Five Ways to Protect Your Home From the Sun (and Keep It Cool)
Depending on where you live, the summer months can mean lazy days cooking by the pool or hiding in dark rooms with the air conditioning on. Air conditioning is great, sure, but sun exposure plays a huge role in the overall temperature of your home.
You can’t easily move your home to a shadier location, but you can take some steps to protect your home from the sun. Here are five options to consider.
Repaint it in a color that reflects the sun’s rays.
The color of your home can have a big impact on the ambient temperature inside. White paint has been shown to reflect the sun’s rays very effectively —and virtually any white paint does (it reflects about 80% of visible light , although it still absorbs invisible radiation that heats surfaces). White paint is so effective that scientists have attempted to invent the whitest paint in the hope that it could have a significant impact on cooling our homes. And while white paint will be most effective if your home currently has a darker exterior color, lightening it to any significant degree will have at least some effect on the amount of heat it absorbs.
Add reflective coating to your roof
Just like you paint the walls of your house, you can paint your roof with a reflective coating to reflect all the heat. Again, white is the coolest color : a white roof can reflect 80% of the sun’s rays , keeping the roof about 50°F cooler , which means much less heat is transferred into the interior of your home. Roofing is a relatively simple DIY job, but you can also hire contractors to take care of it for you.
Choose the right window treatment
The main villains who keep your home warm? Your windows that indiscriminately let all that heat-generating solar radiation into your home. About 76% of the sunlight that enters your window is converted into sensible heat. Keeping the sun out of your home is a key way to cool it down, so invest in window treatments.
Blackout curtains or blackout curtains can be very effective in stopping sunlight from entering your rooms and heating them up, but they can make your home appear dark and aren’t always the most attractive option. Thermal barrier films can block ultraviolet (UV) rays that heat your home. They’re relatively easy to put on and take off, they’re affordable, and they can be a better option than curtains or shades because they don’t block your view or make you feel like you’re living in a cave.
Install ceiling films or covers
Skylights are great if you don’t have exterior windows or just like your home flooded with natural light, but they can also act as heat beams in the summer. As with windows, you can cut thermal blocking film to fit your skylights, although this may be more difficult than applying it to the windows. If you don’t have easy access to your skylight or don’t know how to cut and apply the film to a curved surface if you have a bubble skylight, you should have a professional do it for you.
Just like with a regular window, UV blocking film will allow your skylight to remain a skylight. But you can also purchase waterproof roof window covers to keep the sun out during the hotter months. They can then be removed when the temperature drops and you can enjoy all that light again.
Add some shadow
All the strategies you employ to mitigate the sun’s impact on your home’s interior temperature will be even more effective if you prevent the sun from entering your home in the first place by increasing the amount of shade cover it enjoys. There are many ways to do this:
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Landscaping can be a very effective means of adding shade and increasing the curb appeal of your home. Deciduous trees provide great shade from the sun, but a trellis with sturdy climbing vines along the sunny side of your home is another way to create a living wall between you and those damaging, warming rays.
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Awnings installed on the external walls of the house will protect the walls of your home from the sun. A retractable awning offers flexibility because it can be rolled up when it’s not as hot outside or when you’re ready to trade heat for light. You may also want to consider installing a side awning during later hours when the sun’s heat is beating down from the side rather than overhead.
Keeping your home cool in the summer depends on more than just your HVAC system settings. The lack of sun in your home will have a significant impact on your comfort level and the ability of your air conditioner to operate efficiently.