Thermal insulation slows down the passage of hot air into air-conditioned rooms below. What most of us have in our attics is thermal insulation, including mineral wool, cellulose, urethane foam or similar products. Anyway, radiant barriers are an expensive way to go. It might help the house cool down, but it might not. Will radiant barrier insulation in the attic help my house get cooler? You could also have a whole-house energy audit to look for problems with ducts and air infiltration. If you think you need more insulation, consult a reputable expert. Over-insulating an attic or crawl space won’t save you enough money on power bills to make the expense worthwhile. So, when someone tries to sell you insulation rated at more than R-38 for your home in the desert, your return on investment will be slim. And the recommended values come from building codes and the U.S. Those R-values measure how effectively insulation resists heat flow into your cooled spaces below. But newer homes in central and southern Arizona are insulated to ratings of R-30 to R-38, while newer homes in northern Arizona generally have attic insulation at R-60 because of colder winters. If your home was built before 1984, it almost certainly needs more insulation. Generally, if insulation was installed more than 20 years ago, its effectiveness may have deteriorated. If you see a lot of lumber, you don’t have enough insulation. What you should see is a continuous layer of insulation with no wood peeking out. As we often recommend, get on a ladder and stick your head into the attic to get an idea of what’s happening. Maybe it will if you have an older home built before standards for insulation improved. If I just add more insulation to my attic, will my house get cooler? But before you spend, here is the scoop on what can help, and what can’t. A lot of those schemes involve plans for more insulation. Everybody is searching for some magic device to reduce the temperature indoors so that their utility bills will be lower and their comfort level will be higher. Is the water running from your kitchen faucet hot enough to boil an egg, or just to wilt the lettuce for your Caesar salad? Are you risking heatstroke when you visit that Death Valley location you refer to as your garage? Is your attic so hot that you wonder why your roof isn’t on fire?Īrizona residents worry about how to cool down the house without cranking up the air-conditioner more often.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |