Is Your House Losing Heat?
Has the recent windy, subfreezing weather created drafts or cold spots in your home? Let’s talk about why the cold wants to come in to our warm homes and what we can do about it.
Heat always flows from warmer places to cooler places AND warm air rises – there’s a lot to say about why that happens, but let’s just call it physics!
Heat energy moves in three ways – by conduction, convection, and radiation. Watch the video above to learn more.
Conduction is the flow of heat within a material or from one material to another.
Convection is the flow of heat through liquids and gases.
Radiation is the flow of heat waves in a straight line, which can be absorbed by solid materials in the path of the heat waves.
In the winter, heat flows from your heated living spaces to the cold outdoors by moving through solid objects such as walls (conduction) and through air (convection). When you have insufficient attic insulation or air leaks around the roof, the upward movement of warm air through your roof pulls in cold air drafts from lower areas – gaps around window frames, molding, and doors.
Insulation and weather sealing materials typically work to slow conductive and convective heat flow, so that the warm air released by your furnace stays where you want it – in your home! The R-value of a material is a measure of its resistance to conductive heat flow, or it’s thermal resistance. Materials with higher R-values are more effective insulators.
If you are feeling drafts and your house is uncomfortable during this arctic blast of low temperatures and wind, Urban Insulation can help you warm up!
