During a heatwave, homes can quickly feel more like greenhouses than sanctuaries. Thankfully, you don’t need air conditioning to keep your house cool — these simple expert-approved tips can make a surprising difference.
As temperatures hit 38C in parts of the UK, many of us are discovering our homes are brilliantly designed for one thing: keeping heat in. Fantastic in February. Less ideal when you’re trying to sleep through a heatwave without air conditioning.
The good news is you don’t need expensive air conditioning to stop your home feeling like an oven.
From knowing exactly when to open your windows to making your fan work harder, these expert-backed tips can help keep your house cool without AC.
Read more: Keep your cool this summer for less with these Shark ChillPill dupes — from under £30
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Keep the heat out
When it comes to cooling your home, prevention is much easier than cure.
Emily Green, home maintenance expert at Howarth Timber, says: “Direct sunlight can quickly raise indoor temperatures, particularly in south- and west-facing rooms. Keeping curtains, blinds or shutters closed during the day helps prevent heat building up in the first place. This is often far more effective than trying to cool a room down once it has already become uncomfortably warm.”
Nancy Emery, home expert at Toasty.co.uk, recommends blackout blinds where possible, while external awnings or shutters are even more effective because they block the sun before it reaches the glass.
If your home regularly overheats, Cal Graham, property expert at We Buy Any Home, has a solution: applying reflective window film to sun-facing windows. It’s an inexpensive way to reduce solar heat gain without making rooms feel dark.
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Don’t leave your windows open all day
It sounds counterintuitive, but opening your windows during the hottest part of the day can actually make your home warmer.
Instead, Emily recommends opening windows between 5am and 8am, when outdoor temperatures are at their coolest. Once the air outside starts heating up, close windows and external doors to keep that cooler air trapped inside.
She explains: “If the air outside is hotter than the air inside, leaving windows open can actually allow more heat into your home.”
Then, as temperatures fall in the evening (typically from around 8pm), reopen windows on opposite sides of your home to create a cross-breeze. This encourages cooler air to flow through the property while pushing the day’s built-up heat back outside.
Nancy adds that moving bulky furniture away from windows can improve airflow, allowing fresh air to circulate more freely.
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Use your fan properly
Stephen Day, home cooling expert at iHeat, warns: “Fans don’t actually lower a room’s temperature — they work by creating a wind-chill effect that helps sweat evaporate from the skin, which is why pointing one directly at yourself on a hot day feels effective but doesn’t change the feel of a room at all.”
To make yours work harder, he recommends placing a fan facing out of the hottest window to help expel warm air, while opening a window on the cooler side of the house to draw fresh air in.
If you only have one fan, placing a bowl of ice or a frozen bottle of water in front of it can make the airflow feel noticeably cooler. It won’t transform the whole room into an air-conditioned space, but it can offer welcome relief when you’re sitting nearby.
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Stop creating extra heat indoors
Your home could be heating itself up without you realising it.
Ovens, hobs, tumble dryers and even electronics left on standby all release heat, which can gradually increase indoor temperatures over the course of the day. It’s worth unplugging chargers, games consoles and TVs when they’re not in use.
Cal adds: “If you can avoid using the oven in the kitchen, it can often be a good idea. Sticking to no-cook meals or cooking outdoors can help to keep temperatures in the kitchen down.”
Read more: How to eat in a heatwave: best and worst food and drinks for hot weather
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Keep hot air contained
Not every room heats up at the same rate.
South-facing living rooms can be several degrees warmer than north-facing bedrooms, so leaving every internal door open allows heat to spread throughout the house.
Stephen recommends keeping doors closed to trap cooler air where you need it most, while Emily advises keeping your loft hatch shut during hot weather. Loft spaces can become extremely hot during a heatwave, and an open hatch allows that heat to radiate into upstairs rooms.
Similarly, closing off unused rooms helps concentrate cooler air in the spaces you’re actually using.
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Give your home a ‘summer wardrobe’
Just as you swap jumpers for T-shirts, your home can benefit from a seasonal change, too.
Nancy says: “Carpets and heavy rugs are brilliant insulators, which is why they’re so effective at trapping warmth in winter. Leaving them out during summer turns your floor into a massive heat trap.”
Switching synthetic bedding and heavy throws for breathable natural fabrics like cotton or linen can also make a noticeable difference, especially when temperatures remain high overnight.
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Try a simple evaporative cooling trick
If you don’t have air conditioning, evaporation can work surprisingly well.
Stephen recommends lightly misting the lower half of lightweight curtains with cold water before opening the window behind them. As the breeze passes through the damp fabric, evaporation helps cool the incoming air before it enters the room.
It’s a simple trick that costs nothing but can make a noticeable difference on particularly hot days.
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Freeze your pillowcase before bed
When the temperature refuses to drop overnight, getting to sleep can feel impossible.
For an easy cooling hack, place your pillowcase inside a sealed freezer bag for a couple of hours before bedtime. The cool fabric helps lower your perceived body temperature, particularly around your head and neck, making it easier to drift off on hot, sticky nights.
Read more: Feeling the heat? Best fans and air conditioners to buy on Amazon
Cooling products to buy:
- Kimmoo Handheld Portable Turbo Fan with Ice Cooler — buy from Amazon for £26.99
- Amacool Neck Fan Battery Operated Neckband — buy from Amazon for £16.99
- Luff Bamboo Honeycomb Pillow — buy from Luff for £49.99
- iNeibo USB Desk Fan — buy from Amazon for £14.99
- Luna Daily The Everywhere Cooling Spray — buy from Look Fantastic for £12
- Aeris Cooling Sleep Mask — buy from Dore & Rose for £39
Feature image: Canva
