Housing heat reduction

[Naam]

For an existing house/condo' I presume that you are talking about replacing the old glass with Solartag.

Any thoughts on using it as an additional layer inside the existing glass (AKA secondary/double glazing) ?

Wouldn't that stop even more heat transfer?

Correct - if you have windows/glass doors that get direct sunlight, replacing the existing glass with solartag will give you a huge reduction in heat that gets into the room.

If you were going to use solartag for double glazing, you'd want to make it the outside layer, not the inside layer though. The actual glass itself still gets warm/hot under direct sunlight - i.e. what it doesn't reflect it still absorbs.

and, unfortunately, radiates to the inside, but we are quite happy with the efficiency. all window glass of our home ~85m² is reflective and heavily tinted. price difference compared to normal glass less than 25%.

using any foil is a waste of money!

[IMHO]

For an existing house/condo' I presume that you are talking about replacing the old glass with Solartag.

Any thoughts on using it as an additional layer inside the existing glass (AKA secondary/double glazing) ?

Wouldn't that stop even more heat transfer?

Correct - if you have windows/glass doors that get direct sunlight, replacing the existing glass with solartag will give you a huge reduction in heat that gets into the room.

If you were going to use solartag for double glazing, you'd want to make it the outside layer, not the inside layer though. The actual glass itself still gets warm/hot under direct sunlight - i.e. what it doesn't reflect it still absorbs.

and, unfortunately, radiates to the inside, but we are quite happy with the efficiency. all window glass of our home ~85m² is reflective and heavily tinted. price difference compared to normal glass less than 25%.

using any foil is a waste of money!

Correct If it were able to reject all heat, it probably couldn't be described as "glass" anymore

[chiang mai]

I've just finished a major project to reduce the heat in my house/roof, here's what worked and what didn't - when we started we had nothing, no insulation and only bare bones ventilation, the living space was hotter than h*ll:

Installed larger custom made gable vents which increased the volume of exhaust ventilation from 1.50 square metres to 6.5 square metres - no immediate benefit because it doesn't work in isolation, you need to do other things as well to benefit (see below).

Installed between six and twelve inches of aluminum encased fibreglass (bats) on the attic floor- worked really well but can be defeated on extremely hot days. Note: don't let the large DIY chains instal, they don't know how to. We initially paid HomePro to do the installation which they were forced to refund subsequently because the installation was just so poor.

Installed a radiant barrier to the underside of the roof. My roof has a very steep pitch, it's easily twenty feet from attic floor to the ridge, consequently there is a lot roof area that reflects heat at the attic floor, the steel work and the top of the walls - it worked really well and all but eliminated the radiant heat problem although it increased the amount of convected heat. Note: insulated radiant barrier, commonly call;ed PE foam (1 CM thick) is expensive and is no better at reflecting heat than simple aluminum foil at a fraction of the price, neither product has a true R rating higher than R1.

Replaced all of the soffits around my house with vented soffit board to provide 7.50 square feet of air intake - worked really well in conjunction with the larger gable vents. This was the turning point for me, my attic now has cool air for about two feet above the bat insulation, above that it gets quite hot but that heat doesn't impact the insulation or the living space. Note: this is a fairly simple and inexpensive project in a single storey house.

Finally, installed reflective window film on 18 square metres of glass in the living room, all of which attract afternoon sun year round - this also worked really well, even though the glass still gets hot towards the end of a hot day, there is a dramatic reduction in the amount of radiated heat from the glass, it also provides additional security because now you can't see inside the room from the street.

If I had to tackle the same problem again, knowing what I know now, I think I would do the gable and soffit vents first and the bat insulation second, inescapable however I would have to do all the steps as non-can be eliminated without causing a heat gain in the house.

Total cost, about 75k doing nearly all the work myself, except the window film.

Edited July 31, 2015 by chiang mai

[Naam]

CM

installed reflective window film on 18 square metres of glass in the living room

how much?

[chiang mai]

CM

installed reflective window film on 18 square metres of glass in the living room

how much?

Just under 17k Baht.

[Naam]

CM

installed reflective window film on 18 square metres of glass in the living room

how much?

Just under 17k Baht.

next home you build use reflective glass! that's an order

[chiang mai]

CM

installed reflective window film on 18 square metres of glass in the living room

how much?

Just under 17k Baht.

next home you build use reflective glass! that's an order

I hope never to build another house in this life or the next!