We have one in our sunroom and it works like a charm!
The compressor unit sits outside and the unit is attached to the wall near or at ceiling height.
Posted on 07/19/2012 2:14:15 PM PDT by Feline_AIDS
Hi Freepers.
Question:
A neighbor recently cut down some trees in his yard and took the shade off one side of my house with it. The side of the house now getting tons of sunlight has an office over the garage. That office is now a sauna.
We finished the room ~10 years ago and it's always been warm. But without the shade, it's unbearable. We're talking 90+ degrees with the main AC on. There are 4 recessed lights. I held my hand up to one light can(?) and it was like a space heater. I moved around until I could see the attic vent through the light! There's nothing between that recessed light and the attic. And the attic has a little vent area with hardware cloth over it. And I swear the room is 10,000 degrees.
I went to the attic to look, and the garage is a lower roof than the rest of the house. The main attic fan is above the duct that leads to that extra room above the garage. The only entrance to that tiny attic/crawlspace is now filled by a gigantic furnace/AC duct. Naturally, there's a 3-4 inch gap below the duct, and I can see that there's no insulation above that room.
So, what should we do?
The solutions I can think of:
-Make a shoddy temporary covering for the recessed lights, which we don't even use. (What material should I use for this? Don't want to destroy the lights if possible.)
-Pay someone to come remove the duct, crawl in the teeny space and put down some insulation. (Can the duct be moved? Or would that cost a million dollars?)
-Put a reflective curtain (if such a thing exists) in the single, east-facing window.
Some effective things you can do:
1) Best: Install a vent fan to pull the intense heat out of the attic. Inexpensive powered vent fans that use small photovoltaic panels eliminate the expense of wiring. Exhausting heat directly should greatly reduce the attic temp, and is enormously more efficient that mechanical heat transfer (A/C).
2) Sneak in some sort of cover above the recessed lights. Do not jam insulation around the cans unless they are rated for it.
3) Have an insulation company put blown-in insulation into the attic space.
4) The window film and CFL bulbs are good ideas.
5) Install some sort of shade device (like a fabric awning) on the sunny side of the building.
The LED light bulbs are even more efficient. IIRC from the ones in our house, they use about 1/10 of the wattage of the CFLs and emitt almost no heat.
If your window is east-facing, you shouldn’t get direct sunlight past 9am during the summer. That window is not your problem. You need to vent your attic better by increasing the number of roof jacks. Talk to a licensed roofing company and have them install more roof vents to allow the hot air to escape. Also, install blown-in cellulose debris insulation on the attic floor (min4-6 inches).
Some effective things you can do:
1) Best: Install a vent fan to pull the intense heat out of the attic. Inexpensive powered vent fans that use small photovoltaic panels eliminate the expense of wiring. Exhausting heat directly should greatly reduce the attic temp, and is enormously more efficient that mechanical heat transfer (A/C).
2) Sneak in some sort of cover above the recessed lights. Do not jam insulation around the cans unless they are rated for it.
3) Have an insulation company put blown-in insulation into the attic space.
4) The window film and CFL bulbs are good ideas.
5) Install some sort of shade device (like a fabric awning) on the sunny side of the building.
You can now buy lights that will fit those cans that are curled inside of a larger bulb. Look better. Less heat. Also, if you insulate attic, be sure and keep insulation 4 inches or so away from can lights!
If you ever watch Holme’s Inspection on HGTV, he ALWAYS uses closed cell spray foam insulation. I think this would take care of alot of your heat problem. You may end up removing the recessed lights. Depending on the light, they are meant to breathe, as they get really hot. Talk to a lighting expert.
Best of luck.....
A white metal room might be a good idea in your situation.
Your problem is that you didn't do the job properly 10 years ago.
What you want to do now is learn from your past mistake and not create an even worse problem such as insulating space which blocks the flow of air and thereby allows moisture to build up until you have a mold problem.
