Insulation And Ventilation: Rx For An Attic That Running A Fever

Tulsa Blown In Insulation

Hot attics can be a major source of excess heat throughout your home. As sunshine beats down on the roof, temperatures in unfinished and unconditioned attics can reach 150 degrees or higher. This heat is easily absorbed and transferred by building materials such as wood. The heat radiates downward, increasing temperatures in all areas beneath the attic. In most homes, this translates to practically everywhere within the structure. By maintaining proper levels of both insulation and ventilation in your attic, you can limit the effects of excess heat that accumulates in this part of your house.Heat transferred from your attic to your living spaces can make your home uncomfortable and cause your air conditioning system to work harder than necessary, increasing wear on the unit and causing spikes in your utility bills. Adequate attic insulation and ventilation will prevent this problem by reducing the amount of heat that accumulates in your attic.

• Insulation: Install plenty of insulation in the attic to keep out heat. Fiberglass roll or blanket insulation is commonly used between beams and joists in the attic wall, floor and roof. Irregularly shaped or difficult-to-reach areas can be insulated using loose-fill pellet insulation. Use insulation with the highest R-value possible. R-values are a measure of how well insulation resists heat flow. The Energy Star program recommends using insulation with R-values of R30 to R60 in the Tulsa area.

• Ventilation: Attic fans will increase ventilation and airflow, which moves both heat and moisture from the attic to the outdoors. Attic fans should be able to replace the entire volume of air in the attic 10 times an hour. Increased airflow will be very effective at keeping your attic and your home cooler. Contact your local trusted HVAC provider for assistance with finding an attic fan that will create sufficient ventilation for your space.

For more than three decades, Air Assurance has been a leading source of HVAC sales, installation and maintenance in and around Tulsa. Contact us today for more information on attic insulation and ventilation and how improving these factors can make your home more comfortable and energy efficient.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock

What Building Materials Are Best for Efficient HVAC Performance in Your Home?

What is your home made out of? The materials used to build a house are an important factor in its energy efficiency, particularly when it comes to your HVAC system. What are the best HVAC building materials to use? Here are a few.

Basic Materials

There are several options that have been used in building houses for millennia. Among them are stone, brick, and concrete. This is largely because they're strong, sturdy, and long-lasting. However, they have other benefits as well, in terms of temperature regulation.

All these materials are very effective at heat absorption, acting as natural insulation. In winter, the sun heats them up, providing warmth to the house's interior. In summer, they absorb the hot air inside the house, allowing it to cool more quickly. In both cases, it then becomes easier for your home to reach its ideal temperature, reducing the load on your HVAC system.

Cutting-Edge Materials

Stone and brick can be incredibly effective in temperature regulation. However, scientists are currently developing brand new HVAC building materials that can reduce HVAC energy use even more. Smart building materials are still in their infancy, but someday they may eliminate the need for AC and furnaces almost entirely.

These smart materials are modeled after the human body and that of other warm-blooded organisms. Whether there's a heat wave or a blizzard, your internal body temperature remains the same — around 98 degrees. Imagine if the temperature of an entire building could be regulated the same way and kept constant, regardless of outside conditions.

As it currently stands, the material is a gel-like substance, which would make it difficult to build with. However, it could line other building materials or be used as a window treatment to help with temperature regulation. It will likely be at least a few years before these materials become widely available. When they do, though, it could change the face of HVAC forever.

To learn about other HVAC building materials to improve your home's energy efficiency, contact us at Air Assurance. We provide quality home-comfort solutions to Broken Arrow.