The Seattle area is under a heat warning for the next couple of days. Temperatures could reach 100° on Thursday and Friday. The heat wave even made The New York Times today. Most office buildings have air conditioning; however, homes are less likely to have central air. This includes our home, Casa Sammamish. We have a floor unit in the master bedroom, but the rest of the condo is A/C-free. Along with the usual precautions, this is how we attempt to beat the heat.
Go low. Our office/geek cave is on the lowest level. It’s at least 10° cooler than the rest of the condo.
Move the air. We catch the prevailing southwest breezes by opening the upper deck door and the living room windows. A fan moves the window air around. We also open the skylights on the top floor to give the hot air an outlet.
Cook outside. Our grill gets a workout during heat waves. It beats heating up the kitchen.
Eat salads. Tonight Julian made our standard shrimp-black bean-mango salad for dinner.
One thing we did this year was cover the skylight in the dining room with a curtain of sorts. Not only does it keep the glare off Julian’s eyes at lunch, but it does a decent job of keeping the main floor cool. We’ll also close the curtains in the living room to keep direct light out.
Fortunately, these heat waves don’t last long here. We shall survive.
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