While the summer months bring family vacations and warmer weather, they can also mean higher energy bills. Money spent keeping your house cool can spell trouble with your wallet unless you know how to save energy in your home.
Install a Window Wrap
Adding a window wrap installation to your home to-do list can be a great way to cut costs. The clear layer of plastic seals air leaks, reduces heat, and prevents water infiltration. Even if you don’t need a full window replacement in your house, a window wrap is the easiest way to keep the heat out.
Install a Sliding Door
Another easy solution is to install a sliding door in your home. Not only does this provide more beautiful natural light, leaving the door open to let air flow through also increases ventilation. Storm doors work similarly, with the added benefit of reducing heat transfer and extra protection from stormy weather conditions.
Ensure Your Home is Insulated
There are many reasons to insulate your home, like increasing comfort, reducing your carbon footprint, improving energy efficiency, and lowering your heating and cooling bills. Since the goal of insulation is to limit the heat exchange between the indoor and outdoor environments, your insulation is just as important in the summer as it is in the winter.
Ventilate Your Attic
Reducing the amount of heat in your attic is an efficient way to reduce your energy costs. Not only does expelling heat save you money, but it also keeps the attic and the roof healthy, ensuring they’ll last. While keeping a proper attic ventilation system is important to circulate heat in the summer months, it also reduces moisture so your attic stays durable during stormy seasons. Perhaps the most beneficial way to save money this summer on your energy bill is by having the proper attic ventilation system installed in your home. This system works to reduce the temperature difference of indoor and outdoor air and can save you money year-round.
There are several different types of attic ventilation. Make sure to find the right one to maximize your home’s efficiency and longevity!
Ridge and Soffit Vents
These vents provide passive ventilation both at the peak and base of your roof, where they’re installed along the roof line, and under the eaves.
Fan-Powered Roof Vents
Fan-powered vents can be wired to turn on automatically or manually, as the built-in electrical fan speeds up the circulation of air. The attic exhaust fan is a similar ventilation system to the fan-powered roof, but the fans are installed in the gable, rather than the peak of your home. However, because it blows hot air out of the attic, it often requires additional ventilation to replace air on the opposite side of the attic.
Solar Fans
Powered by the sun, solar fans don’t require electricity to operate. These fans are installed at the top of your home and are connected to the attic, protruding from the roof.
Things to consider when choosing the right ventilation system include the look of the system on the roof of your home, the cost to install each specific type, and which works most efficiently with the structure of your home. Be sure that your home—and wallet—are prepared for all of the heat and humidity that summer brings.
For more information about preparing for summer, download our FREE home improvement ebook!
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