![]() ![]() Here is a look at the three main climate types, hot, cold and mild, the unique problems that each may face, and recommended insulation levels for each. However, the location of insulation in your home and the reasons for the minimum and maximum insulation ratings recommended by climate will vary. Though having the best wall materials for a cool tropical home would be ideal, they are still other ways to ensure your home is thermally comfortable.Your need for insulation definitely varies depending on which climate you live in. Choosing the best wall materials is one element along with site orientation, roof design and several others. They are several strategies for designing a home suited for the tropics. Whether or not their walls use mass or framed construction materials. Proper shading and passive ventilation strategies are excellent ideas for any tropical home. This strategy will ensure the heat radiating from mass walls can escape as quickly as possible. Providing means for natural ventilation all through the day and night without compromising security is also an excellent idea. These shading strategies protect the north and south-facing walls. Adding canopies or roof overhangs over covered outdoor areas is also effective. You could add vertical screens or trees to shade east and west-facing walls. I think you can find ways to make this wall system work for you.Īs much as possible, try to shade the walls from direct sunlight. In addition, they typically have higher resistance to hurricane-force winds as well as fires. They are not susceptible to mould or termites. Heavyweight walls have benefits in tropical climates as well. Therefore, like me, the house you currently live in may be built using concrete, blocks or bricks. Both tropical and temperate climates use them. However, both lightweight and heavyweight wall systems and materials are prevalent. How To Make Heavyweight or Mass Walls Cool? Therefore, it is good to add insulation to these walls to reduce the heat transfer during the day. Low thermal mass materials are the opposite. Hence, though materials like concrete store heat and releases it slowly, they also transfer that heat slower from outside to inside. High thermal mass materials have low thermal conductivity. Not ideal if you are at home during the day. An unshaded, uninsulated lightweight wall would transfer heat inside. You may be wondering if, since these materials heat up quickly, wouldn’t that mean they will make inside your home hot during the day. However, they cool rapidly once the heat source, such as the sun, is no longer there. They heat up quickly with little exposure to a heat source. Walls that consist of wood or metal framing with cladding do not store a lot of heat. Hence, framed walls tend to have a low capacity for storing heat energy. Lightweight wall construction tends to have a low thermal mass. Hence, when using mass walls in this type of climate, it would be best to have them shaded from direct sunlight. However, where thermal comfort is a concern, mass or heavyweight walls exposed to direct sunlight are not ideal for hot, humid climates. In temperate climates or even hot, dry climates, where the night-time temperature can be much lower than the daytime temperature, thermal mass walls are ideal. This heat can build up in our home that has little or no potential for natural ventilation overnight. It also happens that we tend to keep our windows and doors closed at night because of security reasons. These are the primary sources of entertainment in our current lifestyles.Īll these appliances, along with our bodies, produce heat. Furthermore, it is the time when more lights, computers, gaming consoles, cable boxes and big-screen televisions are on. However, at night, the entire family returns home. During the day, most of us are away from our homes at work or school. I think this is especially important because of our lifestyles. Night-time in such environments can still be reasonably warm, and hence, it is ideal to avoid materials that will make your home warmer. The difference in temperature between day and night is usually not significant. In tropical climates that are hot and humid, this is not ideal. Hence, this heat slowly releases into our homes during the night. This heat is especially apparent for the west-facing wall, which has no sun shading. At night I can feel the heat radiating from the exterior walls. After the sun sets, mass walls remain warm. ![]() Therefore, when the sun is shining on these materials, they absorb the heat from the sun. These materials can collect and store large amounts of heat energy. Mass or heavyweight materials such as concrete, stone and brick have a high thermal mass.
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