What did you work on Today; Home Edition

[anderson750]

This is a ‘to be done’, but I want opinions.
The back of our house faces west. It gets so hot the vinyl windows literally melt and separate. It also melts the blinds inside. Others that are older are dark brown from being roasted like marshmallows.

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This also obviously makes the rooms like 110* inside.
I have previously built some window shades on a few windows that seem to help quite a bit, but I’d like better.

As you can see, we have to have window units in every room on the back of the home. The other rooms are fine.

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I’m thinking I would like to try to add a shade sail across the backside of the majority of the home. About 20’x20’ that would cover the house, patio, and hot tub with shade.


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Here is my architectural drawing of what I am thinking.

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What do you think? It’ll cost me less than $200 for posts and sail. Worth a try? Ghetto? But more ghetto than the trailers on the lawn and double garage door?? 🤣

I had a UV reflective film applied to my west windows shortly after we moved into our house in 2004. It was applied by a friend who used to operate a vehicle window tinting company. It made a huge difference in the heat coming through the window. It still looks good and does a great job to this day.

 

[jeeper]

I had a UV reflective film applied to my west windows shortly after we moved into our house in 2004. It was applied by a friend who used to operate a vehicle window tinting company. It made a huge difference in the heat coming through the window. It still looks good and does a great job to this day.

When I did the window covers I looked into all kinds of different options. I went for the covers because in theory it stops the sun from even hitting the windows and warning them up. They were supposed to do a better job, but are not as attractive as reflective tint.
And they were cheaper 😬
And mostly experimental for me.

The idea with the shade sail would be to keep the brick and stucco from absorbing so much heat and transferring it into the house.
And it’s cheap 😁

 

[Stephen]

Front of my house faces due south, so we get the sun all day every day. Previous owner had the windows tinted, and that seems to do a great job. I installed some good quality white wood blinds this winter, and on the hottest days (like we're dealing with) I just leave them shut and I've been able to keep the front of the house around 78 no problem.
My wife's aunt and uncle have these nifty transparent UV shades that are installed between the window and the blinds and are remote controlled. They claim they've seen a 10 degree drop in temperature when those are lowered. Not cheap, but I can get more info on those if you'd like.

 

[Hickey]

Those shades work pretty well to block the sun. They hold up to wind and weather (except snow) quite well. Make sure the shade you choose has reinforced corners.

We have used them at our property for the past 3 summers. We recently installed permanent posts to mount them, instead of the janky temporary mounts on the RV and T-posts in the ground.

 

[Pike2350]

My in-laws have a 2 story house that faces west. They have a similar problem due to being in some of the newer (past 20 years) parts of West Jordan with few trees. They had their windown professionally tinted with a UV specific tint. They used to have a really hard time keeping the upstairs cool, but said it made a huge difference.

Now, that doesn't help with the morning of the vinyl windows themselves. I say give it a shot. You should see some pretty impressive improvements in cooling that will far outweigh the cost

 

[Unimog]

I have hanging shades off my upper deck for the same purpose. We put them down in the morning and up around lunch. Based on my experience, I can say is something that large is going to be a giant sail when you get any wind. It would have to be massively strong and well anchored and tensioned to live with the winds. I think you would love it, just not sure you can go as ghetto as you think.

 

[jeeper]

A huge part of my reasoning for the shade sail is to also cover the patio with shade. My bbq is so hot in the evenings that I can’t even open the lid without oven mitts. If I can make that space a little more friendly, or would be great.

If the sail is just going to be a huge hassle, I can just make more window coverings and be done with it. They do a good job, and even prevent the melting vinyl because they are fully covered.

 

[Tonkaman]

I think you should build a big ass pergola. Plant some vines at the base and you’ll have tons of shade all summer long

 

[N-Smooth]

Build a balcony/deck on the second level and then do the sail (like your picture) or a pergola up there. That would cover both levels. I mean if I’m spending your money that’s what I would do 🤣

The back of my house is west facing and we don’t have that issue. So that’s weird. On our old house the back faced south and those blinds were roasted marshmallows like you described.

