There are a few effective ways to do this, including: Do a touch test: The touch test is exactly what it sounds like. On a winter day when it's cool and rainy outside, go around and touch parts of your home, like the interior ceilings, walls, and floors. They should all feel warm and dry.
Do the touch test. The interior ceilings, walls and floors in your home should feel warm and dry. When drywall and paneling inside a home feels damp or cold, there is not enough insulation. Alternatively, when touching an exterior wall, it should feel cold because insulation is keeping warm air inside a home.
Infrared Inspection
Another way to test your insulation efficiency is to use an infrared camera. This camera will pick up any hot and cold spots in your home, indicating the effectiveness of your insulation.
The most common signs of poor insulation in the house include drafts, high utility bills, insects and other pests, and uneven temperatures. Drafts or Excessive Warmth: This symptom indicates improper insulation and poor seals around doors and windows.
It is possible to over-insulate your house so much that it can't breathe. The whole point of home insulation is to tightly seal your home's interior. But if it becomes too tightly sealed with too many layers of insulation, moisture can get trapped inside those layers. That's when mold starts to grow.
R15 insulation offers slightly better thermal insulative properties than R13. Some of its formats are a fraction of an inch thicker than R13, making it more effective at helping with energy efficiency. However, the difference is minimal.
Check for drafts and cold spots
Areas where you can feel a draft, or cold spots on your walls can indicate poor insulation. Drafts indicate panel gaps and openings that need to be sealed, cold spots in walls and floors indicate insulation clumping or areas where the material is too thin.
How heat escapes from your home. If you're asking yourself Why is my house so cold even with the heating on? or Why is my house not staying warm?, the truth is that air leaks—along with insufficient insulation—cause heat to escape directly from your home.
Most forms of insulation can last for decades under ideal conditions. However, various issues inside your home can make retrofitting or replacement necessary much sooner. Some homes have the original insulation for upwards of a century, while others may require upgraded insulation in as little as 15 years.
To check the level of your wall insulation, consider purchasing an infrared thermometer. The device will detect any poor insulation and alert you of any specific problem area.
If your walls feel cold when you touch them, then it is likely that your home is not well insulated. Fortunately, you can easily make your walls warmer by installing extra insulation and completing other home energy upgrades. This will reduce heat loss, lower carbon emissions, and save you money on utility bills.
Cold Rooms, Walls, and Floors
If you find that a few of the rooms in your house are colder than the others, or if the ceiling and interior walls are cool when you touch them, it is a sign of improper insulation.
Poor insulation: If your home isn't properly insulated, heat can escape through the walls, attic, or floors, making it harder to keep your house warm. Leaky ductwork: Damaged or unsealed ducts can leak warm air, reducing the efficiency of your heating system and causing cold spots around your home.
You can easily detect areas of missing insulation by walking around your house with a thermal imager and looking for temperature differences. For best results, you'll want at least a 20 degree temperature difference.
The lack of insulation in homes can lead to condensation and mould growth, creating unhealthy living environments and potentially causing structural damage. Insulation slows the movement of heat through the walls, roof, and floors, maintaining a more consistent indoor temperature.
R13 insulation is generally more affordable, which makes it an attractive option for budget-conscious projects. However, R19 insulation offers better long-term advantages because of its higher R-value. Why? Because the R-Value translates to a greater energy savings over time.
Mineral wool batts are a great choice when it comes to thermal performance. They beat the fiberglass batts with a 22–37% higher R-value per inch.
Excellent Thermal Performance Owens Corning™ R-15 EcoTouch® insulation is specifically engineered to solve the efficiency problems of exterior 2x4 walls. “High density” means more fibers per square inch. It delivers a higher R-value per square inch in less space than standard insulation products.