[sanengo]

I just realized that the sun sets directly over the window in my new apartment. The window is facing my computer desk in the bedroom. Even with the blinds closed, there's this streak of light that runs across my computer monitor reminding me that the sun does indeed set in the west. It's a 2nd floor apartment so it gets so much warmer than my previous place. I also found chips in the walls inside the closet..

What's your luck been in your new place?

[HuanLe]

West facing windows do suck, I'm sorry.

I turned down a great deal fifth story spacious apartment just because it was west facing, and opted for a less glamorous south facing apartment on the third floor.

But hey, you can always move your computer, right?

[joogrlpekaun]

Yeah my room also faces west so it's been getting really hot in the late afternoons. At least both of the desks that came attached to the walls in my room so I can't move them face into the center of the room (i.e., north and south), so the sun doesn't shine directly on my computer or straight into my face. I actually wanted a room that faces west, though, because winter is so long in Toronto that I wanted to have a room on the side that has at least some sunlight the latest. I'll be glad for the bit of extra afternoon warmth later, too. My window does cover the entire western wall of my bedroom (hence making it even easier for the small room to heat up) but at least the view of the city and the sunsets is excellent.

[sanengo]

HuanLe, that is a great suggestion lol. I've always preferred smaller apartments because more things could go wrong in a larger place.

joogrlpekaun, I would totally understand your decision as you are from Toronto. I used to live in Ottawa and having a east/west facing home was most ideal.

[ayuu.919]

Get curtains !
I have blinds too, but it doesn't do anything to protect me against the blinding sunlight esp. in the morning. Then I got curtains, and I just pin it up when it's not that sunny out.

[ronmexico]

Yeah, I think curtains would probably solve this problem. You're lucky you get any sun at all; my last apartment never did. My windows all looked into the office building that was next to mine.

[felinius]

Our room-mates room doesn't overheat, however for some reason we get a whole lot of sun and our room is like a freaking oven. With AC on.

[sanengo]

Speaking of AC, what temperature do you guys set your AC at?

[joogrlpekaun]

I have no AC to set. It's not nearly as horrible as if I were still at home in Virginia, and the weather should cool down all too soon, but it would be nice to have more than a fan that I can only feel in half of my tiny bedroom. Only about a quarter of the enormous window on my western wall actually even opens, so that makes things even worse for air circulation. There's also nothing to keep the common area and hall from getting almost unbearably hot in the late afternoon and evening, not even a fan. That's the biggest new place woe for me and my suitemates right now. At least the place has central heating, but then some sort of heating system is pretty much a given here or I would die in the winter living in a room that has a window along an entire wall right by my desk.

[felinius]

Speaking of AC, what temperature do you guys set your AC at?

We have to set it to 60 or else the AC won't turn back on. Nevermind that it never actually gets that cool in our room.

[oppas4all]

I have no ac either There's also a train that passes by my window. Is the 2nd floor that hot? I'm living on the 6th floor and it's pretty stuffy.

[joogrlpekaun]

^ I'm on the 11th floor and it's hella hot and stuffy up here right now too even though the sun is setting. I'm seriously avoiding walking down the hall outside my room because it feels like passing through a sauna. Excuse me while I rip off all my clothes and lie down on my bed directly underneath the fan.

[Xarthan]

hey if ur place dosen't allow you to install an AC build a DIY one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2s_1A8Sc20

I would have done this if I had known about it!

[felinius]

^ I'm on the 11th floor and it's hella hot and stuffy up here right now too even though the sun is setting. I'm seriously avoiding walking down the hall outside my room because it feels like passing through a sauna. Excuse me while I rip off all my clothes and lie down on my bed directly underneath the fan.

Why not buy a portable AC? They're a pretty penny but they really save you in the heat.

One of our friends bought a $300-$400 portable AC (needs access to outside tho but it rolls) and it was a saver ... having 4/5/6 guys sleeping in one room. LOL.

[joogrlpekaun]

hey if ur place dosen't allow you to install an AC build a DIY one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2s_1A8Sc20

I would have done this if I had known about it!

Too bad the comments say it doesn't work.

Why not buy a portable AC? They're a pretty penny but they really save you in the heat.

One of our friends bought a $300-$400 portable AC (needs access to outside tho but it rolls) and it was a saver ... having 4/5/6 guys sleeping in one room. LOL.

I can imagine that helping a lot in their case, but there's just no way I'm going to run out and spend a few hundred bucks that I can't afford to buy an air conditioning unit, 'cause it's just not worth it in a city that's only warm for maybe four weeks while I'm here and for a place I'll only be living in for the one academic year. I am seriously considering sucking up the moderate expense and buying myself a little fan to put on the side of the room that the ceiling fan only barely reaches, though. I wish I'd thought to steal the fan I was using at my mom's house this summer but my room only a block south of here was usually cool even when it was warm and sunny out (probably because it faced north). Ugh, chances are I'll just live with it until the weather cools down because I'd rather be too hot and sweaty than spend a grocery store trip's worth of money on a fan.

Man, reading all this makes it seem like I really hate my new place when I actually like it overall. But then again it is the apartment woes thread, and woe is what I'm feeling right now as the sweat runs down my back well after the sun has gone down.

[felinius]

I can imagine that helping a lot in their case, but there's just no way I'm going to run out and spend a few hundred bucks that I can't afford to buy an air conditioning unit, 'cause it's just not worth it in a city that's only warm for maybe four weeks while I'm here and for a place I'll only be living in for the one academic year. I am seriously considering sucking up the moderate expense and buying myself a little fan to put on the side of the room that the ceiling fan only barely reaches, though. I wish I'd thought to steal the fan I was using at my mom's house this summer but my room only a block south of here was usually cool even when it was warm and sunny out (probably because it faced north). Ugh, chances are I'll just live with it until the weather cools down because I'd rather be too hot and sweaty than spend a grocery store trip's worth of money on a fan.

Man, reading all this makes it seem like I really hate my new place when I actually like it overall. But then again it is the apartment woes thread, and woe is what I'm feeling right now as the sweat runs down my back well after the sun has gone down.

Oh! If it's like that. Here in Sacramento you -have- to have an AC. When my AC broke a year ago, the room was reaching temps of 100 ... it was so crazy. This is half of the year you get to deal with it too so it's definitely a deal.

[joogrlpekaun]

^ Yeah Toronto is more like Seattle (which is where I see you're from and one of my suitemates is too) in at this one way at least: not everyone has AC. My friend rents a room in a house in the city and the entire house doesn't even have window units on it, so she just bought a little fan and keeps it running whenever she's in her room. I don't remember there being any air conditioning when I lived in a dorm on campus for two years, either. Here it's heat that we can't live without because winter lasts for almost half the year, so I would guess that it's the exact opposite of Sacramento.

[sanengo]

Oh! If it's like that. Here in Sacramento you -have- to have an AC. When my AC broke a year ago, the room was reaching temps of 100 ... it was so crazy. This is half of the year you get to deal with it too so it's definitely a deal.

100 degrees every other day in Davis as well haha. I have my AC set to 78 for a one bedroom place, but it constantly resets to 84.. I have to figure out how to program it.

[Gytha]

lol ,,,i have not adverted to that at all. ..

[an1287]

It's relatively warm and humid here in Nashville, but the property owners were nice and provided an AC unit built into the wall. My windows (that are barred, hence cannot open ) are east facing, and also face a bar/pub that enjoys blasting random selections of music until the wee hours of the morning (and now that it's football season, hoards of Titans fans ). And living at street level near several hospitals probably doesn't help either...besides that, it's a great place! haha

The joys of having an apartment!