If you have to cool one space in your home, make it this. How to handle life without AC.

If you don't have air conditioning or you're trying to keep your utility costs manageable, there are ways to mitigate the cloying heat that has been bullying the Midwest and East this week.

That heat dome has left cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston baking under 100-degree-plus temperatures. Other urban areas broke records this week, with New York City’s Central Park measuring its hottest day since 2012.

And heat-related deaths are on the rise. In 2023, the U.S. reported 2,325 — a departure from the hundreds of deaths a decade earlier.

Residents aren’t just facing hotter summers. They’re confronting an uptick in extreme heat events that send temperatures skyrocketing — and the local heat indexes to what the National Weather Service calls “extreme caution,” or temperatures between 90 and 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and “danger” for those even higher. These extreme temperatures can cause heat stroke and heat exhaustion, increasing the odds of a vulnerable individual experiencing a cardiac event or stroke.

“There are many places in the country where it hasn’t historically been hot, so you don’t necessarily have central air conditioning in your house,” explained Ashley Ward, the director of Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub. As Ward spoke to Homes.com on Tuesday, she was leading a summit on heat policy in Washington, D.C., which was sizzling under temperatures in the high 90s.

First and foremost, people should prioritize creating a cool space in the house, Ward detailed. In extreme heat events, this space should be the bedroom: Sleeping in stifling temperatures comes with “some of the worst health outcomes from heat,” she said, and it prevents your body from getting quality rest and the recovery time it needs after a day of exposure.

When it comes to keeping a single space cool, people should block the sunlight streaming through the windows. It’s an important detail, explained Christine Turknett Ho, principal interior designer at Breathe Design Studio in Austin, Texas.

Although they can do only so much in an extreme heat event, she cautioned, window treatments such as cellular shades and curtains can block daylight, mitigating the solar gains and maintaining a cooler temperature in the space.

“If you can get a blackout curtain, a velvet curtain or something with a really thick liner that really kind of keeps the sun out,” Ho said, “it’s almost like creating a false wall.”

Maintaining a cool space also involves an obvious tool: fans.

Whether mounted on a ceiling, placed on a table in the corner, or plugged in and plopped on the floor, fans keep air moving, Ward noted. You can also sit in front of a fan with a cool rag behind your neck or under your armpits, she said, which will lower your core body temperature.

Ward also noted the hit-or-miss effectiveness of an evaporative cooler, sometimes called a "swamp cooler," which cools a space using fans and evaporated water. Although these work well in dry climates, they could make things worse for homeowners in an already humid one.

“If you introduce more moisture into the air when it’s already very humid, it is actually harder for your body to cool down,” she emphasized.

People can also keep their rooms cool by considering fan placement, Ho said. “You definitely want to consider the spaces that are most used … and you also want to make sure it’s proportionate to the room.”

In short, make sure you're putting fans in high-traffic rooms or rooms that get hot easily, and avoid selecting a fan that's too small — or too big — for a given area.

"You could get a fan with a light kit in it so that you have both a light and a fan," Ho said. "There are also fans you can mount to the corners of rooms as well."

When it comes to decorating a space destined for heat — whether that’s roasting under southern exposure or AC-free — not all furniture fabrics and finishes are created equal.

“When it comes to trying to stay cool, you definitely want to stay with linens and cottons,” Ho said, noting that it helps to think about how a couch cushion might feel after sitting in the sun. These “natural fabrics” are “just going to feel more comfortable,” she explained.

“I think I would probably stay away from leathers, velvets, really heavy wools that might feel a little bit scratchy,” Ho said. “Things that would just not be conducive to sweating.”

When it comes down to it, one of the best ways to stay cool at home is to know your space and use the resources it offers.

For some, Ho said, this may mean spending time in smaller rooms. “If you know you get a ton of light in the living room and it's going to be really hot there from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. … go sit in your den,” she said.

It’s clear design logic that Ho linked to highly compartmentalized Tudor-style or Victorian-era homes built before air conditioning.

In an older home built without AC, Ho said, the kitchen might get really hot. “You’re cooking in there,” she said. “You don’t want to warm your entire house if it’s summer; you want to keep the heat in a contained room, so that’s why in a lot of these old homes everything just feels like a bunch of small rooms.”

While staying hydrated is essential, water applied outside the body is essential to staying cool, Ward said.

“If you’ve been outside and you come in, take a cool shower,” she advised. “That lowers your body temperature.”

For those unable to take a shower, Ward suggested filling a container with cool water and submerging your feet. “We know that foot and arm immersion are very effective ways to lower your core body temperature,” she said.

And while creating a cool space, moving air, and using water effectively can all help keep you cool at home, Ward emphasized the importance of knowing when to leave.

“For people who don’t have any air conditioning at all, if you’re in a situation like a heat bomb — it’s happening right now — the most important thing for you to do is make a plan, because you’re probably going to have to seek out a cool space somewhere,” Ward explained. “Once we get close to 100 degrees and over 100 degrees, it becomes unsafe for you to be inside without air conditioning.”

“Find where the cooling centers are in your community,” she instructed and check on your elderly neighbors. “We are our own true first responders, and we have to take care of the people in our community.”