Your home’s windows not only allow you to enjoy the view outdoors, but they also play a vital role in energy efficiency. Older windows allow for more solar heat gain, which can compromise your comfort. However, your windows aren’t the only place in your home that is allowing more solar heat gain. Reducing solar heat gain through energy-efficient home improvements is the best way to take control of your energy expenses and have a home that serves you well for years to come.
Pinnacle Home Improvements offers solar heat gain solutions through vital exterior home improvement services. In this blog post, we discuss the solar heat gain coefficient and how making updates to your home can reduce solar heat gain.
What Is the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient?
The solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) measures the level of solar radiation, known as heat, passing through your home’s windows. It is measured in numbers between 0 and 1, with 0 indicating the least amount of heat transfer while 1 is the maximum.
This solar gain happens through direct solar radiation, or the heat caused by the sun as it comes through your windows. It also comes from absorbed solar radiation, which is the heat absorbed by your windows and transferred into your home through framing materials and glazing.
Your windows and their SHGC have the potential to provide you with better energy efficiency, protection, and comfort. While solar gain may be helpful in winter months, it can cause serious energy waste in the summer. Additionally, other areas of your home may be allowing heat transfer in hotter months while letting heated air escape in the winter. It’s essential to make energy-efficient home improvements to help you maximize your comfort while reducing your costs over time.
Pinnacle Home Improvements’ Solutions for Reducing Solar Heat Gain
Pinnacle Home Improvements offers solar heat gain solutions that can upgrade your home for energy efficiency, comfort, and style.
Installation of Energy-Efficient Windows
Older windows are notorious for allowing your climate-controlled air to escape your home. This causes your HVAC system to work harder for the same desired output, wasting energy that increases your energy expenses while putting more wear and tear on this vital appliance.
With window replacement in Raleigh, NC, you can upgrade the windows in your home to double-glazed windows that offer more protection from solar heat gain. These windows will not only help you control your energy costs but also keep your interior temperature and noise level comfortable while maximizing your style and security.
Use of Reflective Roofing Materials
The age of your roof and the type of roofing materials on it also play a role in the potential for reducing solar heat gain. When you have an aging roof, the materials are wearing down and less efficient for insulating your home from weather changes.
If you need a new roof, you can choose reflective roofing materials, from shingles to metal roofing, that provide effective solar heat gain solutions for the long haul.
Improved Insulation Techniques
Upgrading your windows and roofing can certainly help with solar heat gain, though if your insulation needs work, you need to focus there, too. With our improved insulation techniques, we can help you keep your home more comfortable in any season and prevent wasted energy.
Many homeowners often overlook their siding, which provides more than aesthetics. This protective part of your home safeguards your foundation and structural integrity by preventing water intrusion and pests. It also helps insulate and regulate your interior temperature. If your siding is old or damaged, having it replaced can improve the insulation in your home.
Benefits of Reducing Solar Heat Gain Through Energy-Efficient Home Improvements
Live a better life and enjoy many more years of happy homeownership in your home by choosing solar heat gain solutions that give you the best of everything. When you replace your windows, roofing, siding, and insulation, you get to enjoy these benefits:
Lower Energy Bills
Focus on reducing solar heat gain, and you’ll see lower energy bills. When you take the proper steps to update your home in a way that thoughtfully considers energy efficiency, your HVAC system no longer has to work as hard to keep you at your ideal temperature throughout the year.
Enhanced Indoor Comfort
Tired of feeling too cold indoors in the winter or sweating it out in the summer? Energy-efficient home improvements positively impact the environment at large as well as the environment in your home. You will finally be able to relax and enjoy the true comforts of your home.
Environmental Impact
While you’ll undoubtedly love being more comfortable at home and saving money, you can feel good about doing your part for the environment. With improved insulation, new roofing, and new windows, you’ll release fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, minimizing your carbon footprint.
How to Get Started with Solar Heat Gain Solutions
When buying a home, it’s important to maintain it over the years. While this may include little upkeep tasks, it will also require you to make important updates to it over the years that protect its structural integrity while serving you and your family well.
Your roof may constantly need repairs, so a roof replacement is a more intelligent and greener solution in time. This investment will go a long way toward keeping your family safe and protected while helping minimize your energy costs. Additionally, windows that allow air in or out while they are closed waste energy, compromising your safety and security.
Adding insulation in your attic or when you replace your siding fully maximizes your efforts to reduce your home’s solar heat gain while increasing your comfort. There are many benefits to making these upgrades. At Pinnacle Home Improvements, we are committed to quality in materials, craftsmanship, and customer service. Contact us today to get a free quote on our energy-efficient home improvements and learn more about how these updates can enhance your home.
