Hi stomp. Hope you don't mind that. I was wondering if you pull all of your shades and curtains to keep out radiant heating during the day. It would probably help a lot if you don't already. I currently live in a very old house, but spent most of my life in mobiles (manufactured homes).

You will also find that the lower ceilings in mobiles are good for trapping heat. They also don't have near the insulation that many stick built homes do. Do you have extended porches or awnings? They do a lot to keep heat out as well. Maybe some trees or something near-by that you could leave a window open to. They do very well at keeping out the worst of the heat. The best suggestion I can offer barring any additions of outside materials would be to get some fans and put them in the windows or doors to circulate the air. At the very least, the air will be the same temp as outside instead of 20 degrees hotter.

Good luck.
peanutmom

pull your shades if you are not home during the day..to keep your home cool..also make sure you have good insulation.

do not even open your rear doors or windows..leave everything closed up..open at night when it is cooler and let the cooler air air out the house ..but don't open it during the hot part of the day..also plant shade trees to the south and west.

Are you the original owner of the manufactured home? If not, you may not know how much insulation they used when building your home. I found out while helping Mom look a few years ago that MANY manufactured home places use super good cents (or quality insulation) as an option. This means it does not come standard with the home and costs an additional amount if you want it in your home. I think this is ridiculous, but many manufactured home places will charge many "normal" features in most houses as an option or upgrade.

If you don't have good insulation, it's always going to be hot in your house, but you can use blinds/shades and try to keep things cooler inside. You may want to talk to a contractor about whether insulation could be added (if necessary) and compare that cost with air conditioning costs. Sorry, don't mean to sound negative, but I think some regulations on basic building codes with manufactured homes could be improved. BTW, Mom got a small but very well built Marlette, which she loves!

I haven't thought about this for years. When I was a kid we didn't have AC. My dad worked for a construction company and we moved around a lot. One house had an attic fan. We would crack the windows in the house about 3 or 4 inches, turn on the fan and it would draw air in from outside. To simulate that effect in other houses, we put a box fan in the window facing out, cracked the other windows and that would pull air from outside in and blow hot air out. you might try that and see if it works for you. Put the fan on the hot side of the house if there is one so that it pulls the air from the cooler side through. You can adjust the windows to get the maximum breeze effect by experimenting.. You'd be surprised how much cool night air will come through. Probably won't help as much in the daytime but will help some.

This is an old post, but just to update. I did find a reasonable solution and want to pass it on. I live in the desert of california and it is well over 100 during the days. Last March I painted my roofing shingles with that white elastomeric paint. Inside during the day it is about 30 degrees cooler then outside. I am now running my AC only briefly in the evening so the temp evens out with outside. Then if it starts to warm up again, I open up the house windows. It's working for me but Im interested in maybe adding rigid foam board to my outside walls too.

Insulation may help, but it won't fix the problem. We have a brand new home, with R19 in the walls, R22 under the floor, and R33 in the ceiling. Our home too seems to gain and retain heat. This is nice in the winter, with it dropping maybe a degree an hour with all the windows open and the heat off and it below freezing outside. This is awful in the summer, though. It just won't cool off inside. We have medium shingles, neither dark nor light, but we have NO shade trees.

As a child I lived in a home without A/C, and in the summer we kept all the blinds, shades, and curtains drawn all day. When it cooled in the evening we opened all the windows and used one fan to exhaust the hot air so the others could draw in the cooler air. All the windows were closed shortly after sunup. This makes for a dark and depressing living space, but it will be cooler.

My home is covered in faux stucco (drivet? I think), over 2 inch thick foam, and it's remarkably temperate. I leave the windows open in the cool mornings and evenings, then shut the windows and blinds before the day warms up too much. Occasionally I run the AC in the evenings, if the day has been particularly hot (which is rarer in Wyoming!). We also got new windows when the siding was done, which probably helps maintain temperature.

I'm glad you found a solution that works for you, though, and thanks for updating us after all this time!