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One thing this heat reminds me of is that in the days before air conditioning, people knew enough to build their homes in the shade of deciduous trees, so they’d give shade in the Summer, but allow solar heating in the Winter.
If the temperature is 100F without shade, it could be 80-85F with shade, which is the difference between borderline uncomfortable and who-the-heck-chose-to-live-here.
These days, insurance companies forbid this because of the chance that an unmaintained tree will drop branches through your roof. Maybe we need to take that decision out of their hands. (There’s also the chance that a large regional fire will spread to the tree and from the tree to the house, but in all honesty, if you’re that close to a fire, there’s a good chance your home will go anyway. Have a cleared area around your property and just have a few trees near the house or something.)
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Also roof color is a big factor, two of my homes have started with black/something roofs and both needed to be replaced at some point. Going with a light/medium tan on one (the only AC was window units) dropped the daytime temp highs inside by +20F degrees. The second went from black/blue to light grey and it did much better to the point that the only reason to run the AC was humidity or prolonged (many days) of +90F with high humidity, usually in late July/early August that also had lows in the mid/high 80's at night.
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@geniusmusing The landlord replaced the roof here with a light-colored roof in early 2020, right before the lockdowns started. Now I’m wondering what indoor temperatures would have been like with the older, darker roof. It is 92F in my room right now.
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@lnxw48a1
Off the top of my head +10-+20 would be my guess. Too many other factors also come into play.
House one was kind of in the middle of nowhere (3/4 acre lots were the standard) and while it would get hot the amount of green areas would let the area cool quickly near the end of the day.
House two (typical standard suburb subdivision) had a larger heat sink area around it and it took longer to cool at night.
Out here in the PNW, a good breeze while still in something close to typical standard suburb subdivision there is a lot of green across the street (farm size, cows, ducks, pond, etc) that helps keep things cool off at night.
Stay cool and hydrated!