Optimizing a home is a years-long process. You must closely watch for patterns in how you move about it; how you use things within it; how surfaces wear and age; how light and dark, heat and cold come and go; how things sound.

If your dairy had a stone, tiled or brick floor, then a bucket of water sloshed over the surface would sink in and slowly evaporate during the day in the cool crossflow of air from your windows. This can reduce summer temperatures by four or five degrees.