Managing Extreme Temperatures on a Budget – Cocooning!

When it comes to keeping your home, and everyone in it, comfy and cosy, you don’t always need to retrofit your entire home. Sometimes, focusing on just one room can do wonders. Enter the magical world of “cocooning”—a clever trick to create a snug, climate safe room that stays at the perfect temperature all year round!  

What’s the Deal with Cocooning?

Think of cocooning as giving one room in your home a superhero cape against temperature extremes. It’s an ideal solution if you’re not ready to retrofit the entire house. By making one room as “tight” as possible, you can seriously cut down on heat escaping in the winter and keep the summer heat at bay. This means you’ll have a cosy haven that stays at goldilocks temperatures – just right—neither too hot nor too cold. Just remember, keeping an eye on indoor air quality is key to making sure your cosy cocoon is also a healthy one.

And here’s the cool part: Once your room is cocooned, you only need to use the air conditioning for a quick 10-minute burst in the morning and evening to keep things comfy. Of course, you can crank up the A/C if you’re in the mood for some extra chill!

Remember, we are advocating cocooning for days of temperature extremes – this is not an “every day” solution. 

How We Perfected Cocooning

Our cocooning method was born from a heartfelt Mildura City Council project in 2011 aimed at helping Home and Community Care (HACC) participants—many on tight budgets—survive the blistering Mildura heat (we’re talking a diurnal range of 50℃!). Sensing that running air conditioning all day was a costly luxury, we found that cocooning was a lifesaver, offering comfort without breaking the bank. It was some of the most rewarding work we’ve done at ecoMaster, and it warms our hearts to know it made a real difference.

Steps to Cocoon Your Room

Ready to create your own cosy retreat? Follow these steps to cocoon your room and turn it into your personal climate-controlled sanctuary!

1. Pick the Perfect Room

• Think Outside the Box: Choose a room that will make the most of your cocooning efforts. For summer, a room on the south side of your home is your best bet. If you have a spare bedroom, consider transforming it into a comfy sitting area with everything you need to stay entertained, like a TV or a good book.  It’s best if this is a smallish room – large expanses are very difficult to cocoon. 
• Purpose Matters: If you’re converting a spare room, make sure it’s set up with things to keep you occupied during the day. That way, your cocooned room becomes a perfect retreat, day or night!

2. Shield the Room from the Outside

• Install Removable Shading: Use removable shading options to block sunlight from hitting external walls. Items like water tanks or polystyrene vegetable boxes work well.
• Block the Sun: Prevent the sun from warming up the walls by adding simple barriers.

3. Enhance the Room from the Inside

Ceiling:

• Upgrade Lighting: Replace halogen downlights with fully sealed IC4 LED lights to avoid gaps and improve insulation.
• Super Insulate the Ceiling: Add extra insulation to your ceiling, well beyond the standard requirements for your area.   R6 and even R7 is considered a good level of ceiling insulation in cooler climates. 

Floorboards: 

• Underfloor Insulation: Add underfloor insulation if there is sufficient access. 
• Floorboard Gaps: For winter, make sure that the gaps between your skirting boards and floorboards are sealed, and that gaps between each floorboard have been identified and sealed. 
• Floor Coverings:  Carpet or a large, well secured, rug bring a sense of warmth to a room in winter.  In summer, bare floors can feel cooler. 

Entrances and Exits:

• Seal Draughts: Ensure the room is draught-proof. Seal any fireplaces if applicable and install draught excluders at the bottom of doors.
• Perimeter Seals: Install perimeter seals (Draught Dodgers) around your doors to prevent leaks.
• Cavity Slider: If the room has a cavity slider, retrofit it to ensure it’s sealed properly.

Windows:

• Draught-Proof Windows: Seal any draughts around the windows.
• Thermal Barrier: Upgrade or add window coverings to create thermal barriers from external extreme temperatures.
• Pelmets:  Install pelmets to prevent the convention current that sets up between the glass and your curtains.  See Invisible Pelmets as a cheap and fast option. 
• Install Renshade: Consider installing Renshade on your windows for added protection against summer heatwaves.

Walls: 

• Assuming wall insulation is out of scope… 
• Position thermally dense materials against the external wall/s absorbing the heat / chill.  This could be something like a set of book cases. 

Who does Cocooning Work for? 

The quick answer is “everyone!”  However, the most effect will be felt by folks who are working from home, retired, or otherwise able to send the majority of their day in one room.  They might be working on a laptop, watching TV, knitting, doing the crossword or playing cards.   Some clients have taken their pre-prepared lunch and drinks into their cocoon and literally spent their entire day in that room.  

In summer, as temperatures drop in the evening, it is good practice to open up the room and let it fully ventilate.  Yes, you need to monitor your indoor air quality to ensure you are working and playing in a healthy living environment. 

With these steps, you’ll transform your room into a cosy, energy-efficient sanctuary that can handle whatever the weather throws at it. Remember – you are just working on one smallest room, so the costs and efforts will be minimal.  

Happy cocooning!

What’s Next?

We hope this article has helped you learn how to use simple ways to save on your utility bill. This in turn will help you on your energy and thermal efficiency retrofit journey to make your home more comfortable all year round, and reduce your costs and carbon emissions.  

Next, explore The Importance of Airtight Homes: Insights from Recent CSIRO Research.

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