5 Ways to Prevent Heat from Entering Your Home

When it’s hot outside, it can be difficult to keep it cool inside your home. You have the sun that beats down on your home and causes the temperatures in your home to rise to levels that aren’t comfortable. Sure, you get relief from your air conditioner. But you’re also probably dealing with a large energy bill because of it. Also, conventional AC units use refrigerants that are made of chlorine compounds. These are suspected to contribute to global warming and the depletion of our ozone layer. Fortunately, there are alternatives to using your AC unit.

Below are five ways to prevent heat from coming into your home so it stays cool.

1. Apply a Reflective Coating to Your Roof
   Around a third of built up heat in your house comes in through your roof. And, with traditional materials, this can be hard to control. For instance, fiberglass and white asphalt shingles absorb around 70 percent of the sun’s heat. What you can do, however, is apply a reflective coating to your roof. There are a couple standard roof coatings you can get from the lumberyard or a hardware store. These are:

White latex: Apply this coating over fiberglass and asphalt shingles, metal or tar paper

Asphalt based: This coating consists of aluminum particles and glass fibers. Apply to your asphalt or metal roof

Often, manufacturers will offer you a 5-year warranty.

2. Plant Trees and Vines
   Shade the exterior of your home with these green-house coolers and keep the sunlight out of your windows. West-facing walls are good places to plant them where the sun is strongest. Some good choices are deciduous trees and vines. Deciduous trees offer you shade in the summer and in the autumn, let in the sun as the temperatures begin dropping. This is because they leaf out during the springtime and then drop their leaves in autumn. Vines like Virginia creeper and ivy are also great for outdoor insulators.

3. Power Down Appliances
   Reduce heat output and save money by powering down any appliances that you’re not using such as your television and computer. By connecting multiple appliances to one power strip, it’s easier to power them down. Avoid steam and heat-generating appliances like washers, dryers, ranges and ovens during the day when it’s hot.

4. Create Cross-Ventilation
   Use doors and windows for cross-ventilation. Adjust location and size of the openings so you can ventilate various areas of your house.

5. Use a Whole House Fan
   Use a whole house fan to cool your home at night (for a cooler next day in your home). If you live in a region that gets hot in the daytime and cool at night, you can keep the heat out effectively by doing a night air flush. An insulated and well-sealed whole house fan is a great way to do this. The fan draws the cool air in the evening through your windows while flushing out the hot stuffy air of the day. After cooling your home at night with a whole house fan, you can close your windows during the day and your home should stay cool and comfortable.