Will Insulation Improve the Value of Your Home?

Will Insulation Improve the Value of Your Home?

We admit it…insulation isn’t the sexiest home improvement you can make.

It’s not as exciting as a whirlpool tub or a brightly colored backsplash. It’s not as trendy as an outdoor kitchen.

But if you’re looking for a home improvement which will deliver a good return on investment when you’re trying to sell, roof insulation is hard to beat. It brings the value…and it lowers your bills today….something shiny  new kitchen remodeling job just can’t do for you.

It’s an especially good improvement if your house was built before 1980. In earlier decades they just didn’t insulate the way they should.

Ok, but how much will I save really?

Up to 10% to 50% on your energy bills. So, let’s do some math. The average energy bill in Florida is about $120.

If you don’t insulate well, you’ll probably only save $144 per year…about $12 a month. But if you choose a company who is really, really good at their jobs you could start seeing something a lot closer to that 50%…putting $60 more in your pocket every month (or $720 a year). That’s an amount which could easily pay off a credit card, launch an emergency fund, or even start a vacation fund.

It also means most insulation jobs will pay for themselves in about 2.5 years. Most homeowners spend about $1,500 on the upgrade.

Your new kitchen, by contrast, will only pay a portion of its expenses when you get around to selling the home…and you may only recoup 40% of your investment, as opposed to recouping 100% or more over the amount of time you spend in the home.

And if your energy bills are higher than that, then your savings would be higher still.

Pairing insulation with other projects can help defray costs.

Need to replace the roof anyway? That’s a great time to add insulation to your attic.

Want to add it to the walls? Try scheduling an installation while the siding people are out, or after you cave and do some other remodeling project. Adding it to the walls can be difficult if you’re not going to open them up anyway.

Whenever you do it, get it done. You’re probably paying a lot more than you need to for attic insulation, and you’re probably more uncomfortable than you need to be, too. And if you can’t feel comfortable in your home, it’s hard to enjoy any of its features…even if one of those features happens to be a trendy whirlpool tub.

Image credit: Maksym Yemelyanov