This is Part 3 of my efforts to keep my place cool without using AC. My front door/kitchen gets direct sunlight from around 7am till 11am. During the summer enough heat comes through the door and the little windows at the top to heat up my kitchen 5-8 degrees. I visited Home Depot to buy a security door, lockset, and door seal after the HOA management company told me which door is allowed and approved my request to install a security door. I also paid for installation as I don’t have handyman skills.
The lockset was rekeyed by Home Depot so I can use my front door key to lock the security door. Works nicely and saves me from having another key on my keychain.
The door seal is handy to have otherwise large bugs can get in as there is a big gap at the bottom of the door.
The install guys took a bit under 2 hours to install the door, lockset, and part of the door seal. Seems the door seal kit was missing the bottom part so they will have to return to complete the job. About a month later an install guy returned to install the bottom door seal. There is a small gap on either side so a determined bug can still get in. While waiting for the completion of the install we used a blanket as the bottom door seal. We are thinking about leaving that in place.
Leaving my front door open at night and in the morning before the sun is up does an excellent job of cooling the bottom floor of my place as I also open the patio door so it’s like a wind tunnel.
After the sun comes up I use a super magnet to attach 2 auto sun shields to the security door. This stops the sun from heating my front door and the little windows.
I obtained my super magnet by taking apart an old hard drive.
The security door from Home Depot is a big help in keeping my place cool and the installation looks great. The guys at Home Depot were helpful in getting me the door and parts I wanted. The installers were nice and did a great job installing everything.
My experience was not perfect. This project took about 2 months to complete. First you have to pay for a measurement to ensure the installer can install the door. That appointment took a week. After the measurement guy gave the ok you have to pay for everything and schedule an install appointment. That took about 2 weeks. Since the door seal kit was missing the part for the bottom of the door the installer had to get the missing part from Home Depot. That took 2 weeks before they called to make another appointment. The wait for the last appointment was 3 weeks.
4255 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 277-8910
RF Installations
West Coast Support Center
10373 Trademark Street, Unit K
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
West Coast Support Center
10373 Trademark Street, Unit K
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
My cooling projects have done a good job keeping my place cool. I have not turned on the AC in 2021. You can read about:
The crickets sure like to try and come inside and serenade us! It’s nice to have a cross breeze going through the house.
You are doing a good job keeping them out!
Nicely done. Just about the only thing I miss from being on-site at work is the free air-conditioning. You’ve done a great job of shading your house/rooms so you can avoid running the AC at home.
Thanks! I don’t miss our open office. After suffering all those heat waves at home last year I devoted my complete attention to cooling our place down. Luckily there have not been any Santa Ana’s to test the limits of my heat shielding.
Have you been using the AC at your place?
Only a few times so far this year. I work upstairs in a part of the house that’s shaded from the sun until about 2-3 p.m. so I get some nice cross ventilation with the window open. I actually prefer really hot weather except for sweating profusely during zoom calls if it’s particularly humid and late in the day lol.
Sounds like a great spot! I prefer chill foggy mornings.