When you think about insulation you think about warmth. What you probably don’t think about is how it can also help keep your home cool and allergen free too. With this in mind, it’s interesting to note that before 1975 homes in Florida weren’t required by law to have insulation. This means that if you own an older home, your energy bill may be going through the roof since it doesn’t have insulation. If you want to save money instead of spending it on insanely high energy bills, you need to think about how insulation will help you.
Home Insulation Saves Money
You’ll know that warm air is leaking in your home because no matter how hard you try you can’t keep your home cool. This is because heat naturally flows from warm to cool areas. As such, the blistering hot heat from outside is attracted to your air-conditioned home. It slips inside there through gaps in your roof insulation, doors, and windows.
Fortunately, it’s easy to fix the areas around your doors and windows. You simply need to add some weather-stripping, caulking, and curtains in those areas. Another option is to upgrade your home by adding some insulation. When you opt for this option you’ll want to make sure that your insulation has a strong heat resistance – an R-value. The higher the R-value, the more heat resistance the insulation provides. Since you live in Florida, your attic’s insulation should have an R-value of 30 – 60 and your walls should have an R-value of 13 – 15.
The most important type of insulation is roof insulation. This is what you use to insulate your attic. The hot air that accumulates in this part of your home on a hot day will eventually leak into your home’s living areas.
Home Insulation Saves you From Upgrading to a Larger A/C Unit Unnecessarily
Your roof insulation also has a direct effect on how much you’ll pay for your air conditioning bill each month. This is because the bigger your A/C unit is, the higher your energy bill is. When you don’t have enough roof insulation your air conditioner has to work a lot harder than it would normally have to. You may even find yourself buying a larger A/C unit to keep your home comfortable. The “moral of the story” here is that both roof insulation and home insulation go together with lower energy bills.
Home Insulation Makes you Feel Comfortable Even if you Have Allergies
Remember, insulation doesn’t only keep your home cool when the temperatures are hot outside, but it also helps you feel more comfortable when you suffer from seasonal allergies. This is because air flows freely from outdoors into and through your home. The best way to decrease this airflow is by sealing your doors and windows and properly insulating your walls and attic. Insulation seals these gaps so air can’t flow into your home. Of course, this also means that pollen can’t enter your home either. Even if you don’t have allergies, outdoor air can bring unwanted guests (e.g. mold spores) into your home. This is why you need to protect your home by insulating it properly.
If after having a home inspection or energy audit, you’ve decided that you are in need of attic insulation, call for a free estimate.
Image credit: Owens Corning
