Ten ways to protect your Spanish property against the summer heat

The heat doesn’t just affect you, it also affects the materials in your home, the number of bugs that find their way inside, and the way your home feels.

The sun can cause damage to materials as well as bleaching, and the process of thermal expansion caused by heat can lead to problems with everything from pipes to wooden features and PVC in windows.

Thankfully, there are various ways you can prepare and help protect your home and minimise the impact of the summer heat on your property, as well as helping to keep you as cool as possible inside. 

Prepare air-con units

If you are lucky enough to have air-con in Spain, there are a few factors to keep in mind before you begin to use it on a regular basis over the summer. The most important is that the filters may need cleaning or changing. Air-con filters can become clogged up with debris over the year, so you need to make sure they’re clear so that your machine will be working efficiently. You can either do this yourself or get a professional out to do it for you.

Another point to remember is that most air-cons will also have a small tube attached to them where water comes out because of condensation. Make sure you have a tube big enough to catch the water so it doesn’t just drip onto the street, and that you empty it regularly.

According to the construction website Construction21, in order to be used to maximum efficiency air-cons should be set to 26C. Blasting them at a colder temperature will only cost you more money. 

Stop doors and windows sticking due to swelling

Doors often swell in the heat and can become stiff, making them more difficult to open and close properly. In order to ensure they don’t stick, you’ll want to oil the hinges and mechanisms regularly. You can also use products such as WD40 or silicon-based lubricants.

Another more permanent option is to install aluminium windows with 'thermal break', which have a specific mechanism that prevents the transmission of heat and will stop them from expanding.

Install fly/mosquito screens

It’s essential to have air flowing through your property in the summer (especially during the evening and night-time), to not get musty and stale air inside. It also helps to cool the rooms down. But, when you have the windows open during the day and night, you also let in flies and mosquitoes, that come in to get some shade or are attracted to the light and people inside. In order to stop this from happening, make sure you install fly or mosquito screens. You can get screens that you simply slot into place each time you open the door or window.

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Use weather stripping on your doors

Place weather strips under the doors to prevent heat from entering the house. This will also enable you to reduce the consumption of electricity as you won’t need to turn the air-con on as much.

Install awnings, pergolas or canopies

You need as much shade as possible in the summer, both inside and out. Installing an awning or canopy on your windows or patio doors can prevent the sun from directly reaching the most vulnerable part of your house – the windows. They also provide you with outdoor shade, so you can stay cooler during the day.

Invest in shutters, blinds and reflective film

As well as having awnings to help shade your home from the sun, you can block it out completely during the hottest parts of the day in the afternoon by investing in black-out blinds or shutters. According to the experts, you want to allow airflow into your home in the mornings and evenings and keep the blinds and shutters closed during the middle of the day.

If you don’t want your home to be dark in the middle of the day because you work from home you can also install reflective film on your windows to bounce the sun rays off them. They're also reportedly far better than blinds or curtains at reducing the heat inside. 

Make sure your home is well insulated

It may sound counterintuitive to insulate your home more in the summer, but having good insulation, as well as double-glazed windows, can keep your home cooler during the hottest part of the year, as well as keeping it warmer in winter. On windows, double glazing acts as a thermal break so that the heat will often be trapped in between the two panes, instead of entering both.

READ ALSO - Property in Spain: How much does it actually cost to build a house? 

Surround your home with plants

Plants are not only calming and beautiful, but they can also provide protection from the heat. Watering the plants regularly will help cause evaporation around your home and lower the temperatures. Plants along windows can also help absorb the sun’s rays and keep the air fresher in your home. They can provide shade too.

 

Make sure bins are secure and food isn’t left out

It’s important to protect your home against insects in the summer. Fruit flies can particularly be a problem and are often attracted to your bins and any fruit or other food left lying around. Make sure that all your bins have secure lids, fruit flies can get in any small gaps and start breeding in them. Keeping a compost bin in the house may be good for the environment, but it won’t be for you during, the summer, so keep it in the garden, away from the house, if you have one. Make sure to keep all fruit in the fridge too.

 

Paint your property in white and other light shades

White and other light pastel shades can help reflect the sun from your house, meaning that it will stay cooler than houses painted in darker shades. This also works for any interior walls that get direct sunlight in the summer. The hotter your inside and outside walls get, the higher the chances of them cracking.