Finally Reduced the Heat in Our Home

I monitor the weather closely because heat is my kryptonite. Temperature above 30'C hits differently for a person with heart and lung issues, so you can just imagine what the 40+'C heat index does for me. 

My comment got featured on Architect Ed's channel, hehe.

We have been working on reducing the overall temperature in our home in the past 3.5 years. We chose unobtrusive solutions since we live in the house. We did the following:

• Tinted windows - https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2022/04/home-improvement-reducing-heat.html
• Added vents in the eaves
• Installed whirly bird/whirlwind vent - https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/04/home-on-mondays-whirlwind-vent.html
• Added ceiling vents and one more whirly bird on the kitchen roof - https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2024/03/make-your-home-cooler.html

I just realized we've been trying to do something annually since we moved. Well, my heart and lungs are in really bad shape, so we had to try again another unobtrusive solution. Sweetie was working on a project to get his childhood home's roof fixed and chanced upon a provider that specializes in painting insulation paint on roofs. 

So that's what we tried this year. We discovered our roof needed restoration. Parts of it had started to rust and the gutters didn't have gutter guards. After fixing the roof, insulation paint was placed. We had it done in mid-March and the roof temperature was at 36'C before restoration started. 

The roof temperature went down to 26'C. Not bad and leaving our windows open during the day made it easy to walk around the house even without the fan on. I had happy days cooking in the kitchen before summer started. The temperature inside our house has improved a lot compared to last summer. The heat though is crazy and I usually go straight down to the basement during the day to avoid the heat.

If you want to try this solution, just buy insulation paint at Wilcon and get a painter. It requires 2 to 3 coatings (dry a day between coatings). Best to get a roof specialist if you need to restore your roof. From our experience some regular contractors don't really know what they're doing. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Home Improvement: Reducing Heat

A huge chunk of my time has been spent solving issues at home (mostly at Mom's house). One of the items on my check list was to reduce the heat at our home. I noticed that at night our living room and dining area would still be very warm even with fans. The heat that goes up to the ceiling apparently goes down at night according to Architect Ed (watch his video on ventilation). 

Architect Ed has several suggestions on his video how to reduce heat. It's ideally implemented though during house construction. I don't have budget to get a floor mounted airconditioner. If I did that would also increase electricity cost. We do have enough windows for air to come in. We realized though that the issue was the glass windows were bringing in and trapping the heat inside the house. Mom's jalousy windows bring in more air than our modern sliding windows. 

Our windows made us feel like we were inside an oven. It wasn't good also for our things and I had to move my medication downstairs where it's cooler. I saw an ad a few months ago for window film. It works like car tint. After months of weighing pros and cons we finally decided to have our windows tinted. They explained it's used for heat reduction and privacy.  We prioritized heat reduction. 

Kuya Francis, Kuya Jayson and Kuya Danilo worked really fast yesterday. They finished the windows upstairs yesterday. I was cooped up downstairs while they were working, so I just got to see their finished work after they left. And wow, I immediately felt the difference. It was definitely cooler and the area did not feel like an oven late in the evening. The kitchen also felt cooler this morning when I prepared breakfast. 

It's just been a day so we'll see how effective it is in the coming days. The tint also helped reduce the glare of the street light across our bedroom. We've been using block out curtains the past few months to keep the heat out and block the outdoor night light. Now maybe we can use normal curtains, we'll see. 

Now that we've reduced the heat in our home, I can probably move on to other home issues haha. I've been trying to figure out how to bring in more air to Mom's house. Some of the improvements they made in the last two decades, blocked air from coming in. Ahh, it's a problem I listed for the architect to think about. Gotta get better though so I can work on it. 

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely