Windows are generally where homes will absorb the most heat from the outdoors. Don’t forget the rest of the house, though. There are several things you can do beyond the windows to keep it cooler:
- Seal gaps
Gaps between different building materials and around windows, doors and baseboards/skirting boards may allow hot air into your home from the outside. Seal them up! - Fit draft excluders and insulating strips
Along the same principles as the previous point, you might want to fit insulating strips on exterior door frames and window frames. Draft excluders on doors will reduce or eliminate hot drafts. - Fit radiant barrier in your attic
If you have an attic, reducing the temperature there will go a long way towards keeping your whole home cool.A popular way to do this is by fitting radiant barrier to the underside of your roof decking or rafters. It’s not hard to do, and should improve the attic temperature significantly.
- Insulate walls and ceiling
While walls and ceilings are way better insulators than windows, there’s a huge difference between a poorly insulated and well insulated wall (or ceiling).If your house was built after 1920, it probably has cavity walls. Cavity walls are prime candidates for quick and cheap insulation that will save you a whole bunch of money.
Although you’ll have to pay a professional installer to install the insulation, the savings from running your air conditioner (and heater in the winter) a lot less will pay for the job within 18 months.
Check with your local authorities, there may well be a support program in place for this kind of installation.
- Repaint/reclad your house in a light color
Light colors reflect more heat than dark colors.
That’s it for this post – next up in the green home cooling series is “Stuff for green home cooling” – how your light bulbs, refrigerator and other objects will affect indoor temperature and what you can do about it.
This post was tagged with: air conditioning, cavity walls, cooling, draft excluders, energy efficiency, energy saving, heat buildup, home cooling, home improvement, house cooling, indoor temperature, radiant barrier, saving energy