You should insulate your home when the following occurs:
>You have an older home and haven’t added insulation. Consider that only 20% of homes built before 1980 are well insulated.
>The distribution of heat in your home is uneven, cold zones in the winter or hot zones in the summer. Adding insulation creates a more uniform temperature and increases comfort by evenly covering your attic across all areas of your home. It is not uncommon to find settling of material if your current attic insulation is more than 15 years old.
>You build a new home, addition, or install new siding or roofing.
>You pay high energy bills. You can reduce energy cost by as much 33%. By keeping heat in the winter and cool air in the summer from rising past your ceiling and into the attic and losing that heat as it escapes your home. Attic insulation creates a barrier that will keep temperatures in your home constant thus your system will run less often, saving energy and money. Overtime the savings add up significantly.
>You are bothered by noise from outside. Insulation muffles sound.
If you have less than R-30 insulation in your attic (11 inches of fiber glass or rock wool or 8 inches of cellulose), you will benefit by adding insulation to your home. In the Chicago area you should have insulation with a rating between R-46 and R-60 in the attic (18 to 21 inches). Don’t forget the attic trap or access door.
Hope this helps you decide if your home can use extra insulation or if you should consider insulation for your home if you currently do not have any.
- Madmax
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Tags: attic insulation, Insulation, save energy, save money
We have had our house insulated and we have saved a ton of cash on our bills and our home is so much more comfortable. Thanks Four Seasons Heating.