Natural cooling ideas.

[kuma]

17 hours ago, ChakaKhan said:

confirmed as I lived on top floor...right below the trapped roof air.....the walls are even hot past midnight

We are currently in a rental, nice enough place in the jungle, but made of cinder block and one floor with bare metal roof, so the heat gets intense in here. 

[kuma]

18 hours ago, kokesaat said:

My 24 year experience living in a house we built outside of Udon.

Keep sun off of windows/patios at all costs.  Long overhangs, carport on western side of house.  E/W orientation with carport on western side.  Eastern side will receive lots of morning sun, so you either need lots of overhang there or a row of palms planted close to the house.  We underestimated the morning sun......had a 2 meter overhang which wasn't enough.  Planted a long row of green palm, babysat them for 2 years and now have full shade there.

Install good roofing with insulation and insulate the ceiling.  

We pretty much keep our windows closed year round.....open the patio and kitchen doors when it's cool outside, but lockdown once the temp reaches 80 or so.  

We use inverter ACs as necessary........whatever room we're trying to cool at a time.  The lack of direct sun on the house (except the roof), the insulation, and whatever tree/palm cover you can provide will allow you to cool a room quickly, even in the hottest of temps.  

I've yet to see a 2 story house that can keep the sun off the upper floor.  

We had our builder construct a 2000liter water tank under the raised (1.5meter) portion of our house on the eastern side.  On the positive side, we have an abundance of cool water throughout the year, rather than a percolating water tank that's exposed to the sun.  On the negative side, during the coldest time of the year, our house water is cold.  I've explored ways to fix this, but by the time I get around to seriously considering a fix, the weather warms up again.  

Buttoning up the house has several positives:  rare that we see a mosquito or gecko inside our house, although the air quality is good in our area, when it's not, it's not a problem inside the house, humidity level is controlled by the AC year round.  It took us a few years to figure this out (buttoning up), but the pluses far outweigh the cons.  

 

Great input, thanks for sharing. Light colour paint and roof a good point. This village has an ordinance that roofs be tree green or dark brown to blend with the area, but the walls we will indeed keep a light colour.

I am going to face it to true north...virtually every house in the area has done the same. to the east there is a big growth of trees and also a 2000m hill, so we have a lot of natural protection from the AM sun, and plan to indeed put a carport on the west side, as you mention.

I am quite comfortable with the temperatures here, even having come from a frigid place. I am upgrading to upvc windows and doors with screens - no worries about critters and here we get very nice cool breezes much of the year - expect about 5 months of the year to be able to sleep with windows open, no a/c, see how that works out.

Thanks for contributing.