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Building thermal insulation.
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Zero999:
It's been very hot here over the last two days with temperatures hitting 40oC, which hasn't been recorded in the UK before. We've all been warned about this and advised to do all the stuff that should be common sense, which I find a bit patronising.

One thing the mainstream media talk about is homes in the UK are designed to keep warm in winter, not cool in summer, as is the case in hotter climes. This may be true, but I've found my house's thermal insulation is working well.  It scraping 40oC where I live, yet I've managed to keep temperatures below 26oC in my house. I just opened the windows at night/early morning and closed them as soon as temperatures rose. I put aluminium foil over the window in the lounge, which doesn't have curtains or blinds. I have a modern house, built in 2016.

Maybe I'm being silly, but as I've just proven, thermal insulation works both ways, so even though it might be optimal, doubt it makes much difference whether thermal insulation is designed to keep heat in, or out. It's insulation after all. The main thing lacking is air conditioning.
Gyro:
Don't forget to strip it all out this evening, it's cooling down tonight!  ;)

Edit: The common sense stuff does work surprisingly well though, particularly closed windows, curtains and flushing the house in the early morning. Our '70s house doesn't have cavity wall insulation (dirty wall ties) but it still works.
mag_therm:
How are the pubs holding up?
Pint of Bitter still  at 10 ~ 13 C ?
ebastler:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on July 19, 2022, 03:20:54 pm ---[...] I put aluminium foil over the window in the lounge, which doesn't have curtains or blinds. I have a modern house, built in 2016.

Maybe I'm being silly, but as I've just proven, thermal insulation works both ways, so even though it might be optimal, doubt it makes much difference whether thermal insulation is designed to keep heat in, or out. It's insulation after all.

--- End quote ---

With the aluminium foil you have addressed one of the "deficiencies" Northern homes have in heat waves: Too much sunlight coming in through large windows, and heat not getting out again due to the greenhouse effect. (Visible light passes through the windows, IR radiation does not.) Houses in Southern climates tend to have smaller windows, and/or windows better protected from direct sunlight.

The other difference might be "thermal mass". Heavy stone walls with a large heat capacity help with the summer heat, since their thermal storage capacity evens out the large day/night variation. They are less helpful in winter, where the temperature is more evenly cold throughout the day/night. Hence insulation optimized for cold climates will probably focus on low heat conductivity and less on large thermal mass.
nali:

--- Quote from: ebastler on July 19, 2022, 04:48:09 pm ---With the aluminium foil you have addressed one of the "deficiencies" Northern homes have in heat waves: Too much sunlight coming in through large windows, and heat not getting out again due to the greenhouse effect. (Visible light passes through the windows, IR radiation does not.) Houses in Southern climates tend to have smaller windows, and/or windows better protected from direct sunlight.

--- End quote ---

Our windows are fitted with Pilkington K glass which they claim enhances the greenhouse effect to trap heat. Unfortunately in this weather they seem to work a bit too well  :(
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