Your Wife is Hot!! Your Uncomfortable House is to Blame

Wednesday, July 26th, 2017 by Joy Padgett

Your wife may be hot (the kind of hot used to describe Hollywood looks), but if she’s hot (you know, the bad kind of hot), then she isn’t happy. Being uncomfortably hot is not a good thing. It’s especially bad if she’s hot when she’s inside the house, where she wants to be cool this summer. Let’s face it….if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. We women just cannot help but complain when we are uncomfortable. It’s just how we are. And, we don’t stop complaining until the problem is solved.

Don’t think of it as complaining, think of it as calling your attention to a problem we don’t know how to fix on our own….a plea for help….a sign of faith in your ability to fix the problem! Yeah! That’s right! Everybody has strengths and weaknesses and for many of us women, fixing a hot house is just not in our repertoire. We know our husband/boyfriend/significant other is in the right frame of mind to handle the situation….even if that means calling in a professional….which I think we actually prefer. Sorry guys. Just sayin’.

Now, let me clarify, I personally can do quite a bit on my own when it comes to making my hot house less hot and more comfortable. I mean, after all, I am in the business of fixing uncomfortable homes!

Living in a home that is too hot in the summer, even if it’s just 1 or 2 rooms, is not acceptable. You’re paying a mortgage on the entire house, so every room should be comfortable every day of every year. BUT, this just doesn’t seem to be the case for the vast majority of houses out there. It’s not that builders aren’t building quality homes (well, some of them really aren’t building quality homes), it’s that they haven’t taken into consideration how each building component is going to affect the comfort levels in the home. Truthfully, I’m glad they build ‘em this way because it keeps the company I work for in business!

The first thing many of our clients have checked out is the HVAC system. That makes sense because the HVAC system is responsible for cooling the house. After the system checks out fine, they move on to thinking they need insulation. That is the next logical step. When I get the phone call requesting an estimate for insulation, I always ask what issues are they experiencing that lead them to believe they need insulation. During the summertime I get this answer most often “The upstairs is hotter than the downstairs so we figured we needed insulation.”

And while that makes perfect sense, if you’re not familiar with how houses are built (or you call in a company that just does insulation), you’ll miss the number 1 reason your house has some hot rooms in it. Air sealing is the most important step to take when making a house more comfortable, but it‘s also the number 1 component that builder’s overlook. Good thing for me, bad thing for you.

The worst part about this is that insulation removes the ability to see where the gaps and cracks are that are allowing air leakage into and out of the attic! Covering these gaps and cracks with insulation doesn’t solve the problem of air leakage, but it does turn your insulation into a giant filter for dust, dirt and other particulates to cling to. Without air sealing, your insulation acts just like a furnace filter does. (Have you checked your furnace filter lately? It’s probably gross!) Now, imagine your insulation working in the same way (or rather not working if it has become a filter).

The object of air sealing is to stop the flow of warm air out of your attic and into your living space in the summer. You want that hot attic air to stay in the attic where it belongs. However, since hot air seeks out cold air, it will find its way into your living spaces through the gaps and cracks hidden beneath the insulation. These gaps and cracks are spaces where electrical wiring, plumbing pipes and HVAC components are passing through the attic subfloor into the ceilings (for overhead lighting, bathroom exhaust fans, air vents, etc.). Electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors drill big holes and run small wires and pipes, but they don’t go back and seal the gaps. Once the insulation is installed, you’re none the wiser. Lucky for you there are companies like the one I work for who can fix these problems.

My advice for fixing your uncomfortable home is to call in the professionals. If you’re reading this blog, you’re already on the website of the premier company to contact! And while that is fantastic news, the absolute BEST part is this….your wife will be happy, which means, so will you! Don’t we all want to be happy? Why not get your hot wife (in the bad way) back to being just a hot wife (in the good way)!