Insulation is not something you should reflect on for too long
Ever been caught in a sun trap? Seems unlikely in the UK but it can happen. A sun trap is when even the sun's weakest rays are caught between two very shiny surfaces and bounce off each till the heat becomes unbearable. Not a great situation to be in, but someone who succeeds in transporting it to a domestic situation can enjoy the benefits at a very low cost.
The trick in keeping energy costs down is to maintain levels of heat in the winter and coolness in the summer. And the power of reflection can help you to do that. That doesn't mean spending hours of contemplation trying to understand why this happens. It requires a more practical approach like going to your local home improvement superstore and buying a few rolls of that shiny padded stuff that you always wondered what it was but were afraid to ask.
What you were looking at all these years was reflective insulation material or ecofoil as it is sometimes known and its purpose is to keep heat from escaping or at least moving around too much.
If you take a close look you will see that there are actually two types of reflective insulation to choose from. The first is a layer of polyethylene is sandwiched between two layers of shiny aluminum. The thinking behind the double sides is to deflect temperature variations apart from each other while single sided reflective insulation, is gene rally used a lot less, usually in metal framed buildings and is a lot less expensive.
The basic principal that needs to be remembered is that hot air will always gravitate towards cold air, and vice versa. By strategically laying down sheets of ecofoil, around the home, such at the attic the loft and inside the walls, if you can manage to do so, you will succeed in creating a cosy cocoon where warm air is where it should be when you want it and so is cold.
Reflective insulation materials have been found to be far more effective than what have long been traditional insulation materials such as cellulose, fiberglass and foam. These materials simply absorb hot or cold, reflective insulation deflects it back to where it came from. All you have to remember is to place the material with the shiny side facing upwards and outwards or you will have lost the effect.
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