San Antonio expert shares tips on keeping homes cool and saving money as temperatures rise

SAN ANTONIO- With temperatures starting to climb outside, you always want to make sure your house stays cool on the inside. Summer may not officially be here yet, but there are ways to keep yourself cool and save money as the weather heats up.

Master Home Inspector James Williams says, “One of the biggest things you want to do is make sure the weather stripping around your doors are properly sealed off . You’re not having a lot of heat coming in from the outside."

Williams says checking weather stripping is easy and can help keep your home cool. The same goes for attic spaces.

"You want to make sure those are insulated with insulation over them and their weather stripped as well to keep that heat from coming into the house and the cool leaving the house," says Williams.

With AC units, he says make sure they’re free and clear of anything because they need to breathe.

"When the units run it’s pulling air from the outside to cool it off and pulling the heat out of the house," says Williams.

He adds keep doors open and vents open at least 25 percent to make sure air is properly flowing. Also having good windows and blinds help keep the heat out.

"Making sure you have good blinds on there to help prevent the sun from coming in there,” says Williams.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ralph Riviello is chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Health San Antonio and head of the emergency department at University Health. “The earlier you can do something the better or the later in the day I would say even after 4 :30 , 5:00 if you can ." says Dr. Riviello.

Dr. Riviello says if you’re doing outdoor activities listen to your body and don’t play around too long in the heat.

"If you feel like you're getting overly tired or fatigued or that you've stopped sweating ..those are signs you might be in trouble," says Dr. Riviello.