Typically, your chilly attic – and your cold home – come from improper insulation. If your attic's insulation is insufficient, you will lose heat from this upper floor in the colder months, which translates to increased heating costs and energy usage.
Heating and cooling systems work hard to keep the home at the desired temperature. When a home has inadequate insulation in the attic, a lot of air is lost through the roof. Energy bills skyrocket, and it's impossible to keep the temperature in the house regulated.
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.
A simple way to tell is to look at your roof after a snow during the winter. If you see areas where the shingles are showing due to snow melt while the roofs of your neighbors are still covered evenly then you don't have enough insulation in your attic and you are experiencing heat loss.
By adding insulation in your attic, you can maintain the desired temperature throughout your home much better. Combined with attic air sealing, it can also help to alleviate the formation of dangerous ice dams in the winter.
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.
Attic insulation costs anywhere from $1,680 to $3,125, depending on the size of your attic and the material used. On average, most homeowners shell out around $2,380. These costs include the insulation materials and installation by a professional.
However, due to its construction with natural materials, eventually the product will lose effectiveness. Fiberglass insulation typically needs to be replaced 15-20 years into it's life, as it can easily become dirty, wet, moldy, and ineffective if there's a roof leak or water damage of any kind.
The first sign of poor attic ventilation is when your upstairs rooms are uncomfortably hot. Without proper attic ventilation, the hot air gets trapped with no fresh air being pulled in. This heat radiates down into the living spaces below to the point where it won't be cool enough to be in them until the sun goes down.
Overall, the second layer of insulation plays a crucial role in improving insulation performance, reducing heat loss, and maintaining a comfortable and energy-efficient living space.
If you're wondering what bad insulation looks like, check to see if it is moldy, wet, or discolored. It may be unevenly dispersed and thin in areas. If you see these problems, take action right away. Poor household insulation can cascade into expensive, uncomfortable, and even dangerous problems.
Attic insulation helps with your home's AC efficiency, but choosing the right type is the first step. There are four common types of insulation that may be installed in your attic. Batt Insulation: This type of insulation is one of the most common types in homes 10-50 years old.
Blown-in fiberglass insulation may settle and sag after more than a decade. Cellulose is good at preventing air leaks and is more eco-friendly than certain other forms of insulation. Cellulose has even been demonstrated in specific experiments to prevent fires from spreading through a house.
Never place insulation close to water heaters, oil burners or anything hot. The backing is especially flammable and will be a major fire hazard for your home.
In many cases you can add new insulation on top of old insulation, unless the old insulation is wet, mouldy, or vermiculite. If the old insulation is dry but appears to have previously been wet, you should look for the cause and repair the problem.
Blown-in attic insulation is one of the most effective ways to enhance your home's thermal performance and reduce energy bills.
Maintaining adequate attic ventilation is essential for the overall health of you and your home. Without proper ventilation, you risk mold mildew growth, general deterioration of your roofing system, and even increased respiratory problems due to this moisture accumulation.
Looking across your attic, if the insulation is level with or below the attic floor joists, you probably need to add more insulation. If you cannot see any of the floor joists because the insulation is well above them, you probably have enough, and adding more insulation may not be cost-effective.
Attic fans range differently depending on what kind of the Attic fan you are installing, you can expect to pay between $350 to $1,000 installed. The pricing varies based on the type of Attic fan, the sizing requirements, and the motor type.
Uninsulated attics can cause major temperature fluctuations at home. In most cases, rooms on the upper floor will have significantly different temperatures from those on the lower floor. It becomes particularly problematic during the winter and summer when you need your home's indoor temperature to be comfortable.
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.
Best Time of Year to Buy Insulation
In this case, the spring is the best time, because you will also start to see savings in the summer months. The same is true for warmer climates, just different times of year because you'll want the job finished before the heat sets in.