Tips on keeping your summer cool. How to reduce indoor heat in Summers.

Summers are wonderful but the heat is not that pleasant, specially in areas where the temperatures are too high.  There are many options to keep your indoors cool by way of Air Conditioning, Air Cooling etc.  But we cannot stop the transmission of heat.  If we can restrict the transmission of heat from outside to our indoors, these cooling devices will be more effective and less costly to use.

The process of restricting the heat (temperature) from transmitting is called thermal insulation.  With the increase in temperature in summers, protecting the living spaces from summer heat is the major problem.

The heat of the sun gradually transmits our living spaces through the walls and RCC Roof, Tin Shades or any other modern day home, office or factory.  In olden days the houses were made in such a way to minimize the heat transmission using natural products.  With the use of modern and sustainable products thermal insulation is a major issue.

Thermal insulation can be done during construction itself.  We are not covering this area in this article.  

We will be covering the challenge of thermal insulation in existing buildings.  Here we are giving the name and introduction of few products which can be used for Thermal Insulation or in other words, minimizing the transmission of heat in any place.  The first and foremost is the air.  If you give a gap with air in between any two surfaces it is a wonderful insulation.

Now let us see the different products available which can work as a barrier to transmission of heat.

Different Products available for Thermal Insulation:

Glass Wool/Rock Wool

This product range is a very good temperature insulator.  This is also a good sound insulator as well.  The product comes in shape of fibres.  Lately this product is now available fully covered from all sides.  There are some health hazard issues in this product.  The open rockwool or glasswool has lot of harmful fibres which can easily fly in air thus leading to harmful affect to health.  Every precaution should be taken to cover this material before using.  If this issue is taken care of this can be a very good product for checking the transfer of temperature (be it hot or cold).

Mineral Fibre Tiles

The mineral fibre tiles are also used for heat insulation, but this product is mainly useful in sound insulation and aesthetics.  We do not recommend this product for the purpose of heat or temperature insulation.  Of course this product can be used with other insulating products for better and perfect effect.  However, for controlling normal issues this product can be a very easy and effective solution.  We suggest using Glass Wool, EPS, and XPS before covering the place with the false ceiling of Mineral Fibre Tiles.

Calcium Silicate

This is a good product which is fire proof and a good thermal insulator.  This product can used to create drywalls.  The Calcium Silicate Boards can work as a very good thermal insulator again if used with some additional insulating material.

EPS (Expanded Polystyrene Sheet)

EPS is also called thermocole. Thermocole sheet is a very good heat insulator.  EPS is made by bonding the EPS balls.  This is a common product and almost everyone is aware of this product.  The product is very light weight and density of the product can go upto a certain extent only.  The product has limited life.  But this product is a very good temperature insulator.  A reasonably thick sheet can work as a wonderful barrier to any thermal transmission. 

XPS (Extruded Polystyrene Sheets)

This is the improved version of EPS. XPS in comparison to EPS (Thermocole Sheet) is a stronger and better product.  It is a block type material made up to polystyrene.  The product is very strong, has very little water absorption and is a wonderful thermal insulator.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the best product available in thermal insulation as on date.

XPS can reduce the indoor temperature by almost more than 15%.  Also it can delay the increase in indoor temperature in summers.  In areas where evening or night temperatures are cold this product can do wonders, as by the time the heat transmits the outdoor temperature will start to decline.

Hope this article will be useful to you.  For more questions on the subject please feel free to write me on nikanj@shreeanupamam.com.

6 Points to take care before installing Wooden Flooring.

Wooden Flooring looks wonderful in any establishment, be it office, home, showroom or shops.  It instantly enhances the decorum and goodwill of the place.  The comfort level and re silence of the room also greatly increased.

Six precautions should be taken before installing the wooden flooring.  This will allow you to enjoy your wooden floor for years.

1. The Floor should be clean:

Before installing the wooden flooring please check your floor and make sure that the floor is clean.  The base floor must be clean without any dirt.  The dirt, sand particles can cause imbalance.

2. The Floor should be dry:

The base floor should be fully dry.  The moisture in the floor can cause permanent damage to the wooden flooring.  

While making the PCC base floor we have to cure it properly for creating the strength of the floor.  The nicely cured (cured with water) floor takes minimum 2 weeks to dry in normal temperature of 35+ degree temperature.  Please make sure that the base floor is fully dry before installing the Wooden Floor.

A simple procedure of checking the moisture level of the floor is to paste a clear polythene on the floor and check it after 12 to 24 hours.  If the polythene accumulates water under it then the floor still has moisture.  Laying of Wooden Floor should be avoided till the moisture dries up.

3. The Floor should be smooth & even:

The base floor must be smooth.  Smooth means that the floor should not have undulations in it.  The uneven floor will create unnecessary complications in any wooden floor.  As the planks of the wooden floor are straight, any depression or bump on the floor will make the wooden floor uneven.  The uneven base floor will result in following problems:

a) The floor will make cracking noise while walking on it.
b) The floor will look uneven if the unevenness is too high.
c) At longer duration the shape of the plank of the wooden flooring may bent as per the depression of the base floor.
d) The interlocking locks of the Wooden Floor may get damaged while using the floor due to unevenness.

The floor must be checked and ensure that there are no major unevenness in it. The different ways of checking unevenness are:

i) Place a long straight piece of wooden bar, aluminium section on the floor. You will be able to easily see the unevenness of the floor.

ii) Second option is of spilling some water on the floor.  Wherever there is accumulation of water, there is depression in the floor.

The uneven floor must be leveled using self leveling material.  The different ways of leveling the floor are:

a) Use a good self leveling material to level the floor.
b) Redo the PCC in the depressed area.
c) Grind the embossed/bumped areas of the floor.
d) For short term solutions you can use White Cement Putty or Plaster of Paris to level the floor. Plaster of Paris (POP) is not the correct product, but for instant solution it can be used (better to avoid). 

4. Block all points from where water can come:

Water is the enemy of Wooden Flooring.  Please check all points from where water can seep in or enter the area where water can enter.  If you have attached bathroom please see that the bathroom floor is down than the room floor.  As additional precaution please put a stone strip on the gate to be double sure that water does not enter the floor.

5. Check Termite or Borer:

Termite & Borer are the another enemy of wooden floor.  Please check and take all precautions against Termite & Borer.  The termite and borer can completely wipe out and finish the wooden flooring.  A proper termite treatment should be done if there is threat of termite in the area.

6. Put proper protective layer under the Wooden Floor:

Before laying the wooden floor please ensure that Polythene + 2mm HDPE (separately or laminated) sheet should be layed under the laminate wooden floor. This layer protects the floor and also covers minor undulation of the floor.

If these precautions are taken the Wooden Floor, be it Laminate of Engineered will last for years.

Thank you.

For more information please call us at on:
Shree Anupamam, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
0141 2742876
94140 67301.