Summer is one of the most exciting seasons of the year. It is one of the best times of the year for vacations, family time and other relaxing and fun events. However, with summer comes warmer weather. Depending on where you live, the temperature can climb pretty high. Due to this, it is incredibly important to keep your home warm. Of course, this will include your bathroom as well. This guide will go over everything you need to know about keeping your bathroom cool in the summer season.
Ventilation Tips for Keeping Your Bathroom Cool
Ventilation is perhaps the most important aspect of a healthy bathroom. This is true for all times of the year, not just in the summer. Ventilation is responsible for keeping your bathroom clean, dry and sometimes most importantly, cool. Here are some of the most important reasons as to why ventilation is such an important part in keeping your bathroom cool.
Crack the Windows
If your bathroom has windows, this is one of the most effective ways to ventilate your bathroom. This is especially true in warmer weather. In the warmer months, the weather can get very hot during the day, but the nights can often get quite chilly. Make sure there is some type of screen that will prevent things from coming into your bathroom. At the same time, you still want to have proper ventilation coming into the area. Simply cracking a window in your bathroom during the night can be one of the best ways to keep your bathroom cool and clean.
Keep Your Bathroom Door Open When Not in Use
Much like cracking your window, keeping your bathroom door open when possible will perform a similar function. The only difference is that the air circulated will be coming from the house instead of from outdoors. However, if you do have a window in your bathroom, it will be twice as effective. Keeping a window and door open will not only make the bathroom cooler, but the rest of the home as well.
Exhaust Fans
If your bathroom has an exhaust fan, you should definitely be utilizing it. Exhaust fans are great for bathrooms that have trouble with ventilation, taking the moisture out of the air effectively. This will be a great option for bathrooms that do not have windows, due to the lack of natural ventilation. They can be a bit difficult to install if you do not have one already, but they are some of the best ventilation solutions you can take advantage of.
Other Types of Fans
If you can’t include an exhaust fan in your bathroom or you do not have any windows, including a small fan could be a great temporary solution. Consider a bathroom safe fan that is okay getting wet in the environment. Make sure the fan is small but still powerful enough to circulate air in the bathroom. In addition, the fan itself will be great at keeping the area, as it is the main function of a fan.
Importance of Exhaust Fans in the Summer
Even if your bathroom does have sufficient ventilation, it is still much better with the inclusion of an exhaust fan. Exhaust fans are extremely beneficial to a bathroom design, especially in the summer season. As stated earlier, exhaust fans are some of the most impactful inclusions due to how effective they are at removing moisture from the air. In addition to removing moisture, they will also be effective at removing heat from the area.
If your bathroom has no windows, or very small windows, an exhaust fan might be something you should consider in your next bathroom remodel. They will be the best alternative in almost every case. To go off of that, they can also be the best option over windows anyway. This way, you will not have to keep your windows or doors open all the time. Of course, the installation process could be a bit difficult, but it is definitely going to be worth it.
Moisture buildup is something that should never be overlooked in a bathroom design, or any other room for that matter. Exhaust fans are incredibly useful for removing moisture from both the air and the surrounding surfaces. If you allow moisture to build up on these surfaces, damages can occur. Rusting, chipping and discoloring are all problems that can occur if moisture is allowed to collect on your bathroom fixtures and surfaces.
Dehumidifiers Can Be Easy Solutions
Much like an exhaust fan, dehumidifiers are great external solutions in cooling down a bathroom environment by removing moisture from the area. One of the best features of a dehumidifier, barring a few exceptions, is the mobility. It can be placed essentially wherever you need it or want it, as long as it fits in the space. Dehumidifiers are great additions mainly for convenience and effectiveness. Both of these factors are two of the most important for any fixture or accessory in your bathroom design.
There are a few things that you do need to take into account when including a dehumidifier in a bathroom however. First of all, they will not always be able to fit in the area. Some dehumidifiers will be pretty large, making it difficult for them to fit comfortably into a design. There are smaller dehumidifiers that can work though. However, smaller dehumidifiers, as well as other sizes, will have to be emptied regularly. This can cause inconvenience, but there is a way around it. A hose can be hooked up to a dehumidifier in order to drain the collected water from the tank while the dehumidifier is running.
Bathroom Friendly Fans
Much like a dehumidifier, bathroom friendly fans can be incredibly valuable inclusions in a bathroom design when trying to keep the space cool for the summer. There are various different fans that you can utilize in order to create a cool space. You can always go the traditional route with a standard fan with spinning blades. You can also go the more modern route with noiseless fans. These can be fans that do not have spinning blades, but a more modern evolved design.
One thing that you should definitely know about fans is the exact function they bring into a bathroom design. Instead of removing moisture from a space like an exhaust fan, a regular bathroom fan will instead disperse the moisture. In addition, their main purpose will be to make the area cooler. Again, this will be a great item to include if you are struggling with both.
Another thing you need to make sure of is the safety component. Make sure that your fan is not in a location that gets very wet all the time. Depending on the quality and features of the fan, if it gets too wet, it will inevitably cause damage to the fan itself. This can happen with the fan blades, or worse, the interior components of the fan. You should also make sure the plug is safe for the bathroom as well due to issues with electrical problems.
Use More Cold Water
One of the easiest and most obvious ways to cool a bathroom down is to simply use more cold water. Of course, this will be a lot easier said than done. It will take a bit of getting used to, but this is one of the most affordable ways to cool down your bathroom. One of the main reasons as to why cold water is great for cooling down a bathroom is the fact that it does not produce steam. Steam is the main contributor to condensation buildup. Of course, a buildup of condensation can cause damages to fixtures and accessories as well if it is not regularly maintained.
There are a few other benefits as well. Firstly, cold showers will help you save a little bit more money. Cold water will generally be less expensive than hot water, but it will be a bit more uncomfortable. To go along with that, cold showers can also be good for your health. With that being said, you do not need to feel like you have to use cold water all the time. Warm water comes with various benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked. Warm water should be used for washing in most cases, but taking cold showers every once in a while can be a great way to improve bathroom temperature.
In Conclusion
As the summer season approaches it is important to make sure you are doing everything you can to keep your bathroom space cool. There are various easy ways to do this today, while there are also much more complicated ways to do it. If you live in an area in which summer can get very hot, it is important to utilize all of these options and techniques. Whether you utilize an exhaust fan or simply crack your windows during the night, keeping your bathroom cool is a crucial element to the health of the space.