How Does Insulation In Your Roof Keep You Warm In Winter And Cool In Summer?

This doesn’t make sense to me.

Is it magic?

I just got the ceiling of my house re-insulated this week so I asked Sam at InsulationPlus how it works.

This is how he explained it to me:

On a hot summers day, the air in your ceiling gets very hot and if your layer of insulation (eg PinkBatts) is thin or has gaps, that hot air gets pushed down into your living areas, making your house hot. On a cold winters day, the air in your ceiling is cold so when your insulation is thin or has gaps, the warm air from your living area gets sucked up into the ceiling cavity.

So it seems to me that air doesn’t like to have hot and cold patches it likes to be an even temperature in whatever space it occupies.

A lot like my wife actually.

P.S. Thank you to the New Zealand Government for the EECA “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority” EnergyWise programme, through which we got $2381.56 of ceiling & underfloor insulation for just $952.62.

Booo-ya!

And thanks to the team at InsulationPlus Limited, Tauranga:

  • Sam who did the initial inspection and will be coming back in the next few days for the final sign-off. Really nice guy who explained my options clearly. A real pro.
  • The 3 guys who did the actual installation on the day (can’t remember their names sorry). They worked fast, finished ahead of schedule, and performed a top quality job
  • And especially to Bob, the owner, who rang us several times to make sure everything was going smoothly. Amazing service.