Attic insulation is a popular home improvement project because of the high return on investment. Depending on the state of your home’s current insulation, insulation replacement could pay for itself in as little as two years. However, that’s not the only benefit of adding it.
Greater Energy Efficiency from Increased Insulation
The most obvious benefit of adding attic insulation is improving your home’s energy efficiency. With updated insulation, you lose less heat through the roof. This allows you to use less energy to heat your home, whether you rely on an electric heating system, gas furnace or oil furnace. And you won’t just see the energy savings in the form of lower winter utility bills. You won’t have to run the air conditioner as long to cool down your house in the summer, either. That helps you save on energy year-round. According to the EPA, upgraded attic and wall insulation saves the average homeowner 15% on their heating and cooling costs.
Reduced Capital Costs
One side benefit of a more energy efficient home is the reduced capital costs. If you don’t have to run the HVAC system as hard or long to cool down your home, the system itself lasts longer. The same is true for your furnace or whatever heating system you use. Adding years of life to your heating and air conditioning system is a significant savings and can give you lots of peace of mind. And if they don’t have to run as long, you may not need to change the air filters as often, either.
How Added Insulation Protects Your Roof
Adding insulation to the attic may protect your roof in other ways, as well. If you have poor insulation in the attic and a lot of snow builds up, the snow trapped against the roof will melt. The outer layers of the snow will insulate it like someone snuggled inside of an igloo. This holds a mass of water against your roof that could sit there for weeks, slowly seeping into or under your roof. Water seeping under shingles and into the roof structure can cause parts of your roof to rot and warp, and it feeds mold growth, too. When these ice dams form and stay in place, it may take months or years off the life of your roof. Improving the drainage of water from the roof and removing snow from the roof reduces the risk of this happening. Yet an increase in insulation in the attic can achieve the same thing, because the roof won’t get warm enough to melt the snow on its surface in the first place. And by preventing heat buildup in the attic in the summer, you slow down the process by which shingles swell and crack.
Attic insulation protects the structure of your home in other ways, too. Improved insulation can slow the deterioration of the structure through thermal cycling, the heating and cooling of the home and the expansion and contraction of the roof’s structural elements. You may notice this type of expansion and contraction when the house seems to creak and “settle” as the sun goes down and temperatures fall in the evenings.
Improved Air Quality
A properly sealed home can give you better air quality indoors. When you have shoddily installed insulation, there are gaps that create cold spots, and you may have gaps in the ceiling or roof itself, too. In these cases, it pays to remove the old insulation, seal the attic properly, and put in clean insulation. You’ll remove dust, dander, debris and moldy insulation. In some cases, it will remove exposed fiberglass insulation that has been releasing toxic particles into the air you breathe. If you had leaky air ducts that let mold, pet dander and cigarette smoke into the attic where it got trapped in the insulation instead of your air filters, replacing the attic insulation could help to address the chronic respiratory problems your family faces.
How It Improves Indoor Comfort
Putting in more insulation can be an investment in your quality of life. Adding more insulation to the attic can prevent the dramatic temperature fluctuations you see in an under-insulated home. Insulation helps your home keep the heat in during the winter and cool air in during the summer. You won’t have to swelter or freeze while waiting for the HVAC system to keep up with changes throughout the day. And if you have more insulation in the attic, you won’t see as much heat rise and be lost through the roof, making the downstairs more comfortable. If there is a ten to fifteen degree difference between the different floors in your home, you need to add more insulation to the attic now to help to stabilize the interior conditions in your home.
Get an Insulation Quote Today
As you can tell, added insulation can help your home and family in so many ways. Get all of your questions about home insulation answered today and find out if your home will benefit from added insulation. If you’re in the Cincinnati area, we’re happy to help you with any questions or with new insulation!