I finally have my sewing room and equipment to a point where it is almost exactly where I want it.

I have one big problem though. The AC in my room doesnt cut it. I talked to my AC guy and he says I have enough airflow that it is the heat from the iron, the lights and the fact the room is on the second floor with a full southern exposure and the fourth wall is the garage attic. He suggested insulation which is going to cost as much as a long arm. My room can easily reach 100 with the main house AC set at 70.

Fans do not cut it. I have a ceiling fan and two others in the room. I have resorted to setting the whole house to 60 to get my room to about 80.

I tried to get a window air unit but the windows are side by side cranks. The only thing I could get was a portable unit but I really dont have a way to vent it.

How do you all deal with the heat and sun when you quilt in the summer? Can I use one of those portable AC's and "vent" it to the hallway without getting carbon monoxide poisoning?

Your utility bills will be very high if you keep that up. I don't think his answer makes much sense. More likely that the point where your thermostat reads the temperature is too far away from your sewing room. I would try a fan first. Let it circulate the hot air out into the hall or rest of the house.

There is a portable AC unit you can get and vent it outside. They have them at Lowes...Home Depot and even WalMart. I have one in my sewing room and love it.

For years our only AC was a roll around swamp cooler only about the size of a dehumidifer and it worked great sometimes to cool but just turned it off when comfy. Dont remember the brand name. then it was less than $100.No outside vent needed.

The portables that vent through the windows should work. They come with an insert that should fit in your crank windows too, or a thick piece of plexiglass cut to size would also work :D:D:D

Maybe try managing the heat that you can control in the room so your AC can do its job. For instance, put your iron on a surge protector. That way, you just use the on/off button on the protector to turn your iron off while not in use, then just hit the button to turn it on a few minutes before you will need it. Also, you can use the spiral type light bulbs in your lamps, they don't give off heat. Insulated curtains on your windows will help with afternoon sun (or you could replace those windows with some that have a Argon between the two panes. That way, light comes in naturally, but the Argon keeps it from heating up your room).

Just some thoughts for you. :-D :-D

This issue was addressed in the latest issue of our electric coop news letter. It suggested opening windows on upwind side of house wider than downwind side to create more air flow while ac is off. With ac on open slightly the attic access door or a window at the highest level of the house. They also said that the way you open the blinds makes a difference. In summer tilt the blind slats up toward the outside. this helps keep heat from the window from moving into the room. In winter reverse direction to help keep cold out of the room. I will try these ideas this summer and see if it helps.

Me, I use a small window unit. We have the side by side windows, too, but DH opened one of the windows, set the unit in the window, then places plywood over the rest of the opening and used insulation to block any cracks. The unit works really well. I turn it on about thirty minutes before I start and by the time I go in, the room is comfortably cool. Give it shot. Oh, and the small unit only raised our light bill by about twenty bucks, well worth it, if you ask me.

We have found that our upstairs rooms similar to what you describe stays more comfortable using the giant attic fan than the AC. I have no idea what it cost to put in, but if you close everything else up and just open windows in a couple of rooms it will create enough breeze to cool just about anyone down.

I use a fan when it get to hot. my sewing room is also southfacing.

Did you make the Bail star? I see it is your avatar. If you did was it very hard to make. I just love that pattern

Only thing I can think of is maybe a wall unit like motels have. Good luck. I live in a double wide and there are no trees around. Our electric bill is insane in the summer time.

Honestly I move downstairs in the summer.

we have a big fan ( exhaust fan) in the attic...amazing how it keeps to upstairs tolerable.......
we are blessed to have AC throughout the house also...sometimes I do not put it on...save some energy...just to keep my sewing place cool when it is not needed throughout the entire house

I live in Alabama where it gets really hot. This answer seems like the right one. It shouldn't cost alot and should take care of the heat build-up in your room.

We had a picture window that just let in way too much light which meant there was heat. We had the windows tinted and it helped drop the temp down a lot. It was pretty inexpensive and you can do it yourself. It doesn't stop or distort the sunlight, but it does help with the heat.

A big outside shade/awning may also help if your window gets a lot of sun, especially the afternoon sun. That would cut down on bills from the air conditioner!

When we lived in a house where the afternoon sun hit our west windows, we also planted trees that would grow quickly--and before you knew it, they provided much needed shade for our house.

Hope all these suggestions help. :-)

Talk with local utility company. They should be able to give you the best options. Something to shade the windows either outside like trees or awnings, inside light filtering shades. I know Levelor have shades that reflect the heat.

Lived in the south most of my life, so am used to it. I just use extra fan in the top of my window since it opens up from bottom or down from top.

The portable ones at Costco are perfect to use. they may help alot better than the window ones.

I can't believe it gets to 100 in your room, I work in the basement in Colorado. we only have a swamp cooler and it gets hot in my small room with the lights on and the iron. i use a small fan to help move the air. no window either.
no ideas for you, sorry. good luck.

Having a window installed for a window unit or simply having the unit exit through the wall would be your best bet. Do you have a corner room with 2 outside walls? It would help to have some plantings to shade your outside walls. Maybe a vine of some type that would grow up and shade the walls. I would think that you could have the a foam type insulation injected into the outside wall without a huge expense. Also more insulation in the attic would help and a whole attic fan. Installing any of the insulation or attic fan is going to help with the overall expense of heating/cooling your home. Your local energy company probably has a program to do a free home analysis and will offer the most cost effective solution for your home. Check with them and see. Ann in TN

We always close the basement vents in the summer open the middle floor half way and open the top floor vents wide open. A fan in the attic that is automatic and comes on when the attic reaches 80 degrees works well also. Good luck.