 

[jeeper]

Build a balcony/deck on the second level and then do the sail (like your picture) or a pergola up there. That would cover both levels. I mean if I’m spending your money that’s what I would do 🤣

The back of my house is west facing and we don’t have that issue. So that’s weird. On our old house the back faced south and those blinds were roasted marshmallows like you described.

Isn’t it currently like the blazes of hell there??
I wonder how your house is built.. my cousin is about to build a house in Washington and it will rear face west also on a sloping lot, so all floors are direct hit for the sun.

 

[bryson]

I had exactly what you're wanting on my last house and never had issues with the wind. I think my sail was 12x20? It was anchored directly to big eye bolts in the back of the house, and 2 big 6" galv steel pipe posts set in concrete on the other corners. The sail stayed up all summer and did the job well. I do wish I had gone a bit bigger on sail dimensions, since we used it more in the late afternoon/evenings when the sun was lower, and the shadow wasn't exactly where I wanted it...

 

[N-Smooth]

Isn’t it currently like the blazes of hell there??
I wonder how your house is built.. my cousin is about to build a house in Washington and it will rear face west also on a sloping lot, so all floors are direct hit for the sun.

I’m in West Jordan, bruh. I can’t imagine southern Utah right now after reading that story about their power grid not being able to handle this heat and recommending people turn their thermostat up to 78. 78!!! I’d die.

 

[Trate D]

I’m in West Jordan, bruh. I can’t imagine southern Utah right now after reading that story about their power grid not being able to handle this heat and recommending people turn their thermostat up to 78. 78!!! I’d die.

But buy electric cars or we all die!

 

[nnnnnate]

Dude. Do whatever you're going to do to help with the issue right now AND plant trees.

I just added 3 more trees, sycamore maples, to my back yard to try and hide the crap my neighbor is storing in his yard.

 

[Pike2350]

what is the room with the bumped out windows on the 2nd floor? Have you thought about building a deck for up there (assuming it's the master bedroom or something) Having it run along the length of the house? That would obviously be a lot more expensive, but it should help cool down the lower half of the house. If it's the Master Bedroom, you get that "oh, this is a great place to read the paper and have my morning coffee" that all the House Hunters rave about when they see balconies/decks off the master (oops....Primary) bedroom 🤣

Then, if you did that, adding sails to just the top portion would be much easier.

It is expensive, and if you are planning on staying it would likely net you a pretty decent return on the investment in the long run. If you don't plan on staying there, that is a different story.

 

[comingdown]

I’m currently doing shade sails over the pool shallow end and the kids play equipment. Use steel posts set in concrete and it’ll be good to go. Wood will definitely break your heart, unless you only want it for one season.

 

[jeeper]

I’ve been taking some trees along the back of the property to help cool the lawn, but even at 30-40’ I doubt they would shade the house at all. And I can’t put them closer, because trailers gotta drive through.

 

[anderson750]

It’s been a 2 day project but it feels good to be done. All the birds evicted, 6 nests taken out and all the crap cleaned up and the floor power washed. All cleaned up and ready for when I bring the toter back from Kansas in a few weeks.

 

[TurboMinivan]

I have no photo to post, but:

When we got married last August, my wife had said she wanted me to paint two rooms of the house very specific colors before she moved in. By the time she gave me the appropriate color code info (less than a week before we moved her in), I just didn't have enough time to make it happen. She was very disappointed that the painting didn't happen, and she has reminded me of her disappointment many times since then.

Friday evening, she went out of town for the extended weekend to visit her daughter in Phoenix. As a total surprise and in complete secrecy, I ran out and got the particular paint for one of the rooms. In between working and my other responsibilities, I managed to empty the front room, clean it up, and get the walls painted. This is the first time I have ever painted any interior walls in any home, so I did enlist some assistance to give me a few pointers and make sure I didn't create a disaster. Once the job was finished and the paint was completely dry, I moved all the furniture and such back into place--my wife absolutely hates it when people move her things, so I took lots of time to make sure every decoration, trinket, and display item was put back exactly where it had been--I had the foresight to take numerous photos before I began, and I studied each one carefully as I replaced her items throughout the room.

Now I just need to wait for her reaction when she walks in the front door tonight. I hope she's happy.

 

[ID Bronco]

You're the last true family man Clark.

Seriously, good on you