Does Insulation make your Home Hotter in Summer?
With energy bills rising and the threat of global warming becoming increasingly evident, millions of homeowners have turned to insulation as a saving grace. Insulation reduces your energy consumption, thus, making your carbon footprint smaller. Additionally, insulation conserves more energy, allowing you to rely less on heating and cooling your property, which, in turn, can reduce your energy bills.
However, there is a common myth that needs to be debunked, and that is the fear that insulation makes your home hotter in summer. On the contrary, insulation can actually keep your home cooler in the summer months by preventing heat from entering.
Why is your Home so Hot?
As of 2022, Britain is experiencing one of the hottest summers on record, with extreme temperature being out of the ordinarily recorded up and down the country. As summers become hotter, you will notice differences in your way of life, one being that your home will become increasingly hot to live in, unless addressed beforehand.
Some common factors for an abnormally hot home are:
- Lack of shading
- Insufficient ventilation
- Ineffective insulation
Especially in smaller apartment that have big windows constantly facing the sun, internal temperatures can quickly heat up, especially without the other two factors above.
Ventilation can help with the circulation of air throughout your home, helping hot air leave and not concentrate in one area.
Insulation can also prevent heat from entering into your home, for example, by investing in wall insulation, you can essentially keep the heat out in summer.
Loughborough University Professor Kevin Lomas stated,
“Insulating homes has very little, if any, impact on the risk of overheating,”
Depending on your type of home, for example, if you have a loft extension, these areas can become extremely hot if not well treated. As heat rises, your loft extension becomes a primary area for heat to congregate in and also via the sun through the roof, your loft can easily heat up.
Therefore, if you do have a loft extension, it is crucial that the area is well ventilated and you have effective insulation that can reflect the heat, keeping it out. There are many products that are “foil-facing” that can do just that.
How can you keep your Home Cool?
A question that many are asking in this current weather. One of the most effective methods is simply by having more shading. Less direct sunlight will significantly keep your home at a cooler base level. Whether you use shutters, drapes, solar panels or balconies to create shade, it all contributes to cooling down your property.
If you wish to go a step further, you can invest in reflective film, this can be applied on glass windows, and it aims to block out infrared light (the type of light which carrier heat).
Ventilation is also crucial for a cool property, this will make sure that your home has a flow of air inside, so when the day is cooler, cool air can flow throughout your home.
Insulation, as previously mentioned, is also great for preventing the amount of heat transference into your home from the outside.
