Reducing Heat Gain In Your Home

When it comes to keeping your home cool, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the overall comfort you can achieve. Obviously, your air conditioning system plays a major role in keeping you COOL! However, there are other things you can do that will help. In this post I will try to share a few of the methods I believe work, as well as tell you if I feel they are something you can do yourself, or if you are better off leaving it to the professionals.

Attic Ventilation - If you have owned a home for any amount of time, you are aware of how warm it can get in your attic during the summer. Some of that is unavoidable, but a large portion of the heat is present because it doesn’t have any other place to go. Attic ventilation allows the expanded warm air to escape your attic, instead of finding its way into your home.

There are a number of types of attic ventilation, and there are a couple of important things to keep in mind as you plan on which strategy is best for you. The first thing you need to understand is that even if you add a lot of ventilation openings in your roof, air is dumb and does not know it is supposed to go where you want it to go. One of the most important parts to a correct attic ventilation system is proper venting in the soffets of your house. Soffet vents are louvered openings in the overhangs around your home. This is what establishes the airflow pattern that pushes the warm air out of your attic. When it comes to the size and number of soffet vents, there is no such thing as too much. Obviously you don’t want to completely remove the underside covering on your overhangs, but you do want to install a significant number of soffet vents to allow for maximum air circulation.

Once you have gotten the soffet vents installed, it is time to choose the exit attic ventilation.

There are a number of choices here, but I am really only a fan of two. The two types of ventilation I feel are most effective are ridge vents and passive vents. A ridge vent is a continuous vent that runs along the ridge of your roof. It allows air to leave your attic at its highest point. This is the most effective form of attic ventilation. Close behind is the passive vents. Passive vents are simply openings in your roof that have a protective covering over them to block water and debris. There are powered versions of these vents, but research shows that these vents can be damaging to the indoor air quality of the home because of the large amount of air they pull from the attic. Powered vents are strong enough they can actually pull air from inside the home.

So, I recommend having either a ridge vent or passive attic vents installed to facilitate proper attic ventilation. This is also a job I would recommend leaving to the pros.

Attic Insulation - This is another of those things that everyone knows they need, and most people know they don’t have enough of. The proper amount of attic insulation will dramatically reduce the heat gain on your home, thus requiring your air conditioning system to work less and save you money.

The best type of attic insulation is the kind that is blown into the attic. I say this for several reasons. First, blown in insulation does not leave voids, like what can happen when you lay batts of insulation in your attic. These voids become “hot spots” that decrease the effectiveness of the insulation. You also get a better quality product with blown in insulation.

This is certainly a job that can be done by a homeowner, but again, I recommend leaving this to the professionals. This way you don’t have to worry about damaging your home and cleaning up the installation equipment. Plus, it is about the same price to let a professional handle the job.

Radiant Barrier - This is something most people have never heard of, but it is rapidly gaining in popularity. Recent research indicates that the majority of heat gained in the attic is a direct result of UV radiation. UV radiation passes directly through your roof and warms any surface it comes in contact with. Radiant barriers are designed to repel UV radiation.

There are several types of UV barrier. One type resembles a large sheet of aluminum foil. Another looks like shiny bubble wrap. Still another is part of roof decking material and is installed under new shingles. There is also a paint-based barrier that can be sprayed on the back side of the roof decking. My favorite product is the version that resembles a large sheet of aluminum foil. I like this product for several reasons. It has been proven to be the most effective at repelling UV radiation. It is relatively inexpensive. It is fairly easy to install. And it is essentially maintenance free.

If you think your home could benefit from a radiant barrier, and you are thinking about installing the foil sheets, I would say this is definitely something you could do yourself. I would just suggest starting early in the day to avoid being in the attic during the heat of the day.

There are a number of other products I could discuss, but in the interest of time and space, I will cut it off here for today.

If you have any questions about anything I have discussed, or you are interested in tackling one of these projects, I would be glad to help in anyway I can. Just drop me an e-mail, or give me a call.

Thanks! And STAY COOL!!!