Increase The Heating And Cooling Efficiency Of Your Home With Attic Protection And Ventilation
If you are looking for ways to increase the efficiency of the heating and cooling in your home, you may want to consider having an assessment done to determine if an attic radiant barrier and solar attic fans can help. Both of these additions to your current home are designed to move or hold air in different situations and control the temperature in your attic. They help maintain the temperature in the house and reduce damage to the roof.
Radiant Barriers
Heat and cold air move through the attic space in most homes without much restriction. A house with good insulation in the attic can still get hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but adding additional protection inside the attic can help.
Radiant barriers are large sheets of foam covered in a reflective material attached to the rafters inside the attic and along the attic walls. It is typically installed over the existing insulation, adding protection to the already existing insulation in the home.
The barrier is intended to keep warm air in the attic during the winter months and has perforations in the material to allow heat to escape in the summer. To get a good idea if this will work well in your attic space, you may want to have an energy assessment done on the house by a professional that can recommend the best way to improve your homes energy efficiency.
The inspector may recommend radiant barriers for your space, and you can ask them about options if they don't. Often they can help you determine if these barriers will help in your home or if other options may work better.
Solar Attic Fans
Installing several solar attic fans is another option that you may want to discuss with your energy inspector. Solar fans are installed in the roof or on the gable of the house and use solar power to spin the fans, removing hot air from the attic of your home. The vans come in varying sizes as well as fan flow rates.
Pulling the heated air out of the attic allows cooler air to fill the space and, in turn, makes the home cooler, but also provides some protection to the underside of the roof. This helps reduce the temperatures of the shingles and lessens the change of damage to the roofing material from the heat. Not every home is a good candidate for a solar fan, so discuss the options with the professional doing your home energy assessment. They often have experience with these products and have a good idea of the types of homes they work well in.