9. Radiant insulation and accumulated heat

When searching for a dream house, it's good to remember that there is no perfect one. My husband and I didn't get everything we wanted. One concern was the west side of the house faces an open space. Sure we have a nice view of the sky and roofs. But during the summer, sunlight hits the west facing windows and my tiny office gets really hot, becoming nothing but a storage room.

We are living over the 45th parallel north. At this northerly latitude the shortest winter daylight is less than 9 hours, longest summer daylight is close to 16 hours. So my office gets long hours of direct sunlight in the summer.

Generally strong sunlight was coming through the windows heating the curtains and blinds. This became another heat source inside the room. Also the floor and walls were able to hoard heat throughout the day, elevating the room temperature to an unbearable level. I thought it would be better to entirely cover each window from the outside. One important point for cooling the room and saving energy is sunlight doesn't hit curtains, blinds, floor or walls. Which means that my office would be dark during the day making it difficult work in.

When my husband and I were thinking about how to block and unblock sunlight, one of our friends introduced us to Roll Shutters. These fit our needs exactly. At that time I didn't have much insulation knowledge, even though I was thinking about ideas for controlling the temperature without using air conditioning. We put Aluminum Shutters outside my office windows and Solar Shades on our south facing living room windows. When they are rolled down, to my amazement, immediately the inside cools down.

My office is cooler, but dark during the hottest times of summer. Even so it is much more comfortable. Then I thought about the outside of our house. If sunlight makes that much heat, what's going on with the roof and walls outside?

Roof Temperature Difference

Aluminum reflects 97% of solar heat. There are different types of roofs that reflect less than aluminum. Since Radiant barriers don't reflect 100%, the sunlight that isn't reflected penetrates the roof and outside walls and heats up the interior living space. Some may think insulation is supposed to prevent heat. But, insulation stores most of the heat, and releases it little by little. Heat moves from higher to colder temperatures. When the sun goes down and the outside air cools, insulation continuously releases absorbed heat into the room. Insulation is like a sweater. So the house is wearing winter clothes all year round. Winter heat moves the opposite direction, escaping to the outside.

Summer heat causes a huge load on air conditioning, costing more money and energy for cooling heated walls and ceilings. One solution is adding thicker insulation. It would slow down the conduction of heat, and pay for itself after many years. There are different types of insulation materials ranging in price, and better to look for a heat barrier with it.

We chose Gaina because it is a thin material, easy for us to apply. We used it inside on the walls and ceilings. Gaina can also be applied on the exterior of the house as a radiant reflection barrier. So in the future, we would like to put Gaina on the outside of our house since the interior application is working so great.

Now I have my office room back in summer. And enjoying beautiful summer sunsets, without using air conditioning.