You can use your existing insulation and roof to supply heated air to your home via direct sunlight. This can easily happen when the roof is being heated by the light of the sun and the air underneath becomes heated. This very same air collects at the highest point of your roof, trapped underneath. You can use that air to heat up your home. If you have a metal roof or some sort of clad roof with a membrane insulating it underneath you can easily work on this project. It’s not expensive and it allows you to use the heat trapped under the roof to warm your home up at nearly no cost long-term. Before you begin, however, you need to follow these steps to deal with things in a methodical fashion:

• Access your attic and roof and check whether your home has an insulation membrane protecting it under the sheets of the roof. Most roofs will have one but it is still a good idea to check it out.
• Once that is done you need to locate the top two purlins situated on each side of the roof.
• Fix any excess insulation by using a hand staple gun. Secure any insulation to the purlins along the ridge at its full length.
• When you are done, you should check the status of the insulation on each side of the roof from the gutter area to the top purlin. Make sure the space between the purlin is open to the underside of the ridge.
• You should prepare some strips of the insulation so you can fix them across the lower side of the first two purlins on top. It has to be long enough so it can run the entire length of the ridge.
• Take that insulation and affix it to the underside of said purlins with the hand tacker while you form a header between them. The heat of the sun will help warm the air between the sheeting and the insulation.
• Fit a fitting and properly-sized duct outlet at the center of the ridge. The size of the fan should fit the size of the duct perfectly so the insulation will be equally perfect. Fix it to the underside of the purlins and then seal them to the foil by using silicone or a similar means. Make sure the foil that is located under the duct is removed to allow the air to flow freely.
• Fit a duct outlet directly to the ceiling of the room you want to heat up.
• You should fit a fan somewhere between the duct coming from the ridge of your roof and the one leading to the ceiling of the room being heated. It should be suspended from the structure with a good spring, as this will prevent the vibrations coming from the fan. In time, as dust builds up on its blades, it will become unbalanced and this will affect its stability. Spring suspension will also affect its noise levels, making it much more feasible as a solution.
• Measure up and prepare two lengths of the foil ducting. One is meant to connect the ridge duct to the fan, while the other one connects the fan to the ceiling duct.
• Use a thermostat switch near your newly made duct and set the sensor bulb inside the header in proximity to the duct opening.
• Wire the fan to the switch so the fan can only run when the temperature in the monitored area exceeds the one of the heated room below.
• Move to the roof itself and make sure any gaps between the ridge and the roof are fixed and sealed. You can use a number of sealants, such as expanding foam or something similar.
• Your heater will be ready once all of this is completed. The only thing you should keep in mind is that it will only be able to help heat up the house while the sun is up. You will need to back this up with a conventional heating system just in case.
  

Guest Post By:

Bio: Ella Andrews is a writer and one of her greatest passion’s are home remodeling, house removals and home decorating projects. She is presently focuses on writing the best possible way and is therefore searching for new sources of inspiration.