Hot 2nd Floor Bedrooms

andrewmays asks,

My family moved into a new house last October. It’s a house built in 2007, our energy bills are very low, and the house seems to hold its temperature very well. However, the two bedrooms on the second floor (where our 20 month old and 1 month old sleep) don’t cool off at all when it’s hot. The rest of the house is a comfortable 74 degrees, but it’s at least 80 up there.

Some information about the two bedrooms: both are about 12×12 and have a ceiling fan that is almost always on, one bedroom faces west and the other faces east, each has one floor vent for the air conditioner and no cold air return (I assume that it is designed for the air return to go down the steps right out side the bedroom doors), each bedroom also shares a wall with the full ceiling height crawlspace above the uninsulated garage (which I can only assume is even hotter than the bedrooms), and we also want to have the doors closed so the boys don’t wake each other up.

Do you have any suggestions to get these rooms a little cooler? Should I install some kind of a fan in the doors to get the A/C air moving? Should I check the insulation in the walls? Is there anything I can do to the windows to sheild it from the sun better?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Andrew Mays

Quincy, IL

Our Answer

You have a couple of options. You could go with window AC units. But even the best Energy Star rated ones would still be a significant drain of energy dollars when combined with central AC. You might consider a portable AC. Haier makes several models that could fit your needs. Their website has a product selector tool that can help you decide which one will work best. Portable units can be moved from room to room. They do need to be vented through a window. One may be sufficient to cool both rooms depending on where the rooms are located and how you use the portable unit. You could move them between rooms for example.