Extreme heat events pose serious risks at home, especially for heat-vulnerable individuals such as children, seniors, or people with chronic illnesses. When temperatures climb, heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion or heat stroke can occur quickly and without warning. Implementing heat protection measures at home is key to staying safe and maintaining comfort during extreme temperatures.
Benefits of heat protection
- Keeps indoor spaces cooler: Even without running AC constantly.
- Improves indoor air quality: With proper ventilation and reduced humidity.
- Enhances outdoor comfort: Through strategic shading and landscaping.
- Reduces risk of heat-related illnesses: By maintaining cooler indoor temperatures.
- Lowers chance of heat exhaustion or stroke: During extreme heat events.
- Improves sleep quality and general well-being: By minimizing excessive heat in living spaces.
- Lowers energy bills: Thanks to reduced reliance on air conditioning.
- Extends lifespan of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems: By decreasing overuse during hot weather.
- Helps prevent structural damage: Like warped wood, cracked walls, and compromised pipes.
- Protects electronics and appliances: From overheating.
- Reduces wear and tear: On windows, doors, and roofing materials.
- Cuts energy consumption: And lowers your household's carbon footprint.
Durham Greener Homes services for heat protection
Talk to a Greener Homes Coach
To help you better understand what may be the most effective green retrofits for you and your home, Durham Region residents can talk to a Greener Homes Coach — who will answer any questions you may have, and guide you through both the incentive process and the many retrofit options available.
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•There is no charge for this service.
•Available to Durham Region residents only.
Weather-ready Home Assessment
A Weather-ready Home Assessment is a free and comprehensive evaluation of your home’s readiness for extreme weather events including extreme heat and cold, flooding, and windstorms. This assessment identifies potential vulnerabilities in your home’s landscaping, building-envelope, and critical systems.
Learn more about a Weather-ready Assessment
•There is no charge for this service.
•Available to Durham Region residents only.
Heat protection: Don't wait until it's unbearable — be prepared!
Book a Weather-ready Home Assessment
- Follow simple do-it-yourself (DIY) measures to help stay cool at home on hot days.
- Implement heat protection retrofits to limit your risk during extreme heat events.
- The Home Resiliency Checklist is a practical self-assessment tool that helps homeowners evaluate their property’s resilience to extreme weather.
- Take cool showers or baths to lower your body temperature.
- Apply cold washcloths to your wrists, neck, and ankles.
- Wear lightweight, loose-fitting, breathable clothing in light colors.
- Drink plenty of water, even if you’re not thirsty as thirst isn’t a reliable indicator of dehydration.
- Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and sugary drinks, which can dehydrate you.
- Eat fruits and vegetables with high water content like watermelon, cucumber, and oranges.
- Be alert for symptoms like dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, or dark urine.
- If someone has a high body temperature and is confused or unconscious, call 911 immediately and cool them down while waiting.
- For more information on staying safe during extreme heat events, visit Durham Region Extreme Heat and Humidity Guide.
Heat protection resources
Durham Region extreme heat and humidity guide
Durham Region’s Extreme Heat and Humidity Guide provides essential information on staying safe during extreme heat events. It explains the health risks associated with high temperatures and humidity, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and provides warning signs to watch for. The guide offers practical tips on staying cool, hydrating properly, and accessing cooling centres in Durham Region. Additionally, it highlights heat-vulnerable populations, such as seniors and young children, and provides advice on how to support at-risk individuals during heat waves.
Heat Warning and Information System
The Durham Region Heat Warning and Information System can reduce heat-related illnesses during extreme heat events by alerting the public about extreme heat events, directing community response and outreach to vulnerable and priority populations, and providing individuals with information on how to prevent heat-related illnesses.
PDF files
Be prepared: Get started on your path to a greener, more energy-efficient, and weather-ready home today.
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Durham Region residents can get free expert and personalized advice from a trained Greener Homes Coach