How To Reduce Heat Gain In Your Home
Most of us can’t wait for the summers. Can’t you just picture sipping some iced tea while soaking in the sun right now? Same. But too much sun can actually prove to be kinda pesky for the home - especially as the days begin to become longer and the weather warmer.
Heat gain is a phenomenon that leaves heat trapped in your house even during cool nights - and can prevent yourself from cooling your house down without racking up a huge electricity bill every single month. In fact, more than 1/6th of our electricity can actually be used by air conditioners during hot summers. Considering this, finding ways to help your house cool naturally to save electricity - while reducing our carbon footprint can prove to be incredibly useful over time. Here’s a few ways to prevent heat gain that you can start to consider incorporating now so that you’re ready for the summer.
Roof vents
Let’s start with ventilation, considering it’s a crucial element to let the hot air out of the house. Ventilate the attic in order to reduce the amount of collected heat and help dispel it outside, making the house cooler naturally. These are also quite inexpensive and will not cost more than $10 each. Put up one vent at every corner of the roof and one after every 12 feet in case of a bigger home.
Use shades
It’s quite expensive to replace all of the windows in the house with reflective ones, which is why we like to opt for shades for them instead. Get custom window treatments depending on which area of the house they are being used for. Drapes and blinds are perfect for the kitchen, while you can choose any color of draperies for your rooms. Light-colored fabrics are better since they reflect most of the rays of the sun. This will really help in heat reduction.
Ceiling fans
Ceiling fans are a great way of giving your air conditioners a break. These use very little electricity and are very cost-effective if you want to get multiple fans installed in the house. These can also be used along with the air conditioner to make rooms cool down faster. Find these at any home supply, hardware, or lighting store. They’re even available online. There are a few models that can be used in reverse in winter to help pull warm air down instead of pushing warm air away.
Close basement doors and seal ducts
If there is central heating in the house, it is important to seal the ducts so that they are not leaky in the summers. Leaky ducts can bring in the hot summer air, making your air conditioners use more electricity. The basement is also one place that should be closed so that all the cool air does not go downwards.
