|
Insulation is essential to managing your home’s heating and cooling costs. The basic purpose of insulation is to control the natural flow of heat from warmer spaces to cooler spaces. Your home should be insulated from the foundation to the attic. The key areas include: unfinished attics, doors to unfinished attics, knee walls in finished attics, ducts, cathedral ceilings, all exterior walls, floors above unheated garages, foundations, basements, crawl spaces, and slab-on-grade floors. The amount of insulation you need depends on your climate and type of heating fuel (gas, oil, electricity), as well as whether or not you have an air conditioning.
Product Types
How It Works
Quite simply, insulation slows the transfer of heat. In cold months, it keeps warm air in and cold air out. In warm months, it does the opposite. When insulation is not present, heat escapes through the walls and attic of your home as it rises. Furthermore, cold, damp air from the earth surrounding your home’s foundation is drawn up through the floor boards, forcing your heating system to work harder.
Insulation is rated according to its resistance to heat flow by its R-value; the larger the value, the higher the insulating power. It is important to select insulation with the proper R-value for your climate. In order to be most effective, insulation must be installed as a blanket, not merely in between joists. Thermal performance is greatly enhanced by having a complete thermal envelop, as opposed to the continuous air flow that occurs around each joist.
Another component to insulation is the air barrier, which slows air leakage and controls moisture in your home. There is currently much debate within the industry over the type and placement of these barriers; discuss the options with your contractor.
Low Cost Savings Tips
- One of the nicest attributes of home insulation is that there are options for many different price ranges. Even if you cannot afford a complete retrofit, simply adding a small amount of insulation in the proper location will help to reduce your energy bills.
Do It Yourself
Examine your insulation: The easiest way to determine whether your outdoor walls are insulated is to remove the plate covering an outlet and shine a flashlight into the wall through the gap surrounding the outlet box. You should also inspect and measure the thickness of any insulation in unfinished attic or basement ceilings and walls. When determining the R-value of your current insulation, take the thickness of the insulation and use the following guidelines:
|
- Don’t forget about your floors—air is transferred through your floorboards as well as your attic!
- If your home is very old, it is advisable to have an electrician check the health of your wiring. Adding insulation over degraded insulation represents a fire hazard.
- Air leaks should be filled before adding insulation. Insulation will cover the leaks but will not stop the air flow.
- Examine your attic. If the insulation is even with or below the floor joists, you likely would benefit from adding more insulation.
|
