Did you know that basements don’t need HVAC units? A lot of people always wonder how people survived without HVAC units a hundred years ago.
Obviously, most people did not have central air conditioners, and the fireplaces or wood stoves that people had did not keep their houses warm during the night like furnaces keep our houses warm. Often, I find myself marveling at the way that ancient people learned how to overcome the difficulty of not having a reliable HVAC unit in their house. Sometimes, we like to think of older civilizations as primitive people because they do not have all the technology that we have, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Since older generations did not have the technology that we have, they had to find creative ways to solve problems like heating and cooling. Instead of building houses in the manner that we would build houses, they learned how to build houses in such a way that they would not need HVAC units. One of the ways that they did this is by making a lot of the rooms partially underground. Did you know that the ground holds a temperature of around 60 degrees? Although sixty degrees might sound chilly to you, it is a lot better than the normal temperatures that our houses would be without HVAC units. People would build their houses partially underground with basements that would allow people to live comfortably without HVAC units. They could still use the fireplace to keep warm, but they would also no longer need central air conditioners. I have always thought that it was super cool to learn how people got around common problems like this. Why don’t we still do this today? We would save money on our bills.