Meet the Windsor, Ont. couple who have slept outside since April to beat the heat

Finding it a bit steamy this summer? You're not alone. Across Canada, people say they are really feeling the heat, especially in their homes. And we're tracking it. CBC teams have installed temperature and humidity sensors in dozens of homes in several cities, including Windsor, Ont., to see just what happens to people when things go from hot to sizzling to seriously dangerous. This is one of those stories.

Driving around the east end of Windsor, Ont., it's hard to miss Brenda Reidy and Keith Rousseau's home. The front door, steps and benches have all been hand painted with the colours of the rainbow; just a preview of the lifestyle the couple have adopted together. Inside, LED lights of different colours dance along surfaces of artifacts from around the world, DIY projects and artwork which they've painted directly on the walls. 

Something else that's hard to miss is the indoor heat. After deciding not to use air conditioning, possibly ever again, the couple has instead adopted their own cooling routine, one that has its very own eccentric components. And experts say they may be onto something. 

Reidy, 48, and Rousseau, 45, used to have a central air unit for the house when it was purchased nearly 20 years ago: an old Chrysler model that had been refurbished. According to them, it quickly ran its course.

"A couple of years [back], it just got so expensive to run," said Reidy. "And [Keith] doesn't like air conditioning, so we thought, let's give it a shot [without it]."

"This is our best year yet. We've learned some things and we're getting the system down," Reidy said. "Environmentally, it's nice not to be spending energy on and [we're] saving money. It's just better."

One of the most drastic changes the pair have adapted is the decision to regularly sleep outside, something they've done nearly every evening since April. What they call their "summer bedroom" is their back porch, now tarp-clad and complete with a mattress, television, LED lighting and mini fans. 

"This is Fort McCourt," Rousseau said. "We sleep here, we spend time here, we watch television here and whatnot." 

Reidy and Rousseau have been married now for five years, but they chose not to take each other's last names. Instead, they have a "made-up" last name for both of them they use playfully, a nod to author Frank McCourt, one of the first topics they bonded over. 

"It is our bedroom. It's our summer bedroom," said Reidy. "We have a bed, a chair, an end table. It's pretty cosy in there." 

The necessity of the couple's decision to sleep outside is reflected in some of the data collected by a temperature and humidity monitor installed at their home by CBC News at the end of June. Readings have shown several days with temperatures above 30 degrees inside and humidity inching toward 70% on multiple occasions.

Brock University Kinesiology Professor Stephen Cheung has been studying how the body reacts to extreme heat as temperatures rise. He said for homes in Canada, heat and humidity tend to stick around, since most of them are built for the cold.

"Because of the strong insulation, we can have a lot of heat built up inside the house, even though the outside temperature may not be as hot," he said. 

"Anytime the air temperature is getting close to your body temperature of [37 degrees], you're definitely under a lot more stress. Adding humidity, you're also not going to be able to get rid of [that] heat via sweating."