Hot in Your House? Check Your Windows

Summertime in South Carolina is hot and sticky, but thankfully you can take refuge from the heat in your cool, comfortable house. Or can you? Have you been asking yourself, why won’t my house cool down? If it’s hot in your house, you might be quick to blame the AC, but there is another potential cause – your windows. If it’s hot in your house and your air conditioner is humming along as it should, it’s time to check your windows, and here’s why.

Windows and the Temperature Inside Your Home

The only way to keep your windows from letting in heat is by not having any. And that’s not an option for anyone. So, let’s look at how and why windows play a significant role in the temperature inside your home. Most homeowners know that windows let in heat in the summer. The temperature exchange is due to the thermal conductivity of glass. As the sun shines on your windows, that sunlight turns to heat when it hits the glass pane. The glass then releases the heat into the rooms in your home, raising the temperature and your energy bills as your AC works overtime to try to keep up with the extra heat and work on temperature control in your home.

The Location of Your Windows Matters

A house that has massive windows that face south or southwest is going to have amazing natural light. It will also get significantly more heat from the sun than a house with big windows facing north or east. Even when the sun is higher in the sky in the summer, the southern exposure is still the most intense when it comes to sunshine heating your house. You don’t want to sacrifice the light from any of your windows, but you also don’t want to live in an oven because of the summer sun making your house hot because of your windows.

Ways to Keep Out the Heat

There are some tricks you can use during the summer months to help keep your house cooler. You can install window treatments that prevent the heat from moving from the window into the rooms of your home. Another option is installing exterior window shutters that close and block the sun, avoiding the thermal transfer of heat from the glass to your home. Some homeowners choose to install awnings over the windows to create shade and reduce the amount of sun and heat that moves inside through the windows. All these options will help cut down on the summer heat in your home. However, they come with a cost for installation, and they will block the natural light you love to have in your living space.

How Many Panes Do Your Windows Have?

The number of panes in your windows matters when it comes to heat exchange and energy efficiency. The industry term is “glazing,” indicating how many glass panes make up each window. Older homes used single-paned glass that broke easily and had almost no insulation properties to prevent energy loss. The warm indoor air would escape in the winter and the hot air would come in during the summer. Modern windows have double panes, or double glazing, with gas between the panes, acting as a butter and insulation zone to increase the efficiency of your windows and reduce the amount of hot air that affects your home in the summer. If your home still has single or even double-paned windows, you’re losing energy through them and you’re certainly feeling the heat from the summer sun.

Energy Efficient Windows

The least efficient windows, besides single-paned, are those with outdated materials in the frames. Wood frames are traditional and found in many homes, especially older ones, but they can warp and crack, allowing air to come into and out of your home. They can make for a hotter house in the summer and a colder one in the winter. Aluminum and metal frames are other materials that will lead to loss of temperature control. Both aluminum and metal conduct heat, meaning those window frames will let your house to get hot in the summer, even when you turn the AC to high. Two things to consider when it comes to energy-efficient windows include:

• Fiberglass frames – the frame with the best insulating properties means the hot air stays out and the cool air stays in.
• Triple-pane glass – the most efficient window will have triple panes and a Low-E coating on the glass, a tint that blocks solar heat but doesn’t affect the light coming into your home.

Your windows let in the light and keep your home safe and comfortable. However, if you have inefficient windows, your house will get hot in the summer. If your house won’t cool down even when you have the air conditioning maxed out, it’s time to check your windows and consider upgrading to more efficient ones, so your home stays more comfortable, and you save on your HVAC costs. When you’re ready to discuss why your house is so hot, contact the window experts at Premiere Roofing.