Hot Air Rises This is the law of nature that makes the upper
floors of a house generally warmer than the bottom floor or
basement. It’s called convection, and it’s responsible for much
of the heat and cold lost inside our homes. In the winter, you
heat the inside of your house, and that heat is constantly
trying to escape through convection and other means. It heads
right upstairs and sneaks through all the little holes in your
ceiling between the top floor and the attic and from there makes
its way outside. As the warm air is leaving the house, it’s also
pulling outdoor air into the house through tiny gaps around
doors and windows, cracks in the foundation, around pipes
entering the house, etc. This cool “makeup” air just makes your
furnace work harder to keep you comfortable. In the summer, the
same effect leads to inefficiency with air conditioning, because
convection is pulling hot outdoor air into the house, making
your air conditioner work harder. Now that we’re done with the
science lesson, let’s look