Does Your Home Have Summertime Syndrome? Posted on May 16, 2020 Does your home have Summertime Syndrome?! During our hot summer days in Pittsburgh, many home owners experience discomfort in the form of UNEVEN TEMPERATURES and SKY HIGH electric bills. The principal symptoms are upper floors that are much hotter and stuffier than the rest of the home, a basement that is freezing, and an air conditioner that runs all day and produces high electric bills. But do you know what the biggest symptom of Summertime Syndrome is in a home? A homeowner who WISHES he or she were HAPPIER in their home when it’s HOT OUTSIDE! Read below to see more details of Summertime Syndrome, or watch our cutting edge, short animation video. Summertime Syndrome starts with the sun! The sun is what first heats your roof to 170°. Once your roof is that hot it quickly heats up your attic and in most homes that heat soon starts to infiltrate down into the rooms below. And what happens next?You guessed it — your home’s air conditioner switches on and then attempts to fight that heat gain — ALL DAY. This gets EXPENSIVE FAST in terms of your electric bill! Not to mention all the wear and tear that gets put on your air conditioner. So what’s the solution? Fortunately Insulwise is a MASTER at curing Summertime Syndrome in homes. We do it with a combination of measures. The first thing that we do is: 1) SEAL the hidden AIR LEAKS beneath your attic insulation that allow your COOL air to leak into the attic, and HOT attic air to get into your home. Next we: 2) Blow a fresh layer of ultra thermally efficient, cellulose insulation on top of your existing insulation layer. We do this until we get to a combined R-49 insulation value. These two processes combined keep summer heat in your attic where it belongs, rather than allowing it to penetrate down into your home below. Lastly we can: 3) Seal your duct system with our AeroSeal The RESULT is a much cooler and more comfortable upper floor, and your A/C unit having to run A LOT less, and therefore LOWER power bills. The next element of Summertime Syndrome that Insulwise alone can fix will accomplishes 3 things: 1) A basement that feels like the rest of your home rather than a MEAT LOCKER. 2) Lower A/C bills and much more even temperatures throughout your home. 3) A much higher flow of COOL air to your upper floor! How do we DO this? At Insulwise we accomplish these 3 remarkable things by sealing the leaks in your duct work using the AeroSeal. Many home owners aren’t aware, but according to an study, the average American home’s duct system has a leakage rate of over 30%! Let me say that again. If your home has whole house A/C, the leakage rate of your duct system is very likely 30% or MORE!
