How to Better Insulate Your Home
Did you know that the largest part of the average single-family household’s energy bill goes to heating and cooling? That’s a lot of money spent to keep your family warm in the winter and cool in the heat of summer. If you’d like to lower your household’s total energy spending, you’ll want to check up on your home’s insulation.
But where do you start? Can you improve the insulation of your home on your own? There are many options to explore based on the qualities of your home and your heating and cooling needs.
If you’re looking to know how to better insulate your home, keep reading for our comprehensive guide.
Benefits of Home Insulation
If you haven’t checked up on your home’s insulation in a while, you may not be familiar with the many benefits proper insulation in your home can give you. Let’s break down the short and long-term benefits a quality insulation system in your home can give you.
Two obvious insulation benefits are a warmer/cooler home and savings on the cost of energy. But there are pros that go beyond your comfort and utility bill. Your energy savings not only help your wallet but also helps the environment too! Less energy used means less pollution.
A return of investment on your insulation system is likely, and it increases the value of your home. Your insulation system will offer a quick return on investment of about 6 months to 2 years.
An insulation system can also lower condensation on other parts of your home. Consider pipes, ducts, and drains. You’ll want to keep the temperature around them at a certain level to lower condensation and thus prevent corrosion.
Your insulation materials also act as a great method for noise control! Bring peace and quiet to your home while giving yourself privacy. The insulation absorbs emitted sound to reduce noise levels overall.
An entire new insulation system will cost you, but we know some tips on how to improve the insulation of your home on your own. Let’s take a look at some professional and DIY home insulation solutions.
Parts of the Home to Insulate
If we’re being honest, you’ll want to insulate all parts of your home to experience the best results possible. But if you have to choose, look for the spots in your home that lose the most heat during winter or the most air during summer. Let’s break down some areas of the home to focus on.
Think of the outline of your home when thinking of the biggest culprits of lost heat/air. Your ceiling/roof is responsible the most, then your exterior walls, and then the flooring. When looking for insulation, you’ll want to base your choice on the R-Value. R-value measures how strong the insulating capabilities are.
Let’s say you have a special room in your home such as an attic or a loft. There are many insulation options to look into for protecting these rooms notorious for losing heat. Spray foam, blankets, and rolls are a few of the varied options for loft installation.
For your attic roof rafters, foam is also the most popular option. But a cost-effective alternative to foam is stapling reflective foil sheets to the rafters. Then, any heat will reflect off of the sheets and heat your attic space instead of escaping.
How to Better Insulate Your Home
Bettering your underfloor or ceiling insulation is possible even if your home isn’t new construction. Try to find a professional that can assess your insulation’s current condition. If the insulation has become wet or moldy, you’ll definitely want it replaced to avoid any issues in the future. You can even upgrade your current insulation to have better thermal resistance!
If brand new ceiling or wall insulation isn’t in your budget, you can channel your DIY side. You don’t need a new insulation system to keep the heat in and lower your energy costs.
One great way to insulate is by using weatherstripping. Have extra space in your doorways? Got an air leak in your window? You can buy weatherproofing strips and kits that help you fill these pesky insulation nightmares. Or, pieces of foam work on the front and back of your window or door can work just as well.
Letting the breeze in through decorative curtains during warm summer months is nice, but you’ll need some extra protection for the colder months. Look for sturdy, heavy curtains to cover your drafty windows. You can even find some curtains that have a thermal back- extra, built-in insulation against the frigid winds.
If investing in heavy curtains won’t work for you either, you can look into fleece lining to add to your current curtains. Make sure to keep your curtains open during the day to let the natural sunlight heat your home. Then, close them at night to trap the heat in.
Did you know you can insulate your water heater, too? Fiberglass jackets, available at most any home improvement store, are a great solution to reduce heat loss. As mentioned earlier, insulating your plumbing can help keep heat in the pipes and prevent corrosion. It also helps dampen any pesky dripping plumbing noises.
Better Home Insulation, Better Quality of Life
Whether you’ve been putting off a check-up on your home’s insulation or never even thought to take a look at it before, now you know where to start. You can save major money and live more comfortably when you know how to better insulate your home. Leave it to the professionals, or try DIY insulation!
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Trevor Anderson wrote this article on behalf of FreeUp. FreeUp is the fastest-growing freelance marketplace in the US. FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of freelance applicants. Click here to get access to the top freelancers in the world.
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