My favorite restaurant doesn't open until 11 am, it's hot as hell outside now, I don't have a job, workout, or like to exert any effort ever, so I blocked out the heat and sunlight from my windows so I could easily sleep into the afternoon. My room is much cooler now and is completely dark. Everything in this DIY project cost about $2 and took about an hour.
Stuff needed:
A4 paper (or any other paper or cardboard)
aluminum foil
tape
A lot of shops here in Laos will have cheap Chinese tape, but it's pure rubbage. It won't stick to anything longer than a week and will leave behind a persistent residue. There may well be a better tape brand than 3M, but it's what I've used since I was a kid. I've taken down something that was taped to the wall over 5 years and it still didn't leave behind any sticky. If you can, use 3M tape. Does anyone know of a better tape brand than 3M? (This isn't a 3M add or affiliate push by the way. I hate Walmart and Amazon. I'm not helping them sell anything.)
You don't want to put up the aluminum first. I've had the cops ask to see my room before because the foil in the window looked suspicious. I never thought about it until now so I googled "Why do drug addicts put tin foil in their windows?" It turns out, for the same reason I do, to keep out the sun so they can sleep all day. Maybe they think it can help keep out the aliens too. I don't know. I just know it looks like crap. It's better to put up some white paper first. It will look better to the neighbors and will add another layer of heat reflection. It will look way better if you can put all the paper on the windows so no tape shows too.
I got lucky. The aluminum foil roll was 6 meters long and was just wide and long enough to cover all four windows.
There were cracks in the window that let in lots of heat. The white paper alone reflected a lot of sunlight and with the tape kept out some heat, but the window on the right with aluminum and another layer of paper was much cooler and completely dark.
Remember:
Strike first. Strike hard. No Mercy.
Cobra Kai
The last time I did this, I used my old pizza boxes. Cardboard does a better job than paper, but A4 paper is all I had and it did a good job.
Most papers were held up by rolling the tape like this. I gave up the ability to open half the window so I could tape around the edges making it almost airtight.
It's pretty humid here. The paper will curl up a bit after a few days.
So I just added some pictures over the ugly spots.
Doing this will reduce your electric bill if you're using air-conditioning by a lot. It's nice to have complete darkness and a cool room during the summer. Thanks for reading. I hope this old-school idea helps you as it did me. Wakanda forever!