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Where is the heat coming from? I have a 2 story house and I put the Gila film LES361 70% heat reduction on 2 of my 4 west facing windows upstairs. I have no south or north facing windows. It doesn't seem to change much.
call a company that does spray insulation. they usually provide all those services and can tell you where it should be installed, how big it should be, etc
call a company that does spray insulation. they usually provide all those services and can tell you where it should be installed, how big it should be, etc
Look in your attic at the roof. Do you see any fans or vent openings? Some homes in our area have a round thing that looks like a spinning golf ball on the roof. If you have this, check to ensure it is turning. If you have an attic fan, check to ensure it does run and see if it has a thermostat. Some homes have vent openings that get clogged up by birds and other stuff. Ensure these are cleaned out.
Apology, I am a new guy who doesn't know anything about a house besides how to open doors.
What do you mean "check insulation?" I see insulation but how do I know it's good or bad or enough?
Hmmm... Okay, then here we go.
Get up into your attic - assuming there's access. Check the thickness of your insulation. Regardless of where you live, I'd recommend your insulation be a foot thick. That'll go a long ways toward keeping you from loosing heat or cool.
Assuming you probably need insulation, you can buy it in different thicknesses that will give you different "R Values". Generally, the thicker the better. Higher R Value is what you're after.
You can get unfaced or faced insulation. Faced has paper on one side that you can use to staple to studs for sidewall installation. I'd recommend you get unfaced for laying in your attic.
You can get insulation in 16" widths or 24" widths. You can get it in "bats" - usually 8 foot in length - or in rolls. I'd recommend you get 24" insulation in bats. It'll be easier to handle.
Be very careful, when laying the insulation, to step ONLY on the floor joists - NOT BETWEEN THEM. Step between them and you'll fall through the ceiling. Also, be careful to not block the air circulation on the edges. Below is a drawing of how an attic ought to be insulated and vented.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Originally Posted by TheStupid
Where should I put this fan?
Long time no talk,.
In Houston, your heat is coming from the sun by way of a superheated attic.
You probably already have some sort of attic ventilation if the house is recent construction.
The only way that you really need to spend money for heat reduction is (i) making sure that all of your ducts in the attic are totally air-tight and well insulated and (ii) making sure that you have about 18" of insulation over all of your ceiling space. Apart from that you aren't really getting much bang for your buck in this town.
Your 2nd floor closets are probably getting hot because there isn't any air current through them to carry heat away and your whole second floor is probably not adequately insulated.
Last edited by golfgal; 07-31-2010 at 06:12 AM..
Reason: language
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