As you may have heard, it’s hot here. Really hot. 

It’s often hot here in the summer, but never like this that we remember. A few days ago, we had a day where our outside thermometer read 118 degrees (in the sun). It has been over 100 every day for more than a week. 

Being off the grid, we have no air conditioning, but in the past have been able to moderate the temperature pretty well with careful attention to raising and lowering blinds at key times and opening and closing the windows to get the cool night air in and keep the hot day air out. Generally, as long as it gets to 70 or so at night, we can cool the house down sufficiently and then keep a good differential during the day. With the insulation we have, this typically means a 20-30 degree difference between inside and outside temperatures during the day.

In this stretch though, we’ve had nights that haven’t gotten out of the 90s until 4am and then only for an hour or two. When this is the case day after day, it can result in inside temperatures that don’t get below the mid 80s or so. This week, it has been up to 90+ inside at times. I find that high 80s are about where I’m saying enough. It’s been challenging.

We’ve made some adjustments like putting up reflective sheets of cardboard inside the shades, and we have ideas for other modifications we can do if necessary.

We’re waiting to see how long this goes on. The forecast doesn’t look good temperature-wise, though there is a 25% chance of rain midweek. Fingers crossed.