I'm in Atlanta. We live in a house built in the 20s just south of I-20. Thick brick walls on all sides, windows laid out so you can create a relatively strong breeze by opening the front and the back windows.
Most days we can leave the AC off. Temps will climb to about 75-76 by mid-afternoon, but rarely get too far above that.
The only part of the house that absolutely needs the AC is the upstairs converted attic. It was renovated in the 80s with no thought to air flow, and no way to get a cross breeze from the windows. So we have a mini-split we can run for that floor.
The house is going to feel warm if you're used to running AC 24/7, but 2 weeks in and 76 with a breeze feels fine.
I understand where you're coming from, the last place we lived was a more modern ranch house near Morningside, with bad layout for airflow and it was MISERABLE in the summer (routinely 90+ by 11am if the AC was off).
I'm just saying design matters a lot here, and makes a big difference. There's nothing special about Atlanta that makes that any less true.
Ranch has better cooling but I actually pay less in my new house compared to the ranch I was in. The ranch I was renting had roof issues. My new place is a 2 story house with half basement and garage underneath. 3 sided brick. Bought a place in Roswell to be closer to work and family.
My wife is almost 9 months pregnant and AC is mandatory!
Most days we can leave the AC off. Temps will climb to about 75-76 by mid-afternoon, but rarely get too far above that.
The only part of the house that absolutely needs the AC is the upstairs converted attic. It was renovated in the 80s with no thought to air flow, and no way to get a cross breeze from the windows. So we have a mini-split we can run for that floor.
The house is going to feel warm if you're used to running AC 24/7, but 2 weeks in and 76 with a breeze feels fine.
I understand where you're coming from, the last place we lived was a more modern ranch house near Morningside, with bad layout for airflow and it was MISERABLE in the summer (routinely 90+ by 11am if the AC was off).
I'm just saying design matters a lot here, and makes a big difference. There's nothing special about Atlanta that makes that any less true.