Keeping Cool with Retractable Fly Screens

The Australian climate can provide some true scorchers every year. When the mercury climbs above forty degrees, even the most stoic of heat-junkies will be headed for the shade. But people have been living on this sweaty continent for tens of thousands of years without air conditioning – how did they manage it before retractable fly screens were invented?

Even on the hottest days, proper ventilation practices can make all the difference between a bearable climate indoors, and one that sends you running to the nearest mall. With some careful planning, and some retractable fly screens to keep the bugs out, you can keep your home at a reasonable temperature – using some forward planning, the strength of the breeze, and some intelligent ventilation.

Limit Your Exposure

Direct sunlight is your worst enemy. Even on the coolest days of winter, bright sun can quickly heat a room beyond the bounds of comfort. Proper shades on exposed windows can keep the home from direct exposure. As a longer-term plan, a home surrounded by trees is not only more enjoyable aesthetically, it gains protection from the sun.

Choose Lighter Colours

Light colours on your roof and walls reflect more of the suns rays, rather than absorbing them, as darker ones do. Particularly on the roof, this can make a big difference.

Utilise the Air

Of all these factors, air movement is the most important. By replacing warm, stagnant air with cooler and dryer air from outdoors, you can make use of our body’s natural cooling method – perspiration. Ceiling fans and standing fans can help, on a smaller scale, but wholesale air replacement strategies from out of doors are the real difference.

Accessing this bounty is typically best suited to open-plan layouts and narrow rooms and corridors, and utilising windows and doorways on opposite sides of the home can encourage such ventilation to occur in a passive manner. This means open windows and doorways – excellent applications for retractable flyscreens.

Face the Breeze

Orientation plays a huge role here, and it is worthwhile to study the wind patterns in your area. Seasonally, the wind follows a relatively predictable path, such as the westerly flow of the Fremantle Doctor, or the downhill motion of evening winds in the hills or mountains of Victoria and New South Wales. While you may not be able to reorient your home, you can certainly adjust your use of relevant openings.

Ventilate

The vertical aspect of convective air flows can also be utilised. As hot air tends to rise, installing a vent at the peak of your home allows warm air trapped in your roof void to escape, drawing in cooler air in to the living space and lower floors.

Done properly, a well-ventilated home can divorce you from air conditioners and skyrocketing energy costs. For the finest retractable fly screens to encourage this classic method, SP Screens has you covered.