There is a new air conditioning unit out - called a "mini-split" I believe. They are very small (about 1.5 feet long and only about 6 inches high). A friend had one installed in his attic office recently and it is awesome. It is installed on the wall, and has a very small vent tube that runs outside. Not sure of the exact price, but he said it was under $1,200. We are considering two of them for our cottage in Michigan.....

What type of lights bulbs are you using? Some generate more heat than others.

They make a portable air conditioning unit that sits on the floor. I'm not sure of a model name, but I think I saw one recently at Lowe's or Home Depot.

I don't have an upstairs room, but my room is on the southside of the house. I move my little sewing table and machine to the family room in the hottest part of the summer.

My room is a south-east facing, second story. The non window side gets the afternoon sun. The insulation in walls and ceiling is pretty good, use florescent lighting, have a big AC unit dedicated for the upstairs, but it's still hot. I feel your pain. I do have a ceiling fan to help. In the bedroom on the opposite side of the house, we use a small window unit to supplement the big A.C. I like the window. I keep the curtains closed most of the time to avoid fabric fade and avoid the green house effect, but like to look outside too. I'll probably make new insulated curtains this summer.

In the solarium, we put in a wonderful heat/A.C. unit, it works great, so quiet it's hard to tell when it's on, is energy efficient. The compressor sits on the ground with a wire and small hose connection to the (computer tower sized) in-wall unit. It is a hard worker, but an expensive investment. I have a neat little portable A.C. which I use in a mobile office trailer. The exhaust vent is on a springy 4" hose (like a dryer vent) which I mounted into a piece of scrap plywood, and use little bungee cords to attach it to the roof vent. It is a little bulky, but is a good solution.

Talk to the experts at your local hardware store, and your tax advisor, about government incentives to insulate. In addition to cooling your home, the utilities go down, and you just might be entitled to a tax deduction for the home improvement.

I put this stuff on the windows of our bay window and it was remarkable the difference. I think it said not to use it on windows that have double panes though. Apparently it builds up too much heat between the two panes of glass. It was easy to apply and was still in good condition when we put in replacement windows. Those are double paned so can't put the tint on them.

Another thing you may want to think about is tinting your windows. We had to do that in our S. facing room that I sew in. It did not make my room dark and I also run a ceiling fan.

U can get one installed into a wall near an outlet. Consider this. I know it gets hot upstairs.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

You can create a Bernoulli Effect by opening a few windows in your sewing room and a few at the other end of the house - preferable directly opposite the sewing room. The airflow will be cool enough that you will not need conditioners. It gets pretty hot in Oz too, and that's the method we use.

There is also a window covering that lets light in but reflects most of the heat and direct sun out. You put it on the windows and still benefit from the light. I also recommend a good fan, pointed upward in a corner, so that the air will circulate but you aren't chasing pieces around when the fan hits you. I have a 4 ft floresent light hung above me when I am quilting so that is also cool.

My Living room faces the Northwest. In the afternoon, it already gets to be about 85 degrees in here. I bought black room darkening draperies. When the sun beging to heat up the house, I close thoses drapes to block out the sun. Keeps cool.

No AC for me, I open the windows and enjoy the fresh air.

We just built a quilting studio/guest house out of a grain silo. We put in a "mini-split" made by LG. My husband got it for less than $1000 online. It is quiet, and cools the 500 sq ft area very quickly. Ours has a heat pump that warms the house in the winter. You do have a small connection to the miniature compressor outside. I really am happy with it.

We had the same problem with the whole house--live in Tucson--AC maxed out and the inside temp was around 90. We changed all the windows in the house to double pane and I made block out drapes with that rubberized layer over the windows that get the sun. It is amazing how the temp changes when the drape is put down when sun shines in--only issue it blocks out the light. We had problems with black mold with swamp coolers, so be watchful if you use a evap method of cooling. Good luck--the heat is really miserable and it also dry rots all the wood in your house.

I also have a bedroom that gets hot during the day.
I put a fan on the roof to pull out the hot air in the attic and put extra insulation over that room. It helped some, but it's still hot and my SIL who is in construction said to put up more insulation on the wall where the sun hits. He said I would lose about 4 inches of the room, but it would stop most of the heat. If you touch your walls, are they hot or cold? I also put a tree in the yard to shade that side of the house, but it's not big enough yet to do the job.
Syl

I live in Northern California, but my sewing room gets full afternoon sun, even with the blinds drawn. It was getting mighty hot in there to work! I had a large piece of black velvet and I tacked it up over the window. Now I can't tell if it is day or night outside, but I can sew whenever I want!

I don't know how much it would cost to replace those windows with a double hung window and stick a window AC unit in there. Certainly cheaper, I would think, than setting the entire house at 60*.

I have the same situation that you do, except I have double hung windows and I put a window unit in there for a few months of the year. But before I got that I would sew downstairs during the day when I could. Usually I just sewed at night and early in the morning.

I had a portable unit at last house and had to get a piece of plexiglass cut to size of window with enough room left cut out to vent the ac hose----it worked great

I added a room to our house for sewing/crafting and put in a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim inverter. No ducting/venting etc. just the cabling run up the side of the house from the outside unit and a 3" hole in the wall from the outside to the unit on the wall inside. It's on a thermostat and WONDERFUL!!! Can put the fan to silent mode and don't even know it's running. Heats and cools beautifully.