Keeping the summer heat at bay

I live in a part of the USA that is currently baking in the unusually high summer heat.  In my part of Texas, we're also under a really bad drought, a drought so bad that it rivals and may surpass the drought of 1918.

Back in the early spring when DH started on the utility room renovations, the main goal was to install central heat and air conditioning in our house.  We didn't get it installed before summer got here, so we put our two window unit air conditioners back in - one in the bedroom and the big one in the den.  The poor things have been working like crazy to keep us cool.

With all the gutting in the kitchen, and the fact that that side of the house gets afternoon sun, the air conditioners are losing the battle.  By the mid-afternoon, I am sweating like the proverbial pig.  And, as all of Texas is baking and there are high demands on the power grids in the state, we are all being asked to conserve energy.  So DH and I are resisting the urge to crank the air conditioners down to arctic levels and we're sweating a lot.  Oh well.  To everything there is a season, and it won't be hot forever.

If everything goes as planned, DH should be able to get a lot done on the kitchen that will help seal out the heat.  He is taking today off from work and hopes to get the following items crossed off his "to do" list this weekend:
- replace the kitchen window with a new more energy efficient one.
- rewire all the plugs under the kitchen cabinets so we can plug in appliances.
- insulate the walls with fiberglass batting.
- install new sheetrock where it was torn out.
- tape and bed the new sheetrock.

We'll see how it all goes and I'll post pictures of the progress.

Here's a picture of the kitchen floor with the OSB subfloor after DH got it all done.  We'll not put the "final and real pretty" floor down until we get everything else done.  The "real" floor is currently in several boxes on the floor behind the couch in the den.

LoneStar