I recently sold my condo in Vancouver and moved to Courtenay BC. I although I had stayed in Courtenay for a few weeks last year, I did not realize how noisey and busy it had become compared to paradise. (Hornby Island) Ironically, Vancouver became considerably quieter with Covid-19. Traffic was down by about 80%. Everything was closed except grocery stores.
My new 4th floor condo in Courtenay overlooks a busy street and faces west, letting the hot evening sun stream into my floor-to-ceiling windows. Not something the home inspector picked up on when she viewed the unit. I investigated some home cooling options and started with ceiling fans which have helped. Then Safe and Sound came to install window film. Visually it looks good, a bit like looking through sun glasses. They used 3 different kinds of film, depending on the sun exposure.
Even with the film it is still too hot without the AC on at the peak of the heat of the day. The temperature on the balcony sometimes hit 40C. The portable AC was a very good investment. I also bought a tilting patio umbrella. It took a while to ship the order as I guess they were sold out. I tracked the temperature on an excel speadsheet (see below) and the inside temperature has been able to be kept around 25C or less while the outside temperature goes up to 40C late in the afternoon. So here are stategies in the order of how much I think it helps:
- portable air conditioner $500
- window film $2500
- tilting patio umbrella $200
- opening windows on the north side of the building during the day,
- ceiling fans x 2 $500
Some of the heat is a result of the heat rising from the other floors in the building. Really the whole building should have air conditioning. Ok I think this project is done!
TheUnRetired.life 