handle it at home.

[wooliemonster]

Get a window unit for the bedroom and don't complain about how hot it is. Why do you think I'm moving from Houston

[skubaman]

I do have windows in the bedrooms. There are 2 double hung windows in each bedroom. They face west so the sun hits them for a few hours each day.

[Tallysmom]

In the old days, one of the things they did was to lay an ice blocks in a deep trays in front of the fan -- the ice cools the air around itself and the fan blows the cool air around. It's messy, unless you can do it in the sink, but effective.

The other thing I do -- because after a few days of heat like this our house does heat up anyway, I keep a few inches of water in the tub and splash around in it. It cools me off, like going swimming would. Even keeping my feet cool helps a great deal.

[skubaman]

Thanks for responding Tallysmom. Is your house insulated? I forgot to mention I live in 1940 house w no insulation.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by skubaman

Thanks for responding Tallysmom. Is your house insulated? I forgot to mention I live in 1940 house w no insulation.

See what your heating bills are like in winter. After you've been through one winter, you can decide on whether getting the house insulated would be worth the expense. Some of that work you can do yourself: applying insulation under the floor and in the attic. Then you can have insulation blown into the walls. It will definitely keep you cooler in summer.

[skubaman]

How do I apply I insulation to the attic? The spray foam kind?
There is no crawl space. It's like 10" high.
I was told the foam job starts at $2000.
Thanks