Why Attics Get So Hot and How to Cool Them Down and Fix It
Have you ever wondered why your attic gets so incredibly hot, especially in the summer?
The basic science behind this deals with heat rising and insulation. Hot air rises and your attic has a lot of empty space for air to move around in.
When your air conditioning is running, it cools the lower parts of your home but that hot air still rises up into the attic. There usually isn’t good insulation up there to stop the heat from escaping.
This causes attics to reach very high temperatures (up to 140 degrees in the summer in Florida)
Understanding the transfer of heat helps explain this problem.
Heat moves from warmer areas to cooler areas until there is an equal temperature.
In the summer, the air outside your home is hotter than the cooled air inside.
That warm outdoor air is trying to transfer heat into your home’s interior.
While this is happening, your roof is soaking in heat from direct sunlight.
That heat radiates down into your attic. At the same time, the hot air that your air conditioner collects rises into your attic, moving from the cooler house to the hotter attic space.
This cycle of hot air rising and heat trying to equalize itself drives attic temperatures sky-high, while also constantly battling your AC as the attic heat tries to equalize into the interior of the home.
Insulation acts as a barrier to stop heat transfer from outside the home into the attic.
Without good insulation in your attic, all that heat coming in has nothing to stop it.
Like an open window letting hot summer air into a cool room, heat keeps streaming freely into your attic.
More heat in means higher temperatures.
That’s why insulation is so important – it literally insulates against heat transfer.
What can you do to stop this rising heat and boiling hot attic space?
Installing spray foam attic insulation is the most effective solution.
Unlike traditional fiberglass insulation, spray foam insulation provides a complete air seal to prevent air leaks.
The spray foam expands and seals up all gaps and cracks that allow air to pass through. This stops that hot air outside the home from radiating into the attic. Instead of your attic being 140 degrees, it typically locks it down to 80 degrees in the summertime.
That’s 60 degrees of difference! Imagine the load that takes off of your Air Conditioning and therefore your electric bill!
Spray foam insulation also insulates and blocks heat far better than other types of insulation. Fiberglass insulation leaves gaps for air to get through, while spray foam completely fills an area with no seams or gaps. The dense foam prevents heat passing through it.
With spray foam insulation properly installed throughout your attic space, you can say goodbye to that extreme oven-like heat. The foam blocks heat coming in from outside. You’ll keep your attic much cooler and reduce demands on your air conditioner. This drastically lowers energy bills (30-40%) and makes rooms below the attic much less vulnerable to outdoor heat in the summer.
And the great news is, this works the same with cold in the winters. Bottom line; your house maintains the temperature you want without having to run your climate control into the ground and run your electric and gas bill sky-high.
The simple science shows heat rises, hot air leaks in, and insulation blocks heat transfer. That’s why attics get ridiculously hot.
But armed with the technology of spray foam insulation, Zone 5 provides an effective solution. Stop the heat from coming in and the attic will stay insulated.
A temperature controlled attic makes a more comfortable home and a much cheaper bill!
The first step is receiving your free Home Efficiency Assessment to see what Spray Foam Insulation can do for your home and your electric bill! Click the link below to get started and start saving!