I would first contact your local electric utility to see if they offer a free home energy efficiency survey and have their guy come out and look at it to make recommendations. Your state and local government may also offer a home energy efficiency survey.
We have one in our sunroom and it works like a charm!
The compressor unit sits outside and the unit is attached to the wall near or at ceiling height.
LOL - that’s been my solution in AZ.
“Make a shoddy temporary covering for the recessed lights, which we don’t even use.”
If you don’t use them, get rid of them and install tracklighting. What kind of insulation do you have? Fiberglass? You know, there are companies that can blow foam into walls that already have fiberglass insulation, Vastly superior! Triple-glazed window, super low E. Get the foam guys to foam the garage ceiling/office floor.
Talk to a good “Comfort Control” company about the attic space and the venting. Perhaps another fan in that vent? More insulation. Re-routing the ductwork, etc..
My house is a slab, and the only vents are in the floor. Great for heating, as heat rises. Lousy for cooling, as cool air stays near the floor. What is your venting like? Same vents for hot and cold? When I remodeled one of the upstairs bedrooms, the venting from the furnace came up from the utility room and into the tiny attic over the dining room, and then was sent through floor venting to the baseboard mounted registers. When I redid the ceiling, I installed registers and venting for cool air. The entry to the diningroom attic is through a wall hatch, behind the dresser. I installed a “Y” valve on the vent from the furnace. In the Winter, turn the valve so the heat comes from the baseboard register. Summer,,flip the valve so the cool air comes from the ceiling registers. Works great!
You need to vent that area above that office. There is your main problem. The heat is staying above there and that air is stagnant. Insulation such as the blown in type will help. Then, there is a duct vent company (I cant remember the name) that will install remote temp controlled ducts that will manage your AC/heat ducts to deliver heat/AC to areas of your house where you need it the most. All they do is close off ducts (much like a air valve) that are giving AC air or heat to areas of your house that do not need it at that time. The end result is vastly lower heating and cooling costs over a year.
We have one in our sunroom and it works like a charm!
The compressor unit sits outside and the unit is attached to the wall near or at ceiling height.
plant a tree....
Ridge vent?
If not, I have heard of “irrigating” any roof with piping/fine-spray-nozzles whereby the water to the pipes gets turned on by a thermostat. Keeps the roof cool depending upon the temperature of the thermostat setting.
Yes indeed, I just forgot and haven’t bought any yet.
Think of it as a car with windows rolled up in the sun.
To cool it, you can open the sunroof to let the hot air out.
You also need cooler air in, so you roll down the windows.
Now apply this to your house.
You need exhaust vents, powered or otherwise, at or near
the peak of the roof to let the hot air out, and vents in
the roof overhang(soffits) to allow cooler air in.
Make sure you have these vents, and if you add insulation,
Be sure they are not covered by it.
Lot of other great suggestions here too.
Again, thanks for the replies, everyone. Really helpful.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a huge budget for this project, so many of the more permanent fixes are out of our price range for now, though they are good recommendations.
I suppose the guy we had finish the room didn’t install insulation because the the lights needed to vent. Back when we first finished the room, before the present heyday of energy-saving lights, the lights in those cans generated enormous amounts of heat.
If we do put down spray insulation, I’ll be sure to see about getting a moisture barrier to keep mold away.
I’ll be coming back to this thread as we consider other fixes, too.
For now, I think we’re going to do the window film and the foam circles in the cans.
Thanks freepers!
Again, thanks for the replies, everyone. Really helpful.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a huge budget for this project, so many of the more permanent fixes are out of our price range for now, though they are good recommendations.
I suppose the guy we had finish the room didn’t install insulation because the the lights needed to vent. Back when we first finished the room, before the present heyday of energy-saving lights, the lights in those cans generated enormous amounts of heat.
If we do put down spray insulation, I’ll be sure to see about getting a moisture barrier to keep mold away.
I’ll be coming back to this thread as we consider other fixes, too.
For now, I think we’re going to do the window film and the foam circles in the cans.
Thanks freepers!
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