Does your house feel hot and stuffy in the summer and then cold and drafty in the winter? It’s probably because of your insulation.
Insulation is your home’s first line of defense against the weather. If you don’t have enough, heat will seep out in the winter and pour in during the summer, making it impossible to stay comfortable and driving up your energy bills.
Keep reading to learn how insulation works in all seasons and why it’s one of the most important home comfort and energy efficiency improvements you can make.
How Insulation Works
Insulation works by creating a barrier that slows down heat transfer between your house and the outdoors. Most people think about insulation as something that keeps them warm in the winter, but it’s just as important for keeping your home cool during the summer.
In the winter, insulation holds heat inside your home. Your heating system runs less often as a result, saving you money on energy bills.
In the summer, insulation stops outside heat from seeping into your home. That reduces the load on your air conditioner, leading to lower summer electric bills.
Insulation, however, can only stop heat that moves through materials like your walls and ceilings. It can’t do anything about heat that moves through the air, which can pass right through most types of insulation if it’s not installed properly.
At Home Energy Medics, we take the time to air seal before installing new insulation, which closes off gaps and openings that let air (and the heat, moisture, and pollutants it carries) leak into your home. Together, insulation and air sealing create a tight seal for total comfort and maximum energy savings.
Where Your Home Needs Insulation
If you’re dealing with comfort issues or high energy bills, upgrading your insulation can make a big difference. But you have to install it in the right places. The key areas to focus on are:
The Top of Your Home, in the Attic
Your attic is the most important place to insulate in your home. In the winter, heat rises and leaks right out through a poorly insulated and sealed attic. In the summer, the sun beats down on your roof, and heat conducts right into your house. Attic insulation and air sealing stop this from happening.
The Bottom of Your Home, in the Basement
Your basement is another key area to insulate. Basements are notoriously cold, drafty, and damp. The right insulation will transform your basement, whether you use it as a living space, laundry room, or storage space. Plus, your basement impacts your entire home. Insulating it will solve problems like cold floors in the winter and help the rooms above it stay more comfortable all year.
Not Sure Where to Start? Schedule an Energy Audit
Before adding new insulation, it’s smart to understand what’s already in your home.
How much insulation do you currently have? Where are the weak spots? And are there other issues, like leaky air ducts or HVAC inefficiencies, contributing to your comfort or energy problems? Without that full picture, you could spend money on upgrades that don’t actually solve the problem.
At Home Energy Medics, we recommend starting with a home energy audit. During an energy audit, we look at everything, from your insulation and air sealing to your HVAC system and ductwork. We even run moisture and air quality tests. That gives us a full picture of what’s going on in your home so we can recommend the most effective solutions for lasting comfort and energy bill savings.