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If you aim to cool your house naturally, you will feel a sense of control and a sense of doing your bit to protect the environment. The added bonus is you will significantly cut your cooling costs in the process. That is definitely worth reassessing your cooling options. If you are building a house, it is useful to know ways of "shielding" the inside of the home from extreme heat. If your home is already built, there are house "add ons" which significantly reduce heat build-up in the home. There may even be times when there are power cuts, so air conditioners and fans may not be an option. It is handy to know alternative cooling methods at such times.

When building a home:
1. Plan the house design carefully to suit the land. Ensure bedrooms and kitchen, in particular, are not on the west side of the house. End of day summer sun will add to discomfort in these rooms. The bedrooms would be poor sleeping areas and the kitchen would be a sauna if cooking is done there in summer. The laundry is a great room to be sited on the west; (ideal for drying clothes in the winter too.)
2. Endeavour to site the home facing north. Have a verandah running along the north side. (Verandahs on all sides would be the ideal option to reduce all forms of extreme weather conditions on windows!) Verandahs are means of cooling the house in summer, by reducing direct heat on windows. They also are a great place to sit when the house is too "stuffy"! There is the added advantage that, in winter, when the sun is lower, warmth may cross the verandah to reach verandah windows.
3. Ensure the main front door and back door are recessed from the main building line. These are major traffic areas and a major means of allowing heat in. A recessed area or lobby deters heat from easily entering the house when a door is opened.
4. Choose light coloured (for best reflection of heat) bricks or stone as a building material to reduce the intrusion of heat.
5. Consider double glazing all windows. Extreme heat (or cold) tend intrude easily through large glassed areas. Double glazing reduces this event significantly, keeping the house at a more constant and bearable temperature.
6. Include reflective sheets in the wall cavities of the house, under the roof and in all ceiling areas (insulation batts are another alternative here). These sheets ensure a more steady temperature is maintained in the house summer AND winter!
7. Finally, select interior and verandah floor materials carefully. Ceramic tiles may be cool

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