Once you become a homeowner, you will have to pay for everything related to the home. Water, trash, and cooling that may have been paid while living in an apartment will now be solely your responsibility. If you want to keep your monthly costs down, you will not just want to focus on buying an affordable home. You should also look at how you can save money with features that naturally keep the home cool.

Optimal Tree Setup

Trees spread around your property might look nice, but this does not automatically mean they will provide you with savings on cooling costs. In a hot climate, you will benefit most from evergreen trees because they do not lose their leaves and will give you shade all year long. Another crucial detail is the location, and this is where trees that cover up the east-facing walls and west-facing walls are ideal. The combination of the two will give you plenty of shade all day long when the sun is beating down. It is also helpful to look at the potential of the landscape as you may be interested in planting trees on your own.

Cool Roof

Unless you have towering trees that provide shade to the roof, this part of your home will receive sunlight for most of the day, and as a result, it will warm up your home by a noticeable margin. So, when you come across a house that has black shingles, you should know that its solar reflectiveness is at a poor 5%. This, compared to the 80% solar reflectiveness of a ceramic roof with a bright white coating, is like night and day. Having this specific feature will make it a lot easier to keep your house cool, especially in the summer.

Tile Flooring

Carpet is warm to the touch, hardwood is fairly cool, and tile is extremely cool. So, you should prioritize homes that have tile flooring throughout the living areas at the very least. This will make it so that the majority of the time that you spend awake inside the house will be rather comfortable. It is ideal when bedrooms are solely used for sleeping, so it is fine if they all have carpeting. But, while tile flooring will help, you will also benefit from tile in other areas such as in the bathroom and even as a countertop.

The quality of the windows, doors, and insulation in the exterior walls will all help to keep your home at a comfortable temperature, but you should not pass up the importance of these three features.