My house is not well insulated. I get that. It was 106 today and we had the coolers on which kept the house bearable. The sun set and its now 85 degrees outside. I turned off the cooler and now its 96 in the house! Why did the temp go up and above the outside temp? My wife thinks it's built on lava.
Why is my house so hot?
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You have any idea how hot your attic gets?
If you put in a couple attic fans it will help tremendously. I plan on putting in some solar powered ones in the lower attic of my house.
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You're probably just one good looking dude heating the house up. 
A couple years ago I opened the attic access and let the coolers blow out that way. Didn't help.
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
You're probably just one good looking dude heating the house up.
Came to post this!
You're probably just one good looking dude heating the house up.
Came to post this!
Evaporative coolers can only do so much, Guessing here as you used "Cooler" which isn't very descriptive.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Evaporative coolers can only do so much, Guessing here as you used "Cooler" which isn't very descriptive.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
Wow, 19% humidity sounds great. 100% RH here now. I think we have maybe 5 days a year in the early spring with RH less than 25%.
Evaporative coolers can only do so much, Guessing here as you used "Cooler" which isn't very descriptive.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
Wow, 19% humidity sounds great. 100% RH here now. I think we have maybe 5 days a year in the early spring with RH less than 25%.
Great point clinebarger...
Older homes typically have large trees near by. I lived in a rental house with my family in 85. House had monsterous trees to the west especially. A very large and I mean very large pine to the east. One of the Willow oak trees was 32 feet in circumference. They did help a bit for sure. Winter time.... Cold as all get out. Not well insulated.
In large farm homes in a county to the west of me the trees are aligned as what you described. I suspect those properties date well back in time. Aka possibly pre Revolutionary War.
Older homes typically have large trees near by. I lived in a rental house with my family in 85. House had monsterous trees to the west especially. A very large and I mean very large pine to the east. One of the Willow oak trees was 32 feet in circumference. They did help a bit for sure. Winter time.... Cold as all get out. Not well insulated.
In large farm homes in a county to the west of me the trees are aligned as what you described. I suspect those properties date well back in time. Aka possibly pre Revolutionary War.
Originally Posted By: umungus1122
Wow, 19% humidity sounds great. 100% RH here now. I think we have maybe 5 days a year in the early spring with RH less than 25%.
That was in the heat of the day 3:00pm to about 8:00pm, In the morning it can start out at 75% RH & 86 degrees, Then progress to 50% RH at 97 degrees at 11:00am.
Right now it's 92 degrees with 30% RH.
Wow, 19% humidity sounds great. 100% RH here now. I think we have maybe 5 days a year in the early spring with RH less than 25%.
That was in the heat of the day 3:00pm to about 8:00pm, In the morning it can start out at 75% RH & 86 degrees, Then progress to 50% RH at 97 degrees at 11:00am.
Right now it's 92 degrees with 30% RH.
First off a good insulation job is a must. A ridge vent can help, if feasible. Vents on both sides of the attic with a good exhaust fan that is thermostatically controlled works well too.
We find we get a large solar load from any west facing windows in the late afternoon. Curtains on the west windows can help a bit.
Originally Posted By: user52165
Stucco house like 95% in this state?
Once stucco gets hot it retains the heat.
no. Asbestos siding from the 1950's.
Stucco house like 95% in this state?
Once stucco gets hot it retains the heat.
no. Asbestos siding from the 1950's.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
You're probably just one good looking dude heating the house up.
Nicely done!
You're probably just one good looking dude heating the house up.
Nicely done!
Chris/OP,
Do you have any vents/ventridges in your attic?
Can you post a picture of your house type?
Do you have any vents/ventridges in your attic?
Can you post a picture of your house type?
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Chris/OP,
Do you have any vents/ventridges in your attic?
Can you post a picture of your house type?
there are vents on each side of the original structure
Chris/OP,
Do you have any vents/ventridges in your attic?
Can you post a picture of your house type?
there are vents on each side of the original structure
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Evaporative coolers can only do so much, Guessing here as you used "Cooler" which isn't very descriptive.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
I think this is right.
We have a walk up attic which has knee walls that are insulated. Open a knee wall and the temperature in the attic readily rises at least 5 degrees any time in the cooling season.
Shade helps, trees help, control of attic temps help. But the third only helps but so much if the best it can get is 105F. If you're controlling solar effects on an attic, you're really trying to minimize how much hotter than ambient things get. And it won't be perfect. So the attic will be between 105-160(ish) F. All the building materials, even the insulation, will hold that heat. If it's cooler later, it's a matter of if it's still venting and how long it takes to cool back. Could be a very long time.
Add the roof materials themselves, often black dense asphalt, and you have another great source of trapped heat.
Shade trees, other risks aside (dropping leaves and junk causing gutters to clog, falling on house or car, etc) are wonderful for providing shade. We don't have a lot of shade on the hot, pm sun side of our house. It's incredible for as far north as we are, how hot everything gets when baked for a hot afternoon...
Evaporative coolers can only do so much, Guessing here as you used "Cooler" which isn't very descriptive.
If your poorly insulated house is baking in the sun all day....It will act as a big heat-sink holding the heat in 'til it naturally cools down to ambient.
My house is old (1929) but well insulated, I have a big Live Oak on the east side & a big Fruitless Mulberry on the west side of my house. One large 220 window unit keeps my 700 square foot house comfortable for the most part. Today was 105 with 19% RH & it kept-up.
The insulation surely helps, But I think the biggest factor in my house staying cool is the greatly reduced "solar load" from the tree's.
I think this is right.
We have a walk up attic which has knee walls that are insulated. Open a knee wall and the temperature in the attic readily rises at least 5 degrees any time in the cooling season.
Shade helps, trees help, control of attic temps help. But the third only helps but so much if the best it can get is 105F. If you're controlling solar effects on an attic, you're really trying to minimize how much hotter than ambient things get. And it won't be perfect. So the attic will be between 105-160(ish) F. All the building materials, even the insulation, will hold that heat. If it's cooler later, it's a matter of if it's still venting and how long it takes to cool back. Could be a very long time.
Add the roof materials themselves, often black dense asphalt, and you have another great source of trapped heat.
Shade trees, other risks aside (dropping leaves and junk causing gutters to clog, falling on house or car, etc) are wonderful for providing shade. We don't have a lot of shade on the hot, pm sun side of our house. It's incredible for as far north as we are, how hot everything gets when baked for a hot afternoon...
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