Summer is all fun with exciting outdoor activities, refreshing fruits and drinks, vacation, and many more and until you step down at your home to relax and chill and get heated by both of your burning hot attic and alarming electricity bills! Getting sweats just by thinking about it, right?
How to Keep Your Attic Cool in the Summer?
This article on home improvement product guide will elaborate on several easy ways to cooling down your attic in the hot summer!
Attic gets too hot!
When the sun is in full form during summer, your attic gets exposed the most and captures the most heat, too, as the warm air rises higher. If your home doesn’t have protection against this heat, your attic gets warmed up, and the high temperature directly affects the whole house. As a result, your AC takes more time and energy to cool down your home, and your electricity bill gets alarming! Hot attics also damages the walls, color, furniture, etc. of the house and also increases dampness. It’s not healthy to live in a house like that without proper ventilation too.
What to do now?
All of those problems can be solved only by cooling down your attic. You will have refreshing sir in your home, no issues of damp walls or furniture, insects, and even your electricity bill you go down. And if you do the attic ventilation properly, you may not need to use AC at all! But don’t worry. Keeping the attic cool during summer won’t cost you a fortune. And we’re here to save you from this heated mess with some painless ideas!
Tips & Tricks for keeping the Attic cool in the summer!
There are many ways to cool down an attic. But you have to decide which one is suitable for your attic, and it is easy for you to get it done. So here are some convenient ways to keep down the temperature!
Insulation is a must.
Insulation will save you in both winter and summer. In winter, it’ll keep the warm air, and in winter, it’ll release that. A well-insulated attic will work as the barrier for that high heat blowing during the summer. Proper insulation will save you from spending a lot of money on cooling down the whole house. For insulation, one of the best options will be to use spray foam that has a quality R-value and is water-resistant, You have to do the installation that is suitable for your whole house and both on the walls and floor of the attic. And make sure there are no leaks after insulation.
Use attic ventilating fans
Attic fans can be beneficial for ventilating and keeping the attic fresh. It definitely will keep attic cool in summer. Fans won’t cost you much, and they’re energy-efficient too. Attic fans can be gable or roof-mounted. Gable fans are easy to install as they will fit into your existing ventilation system. On the other hand, you have to cut your roof for installing roof-mounted fans. You have to decide that comparing the suitability. There are smart attic fans too, which will control its speed automatically based on the temperature. Attic fans may not work well if there are leaks on your roof. So, you have to take care of that before installing fans. This is one of the best ways to keep attic cool.
Install radiant barriers
You can protect your attic from sun exposure by using a radiant barrier. It’ll prevent the electromagnetic heat from transferring from the sun. And for that, you can use materials such as foil, copper, cardboard, plastic films, or aluminum. A radiant barrier will work as a reflector that means it will send back the heat where it came from. As a result, your attic won’t be able to store the heated temperature.
Repair the cracks
No matter how many ways you try to keep your attic fresh, leaks or cracks on your attic or other parts of the house will turn all the hard work pointless. Leaks and crack won’t let the attic ventilator and AC to work effectively. It gets you in trouble during winters too. That’s why you should check and repair them first and then apply or install something.
Plant trees!
Well, you may not have the result instantly, but having the shade above your roof actually keeps your attic cooler. Or you may have noticed this with houses having a tree over their roofs. That’s why try to plant trees that’ll turn into a big shady tree so that at least your future generation won’t have to suffer!
Construct a new roof (If possible)
The heated attic is mostly a common problem for old houses that have roofs without any heat protection. That’s why even though taking several measurements, nothing works for a long time. Constructing a new roof with materials that won’t store all the heat coming from the sun will be the best option. You can also add a layer of thermal underlayment beneath the roof so that the heat resistance gets better. Also, it’s better to paint the ceiling and walls with lighter colors because they absorb heat less than darker ones. All this work can be messy and hectic, but it’s better to get rid of the problem at once than suffering repeatedly.
Bottom Line
Getting the heat out of the attic is necessary to keep both of your home’s environment and wallet healthy. It keeps your attic cool in summer. You can also use home appliances with solar panels to save energy so that you can maintain the electric bills. We’d suggest if you take the steps for cooling down the attic before summer. Or else it may get difficult to stand in the attic and get the work done because of the boiling temperature. Lastly, analyze your attic and house suitability first and then choose the best option for the attic so that you won’t have to suffer and enjoy the summer at its best!