Just 10% of American houses are sufficiently insulated. The remaining 90% of us pay higher energy bills than we should and deal with uncomfortable conditions like inconsistent temperatures in various rooms.
A well-insulated home has an even temperature throughout, which lowers energy costs and improves comfort. This is because all of the important areas are well-insulated. Also, good insulation protects your property from long-term dangers like infestation and dampness, ensuring that it lasts for generations. This is why getting your home’s insulation material adequately inspected is crucial.
Yet, you are not required to insulate your house from every angle. If you need clarification on which sections of your home require insulation, this article lists eight of them so you may reduce your energy costs. So, let’s get started.
The Attic
The most crucial region of your house to insulate is the attic. This is because warm air rises. However, if your attic is improperly insulated, all your warm or cooled air will climb to the attic and escape during the colder months. Your home must be heated all day to reach or maintain the desired temperature, resulting in high energy costs.
Also, it increases your energy costs in the summer. Hot air from the outside seeps into your attic while you work to cool your home’s interior, using more energy. For this reason, insulating your attic is crucial, especially the floor.
Before beginning insulation, you must evaluate the attic’s existing insulation. Find out if it is spray foam insulation, fiberglass insulation, or cellulose insulation. Then, clean the area, ensure optimum ventilation, and understand the various attic insulation alternatives. Lack of ventilation will result in dampness from condensation throughout the winter, producing various moisture issues that might endanger the structure.
You should also insulate any vertical walls that have an attic behind them. To provide appropriate insulating space, any attic decking should be elevated above the ceiling joists if you are rebuilding or building a new home.
Last but not least, you may limit summer heat gain and save your cooling expenses by installing a radiant barrier in the rafters of your attic.
Walls
The interior and external walls need to be appropriately insulated. Insulating the external walls allows you to retain the conditioned air inside your house while keeping the outside air out. By insulating the interior of your walls, you can maintain a constant temperature throughout the house. There won’t be a room that is colder or hotter than the others anymore.
Blow-in fiberglass insulation, also known as drill and fill, is a good option if you want to insulate the interior of an existing home because it doesn’t disrupt the structure too much. It is the best insulation material, according to some homeowners.
It works quite well, especially when installed using the thick pack method. If your wall cavities are open and you’re rebuilding, employing batting insulation should work.
The benefits of using batt insulation for your walls are as follows:
- It may be put between studs, rafters, and joist blocks and is flexible.
- It can lower the energy needed to heat and cool a house.
You should brace or structurally strengthen your walls using foam sheathing instead of OSB or plywood.
In addition to saving your energy costs, insulating your walls gives you more privacy since they are more effective at absorbing sound.
Floors
If you have adequate insulation and good air sealing in your walls and attic but still experience excessive cold or heat during the winter or summer, the issue is likely with the floor.
Even if hot air rises to the ceiling and attic, an uninsulated floor can still absorb a lot of heat flow, especially in unheated spaces like the garage. Cold or unevenly heated floors are a sure symptom of poor floor insulation. If you observe this, you should immediately insulate your flooring to lower your energy costs and make leaving your house without shoes more comfortable.
Before insulating the floor above an unconditioned garage, all potential vents and air leakage sources should be sealed. Failure to do so raises the possibility that pollutants from the garage, such as paint and solvents, will seep into the conditioned space. Installing an air barrier will stop the garage’s chilly air from damaging the insulation beneath the subfloor.
You can lessen dampness, remove drafts, and keep the warm or cooled air inside your home by insulating your flooring. In multi-level homes where individuals live on separate floors, insulating your floor can assist in minimizing noise, much like insulating your walls.
Crawlspace
Insulating your crawlspace, whether ventilated or not, may help keep the heat in your house and reduce energy costs. Also, it shields your pipes from temperatures that are too hot or too cold. Do you want to know how to insulate your crawl space properly?
Unventilated crawl spaces are frequently insulated by sealing the gap and insulating the foundation walls rather than the floor between the house and the crawlspace. No of the season, it enables the ducting and plumbing to keep a constant temperature.
Your air conditioner will be able to heat or cool your home more quickly if you keep the temperature in your crawlspace consistent. However, with this method, you need an air barrier.
Basement
You may significantly reduce your monthly energy costs for heating and cooling your house by insulating your basement. If you have an existing house or a new building, you can always add more insulation to the basement. Unfortunately, it is impossible to add insulation to the exterior of the basement walls of an existing home; as a result, inside insulation must be used instead.
Because basements are renowned for having issues with humidity, mildew, and water infiltration, moisture management is one characteristic you should look for in the type of insulation you choose.
Ceilings
Remember the ceiling during remodeling since hot air rises, just like in the attic. Even if your attic is insulated, it’s still possible for all of the conditioned air to escape if you don’t insulate it. Ceiling insulation is crucial.
Another essential reason to insulate your ceiling is that doing so will stop condensation from accumulating, which can result in moisture-related issues like mildew. Also, it guarantees a consistent temperature throughout your house.
Ducts
The majority of duct systems have high energy losses. Place the vents in a climate-controlled area while developing or constructing a new home. However, if you have an existing home and discover the ducts are outside a conditioned room, adequately seal and insulate them. You will spend much less on energy as a result.
Windows and doors
You may replace your doors and windows with the proper ones for comfort and energy efficiency if they still need insulation built into them. Nevertheless, you may accomplish the same result by caulking and sealing the areas around doors and windows inside and outside. You may also install a door sweep and weather stripping to prevent air leaks.
