Bringing comfort and efficiency to your home or office

You’re getting warmer…
Finding the energy sinks in your home or office

It looks like a normal wall, ceiling, window or door. But poorly-insulated areas and air leakage rob your home or office of the conditioned air you’re paying for.

Under-insulated areas and air leaks can burden your air conditioning system, causing it to work harder to maintain the desired temperature. This in turn can be a burden on your checkbook!

Let’s face it. This is East Texas. We want to keep the heat out, not in. A proper insulation system can minimize thermal transfer between the hot outside or attic environments and your conditioned space. We use thermal imaging technology to detect those areas that are costing you money. We will provide customized options and recommendations to help mitigate these inefficiencies.

My AC runs 24/7 in the hot summer months!

There is a lot that goes into a properly designed air conditioning system. When an air conditioning unit has to run ‘round the clock to keep you cool, part of the issue could be poor insulation design in the home or office. In some cases, an insulation audit by a knowledgable professional can make a big difference.

Your AC unit’s job is to condition the air inside your home or office. If excessive heat infiltration due to poor thermal control or air leakage in your ductwork is an issue, the AC unit has to work harder and run longer to maintain the desired temperature. This not only increases your energy bill, but could also reduce the service life of your AC unit.

Installing or upgrading a proper thermal control system will help reduce the burden on your air conditioner by maintaining the thermal barrier between your comfortable conditioned space and the hot summer weather.

While we’re talking about AC issues…

Do you have a room or two in your home or office that always seems hotter than the rest of the house or building? Do you have your ductwork in the attic or unconditioned space in your structure? While ductwork is typically insulated (usually to an R-6), it is often insufficient to maintain the cooler temperatures you’re trying to achieve if it has to travel longer distances through a hot, unconditioned attic. The attic warms the cooler air as it travels through the ductwork to the farthest rooms.

Thermal Pro Insulators, LLC can assess this and determine if there are additional measures that can be implemented to preserve the temperature in your ductwork or improve the conditions in your attic so that the farthest rooms need not be without sufficient air conditioning.

The Sweater Effect:
More insulation may not necessarily be better

Having insulation in your home is a good thing - we can all agree! However, any insulation - fiberglass, mineral wool, cellulose or spray foam - is NOT a heat barrier. It is better thought of as a “heat hurdle” that makes thermal transfer more difficult. Thus the famous R-value. The “R” stands for Resistance, not Rejection or Removal. The higher the R-value, the more resistant the insulation layer is to heat transfer between the conditioned and unconditioned spaces. This depends on the insulation’s type and thickness. So, if you add more insulation, you’ll get a better R-value and therefore save money on your energy bills, right?

Insulation helps maintain a comfortable conditioned space. However, insulation can act as a heat sink and actually maintain higher temperatures in your attic in hot climates, even during the cooler nighttime hours. More insulation may lead to more heat storage potential, just like you wearing a sweater to retain body heat in the cold winter months. If your ductwork runs through an unconditioned attic space, this latent heat can fight against your unit’s efficiency and cause your energy bills to remain higher.

For years, I often wondered WHY my AC unit had to run during the nighttime hours to maintain a 72F temperature in my house when the outside temperature was lower than that. My house would climb in temperature without the AC unit running. Once I learned about the Sweater Effect, it finally made sense.

So what can be done about it?

Using Space Quilt, the Thermal Control Membrane system we offer, you can protect your AC unit ductwork from the hotter attic space, thereby reducing the load on your cooling system. This same easy-to-install material can be used as a blanket over your attic insulation or used to cover the ductwork in your attic space. This product blocks the radiant heat from penetrating into your ductwork and/or Insualtion blanket, keeping your energy bills lower and your home cooler.