Help resolve a dispute among co-workers. Vancouver is a wonderful city, everybody says so. It just doesn't happen to have been built for serious summer heat. Yet now it is hot (and getting hotter) and here we are in a "home office" that will start to absolutely bake in roughly one hour (when the afternoon sun hits the windows). Given that we have no air conditioning and that we are on a deadline this week and so must stay "on the job", how best to keep this place as cool as possible ...? [more inside]
posted by philip-random on Jul 27, 2009 - 31 answers

How can I cool off my NY studio apartment this summer? Our building has central air conditioning, and while it's cold enough when I sit right next to the unit, the rest of the apartment gets boiling hot. During today's heat wave, when it was 82 outside, a thermometer sitting on the unit read 70 degrees. On the other side of the room, it was more like 75, and on the other side of of the apartment, almost 80. The building doesn't allow window air conditioners. This is making living here really uncomfortable -- what else can I do to cool this place off? [more inside]
posted by lsemel on Apr 28, 2009 - 29 answers

Apartment filter: I need my apartment to be cool inside! We moved into a very nice 3rd (top) floor, west facing apartment... in March... came home in June and no exaggeration, it was 94 degrees in my living room. The AC has a 20 degree difference and runs nonstop from 4pm to 11pm and its 84 degrees in the bed room till 11pm. [more inside]
posted by phritosan on Aug 4, 2008 - 38 answers

It's getting warm out, and the top floor of the house we live in is heating up a lot. My infant son sleeps upstairs and the heat from the day is moving up to the top floor and lingering for hours and hours. The catch is he sleeps best in complete darkness, so opening windows means screwing up his sleep for the night. Anyone have any suggestions on how to cool down the top floor while creating a minimal disturbance for my kid? [more inside]
posted by theNonsuch on Apr 20, 2008 - 14 answers

I'm never enjoyed the heat, but this summer I'm sweating like a pig! Bearing in mind that I'm already down to the bare minimum of clothing, and taking exercise (I am marginally overweight), is there anything I can do to make my body more in tune with summer?
posted by anonymous on Jun 15, 2007 - 27 answers

Am I crazy for thinking of living in Durham, NC without air conditioning? Considerations: I get really really hot, have a somewhat crazy internal thermometer, I have lots of books, and I don't want to be miserable. Problem: we found a super cute house and it doesn't have AC. What to do? [more inside]
posted by fionab on Nov 28, 2006 - 22 answers

Should I buy a window / portable air conditioner for my home office? [more inside]
posted by cowmix on May 14, 2006 - 18 answers

recommendations, please, for tall houseplants that need little watering (we're sometimes away for a week or two), like the warmth (summer is warm, winter has central heating), and don't mind the shade (in summer there are blinds outside to keep the temperature down)? someone just recommended ficus alli to us, yet they are described on that page as "sun loving" - what's right? also, once bought, do we need to repot them into something larger? if so, what soil do we need? anything else plant-clueless people should know? thanks! [more inside]
posted by andrew cooke on Dec 8, 2004 - 11 answers