Insulation in your home provides resistance to heat flow and lowers your heating and cooling costs. Properly insulating your home not only reduces heating and cooling costs, but also improves comfort.
How many degrees of difference insulation makes on its own depends on the type of home you have, what the weather is like and what kind of insulation you have. Depending on what you choose, you could see a five- to 20-degree temperature difference just based on the insulation alone.
Significant Impact on Property Value
The impact on property value varies depending on the size of the home and the type of insulation installed; however, homeowners can expect to enjoy at least a 2 to 6 percent increase on overall property value.
Absolutely. Wall insulation prevents your home from heating up in summer and keeps your home warmer in winter. Around 15-20% of a home's heat loss and gain occurs through the walls.
“A well-insulated house will make you more comfortable in every season. And it's quieter, too.” The EPA estimates that the average homeowner can save 15% on heating and cooling costs (11% of total energy costs) by adding insulation in attics, crawl spaces, and basement rim joists.
There comes a point where too much insulation starts to have a negative effect — financially, environmentally, and in terms of the longevity of your home. So yes, it is possible to over-insulate your house. Fortunately, insulation fixation is a monkey not many people have on their backs.
Rigid Foam Insulation. Rigid foam is the clear winner if you're looking for the highest R-value home insulation you can get. With an R-value of R-4 to R-6.5 per inch of thickness, it's ideal for insulating exterior walls, including basement walls.
Savings and Comfort
EPA estimates that homeowners can save an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs (or an average of 11% on total energy costs) by air sealing their homes and adding insulation in attics, floors over crawl spaces and basements.
Vacuum insulated panels have the highest R-value, approximately R-45 (in U.S. units) per inch; aerogel has the next highest R-value (about R-10 to R-30 per inch), followed by polyurethane (PUR) and phenolic foam insulations with R-7 per inch.
As a general rule, vapour impermeable foam (any foam) on the outside of the studs should be twice as much as the fibrous insulation included in the stud bay, this is known as the 1/3 : 2/3 rule. So, if we had R2. 7 glass wool in the stud bays then we need R5. 4 foam on the outside of the studs (Total R8.
Depending on where you live and the part of your home you're insulating (walls, crawlspace, attic, etc.), you'll need a different R-Value. Typical recommendations for exterior walls are R-13 to R-23, while R-30, R-38 and R-49 are common for ceilings and attic spaces.
Doubling insulation does double R-value. Due to the law of diminishing returns, doubling insulation from R-10 to R-20 will reduce energy consumption more than doubling R-20 to R-40. Attics usually have plenty of space for doubling insulation.
In most cases, interior walls are not insulated during construction. Unlike exterior walls, which must meet local and state codes for insulation, interior wall insulation is rarely required. This is because interior insulation has much less impact on your home's energy efficiency – but it can still play a role.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that homeowners can save an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs by sealing air leaks and adding attic insulation. This helps keep your house from losing heat in the winter and helps you stay cooler in the summer.
Could your existing insulation be too much? While over-insulated attics aren't as common as under-insulated attics, it is possible to put so much insulation in your attic that it has a negative impact.
Too much of anything is bad, including too much insulation in an attic. Over insulating your house and tightly sealing it too much creates a vapor barrier and forces moisture to settle on fixtures inside your home (hello, water damage!).
Conclusion. Attic insulation can last 80 to 100 years, though it loses its energy efficiency benefits with time. Certified attic specialists' professional advice is to upgrade it every 15 years to ensure that it is still performing the job.
The R-value for insulation is a way to measure how much resistance the insulation has to heat flow. The higher the R-value, the more the resistance and the better the material is at insulating a home.
If your insulation is wet or damaged, we strongly recommend replacing it before applying a new layer. Otherwise, the problem will spread throughout the new insulation and could significantly damage roofing structures. If the insulation is in good condition, then a new layer can be placed on top without difficulty.
Unless damaged, it can last 80 to 100 years in most houses before it needs to be replaced. However, insulation can start falling from fiberglass batts after 15 to 20 years, so if your insulation was installed in batts well over a decade ago, it might be time for an inspection or a home energy audit.