Mopping the floor during a heatwave may be as effective as air conditioning, Kevin McCloud says

TV presenter says his practical tip is ‘basic physics’

Grand Designs presenter and designer Kevin McCloud has offered his unconventional tip to help keep your home cool during the summer months.

Britain experienced an unusually warm summer this year, and a new record was set in July when the Met Office recorded a temperature of 40.3 Celsius in Coningsbury, Lincolnshire.

McCloud, who is gearing up for the release of the 23^rd season of the TV series, shared a technique that he learned from those who live in rural Italy.

In a new interview with Radio Times, he suggested Britons try mopping their floor as a cost-effective and environmentally conscious alternative to air conditoning.

“Mop your floors in the morning but don’t mop the water off, just leave it there to evaporate,” McCloud said, disclosing that he learned the tip from “little old Italian men” who use the method to cool their rural homes.

“They’re not doing it to keep clean. The water evaporates; to do so it draws energy from its immediate environment. So, sun heats water, water evaporates off, stone becomes cool. Air passing over stone into house becomes cool,” McCloud added.

“Or go and sit under a tree – because the water is evaporating off the leaves you get evaporative cooling.”

McCloud explained: “This is basic physics, it’s exactly the same physics of evaporative cooling in air conditioning. You can put your hand in your pocket and pay £3,000 or you can let nature help.”

The TV host also insisted that window glazing is not to blame for warm houses in the summer months, and that people should be focusing on how much shade their property gets.

“Go to Morocco or any hot climate in the world, and there are plenty of buildings with glazing. It’s not the glass that’s the issue. It’s the shading that we need to be providing,” he said.

“Go and buy a gazebo from B&Q, stick it outside your big glass wall, and you’ve sorted the problem.”