Benefits Of Insulation
Poor insulation installation has a huge effect on your home and provides you with many benefits. Insulation affects heat, air, and moisture levels within your home, and can cause environmental effects at all levels of the home. It’s often difficult to pinpoint insulation as the primary culprit, which is why a comprehensive inspection is wise. It can help you save on energy bills, increase your indoor comfort, and reduce the effects of problems such as mold, mildew, and water damage by addressing prior poor insulation installation.
You may not even know that your home is lacking insulation. Issues are often in walls and your attic, so for most homeowners, issues that are out of sight are out of mind. There are signs out there that can clue you into your home having poor insulation. Insulation can be an easy way to improve your home’s performance, and who doesn’t want that? Saving money and energy are just two benefits of insulation. Read on to learn more about the importance of insulating your home or business.
Poor Insulation Makes Your Home Uncomfortable
Most homeowners don’t head up into their attics frequently. But heading into your attic can be a huge tell that your home isn’t insulated well. If you notice a large drop in temperature after just a step or two into your attic, you need to improve your insulation. Your attic is at the top of your home, so it’s an area that is prone to losing heating and cooling energy. Heat travels from warm to cool air, so improper insulation can cause your heating bills to skyrocket in the winter. Poor insulation can force you to choose between paying enormous heating bills or walking around your house bundled up all winter long. You may even avoid the top floor of your home. One of the best benefits of insulation is that it can prevent wild temperature changes.
Good Insulation Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
If making your home more comfortable isn’t enough, insulating your home properly helps the environment as well. Reducing the amount of energy that you use helps the earth and saves you money as well. Reducing the amount of energy that you use also helps to shrink your energy bills. It’s a smart move all-around to insulate your home.
- 12% of your carbon footprint comprises your use of electricity.
- 15% of your carbon footprint comprises your use of gas, oil, and coal.
- 50% to 70% of the energy used by your home comprises heating and cooling.
If homes across the world were properly insulated, it would take just 10 years to see a reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This would total over 293.5 billion pounds, according to a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health.
Proper Insulation Helps Retain Your Home’s Value
Proper insulation will help your home keep its value. It works behind the scenes to keep your home dry and comfortable. The attic space of your home being properly insulated can help you avoid costly physical damage to your home. The Midwest is prone to ice dams when attics aren’t properly insulated. Ice dams cause serious damage, and that damage isn’t cheap to get repaired. Simple insulation and sealing can help protect you from costly repairs to your roof and the rest of your home’s structure. Your home also stays much more well maintained overall with correct insulation. This means less money on repairs, maintenance, and annoying fixes.
Additionally, an Energy Pulse Survey showed that 86% of people living in the United States would choose an energy-efficient home over a home that has poor energy efficiency. In other words, the insulation and other energy-efficient features in a house could be a deal-breaker when in the market for a new home.
Insulation Saves Money
You pay a lot of money to condition the air in your home through your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC). Poor insulation allows that conditioned air to escape your home while letting outside air in, which means you are wasting a lot of money on inefficient heating and cooling. More money in your pocket is the most noticeable of the benefits of insulation.
Insulation Is Good For Your Health
The Harvard School of Public Health estimated that if every family in the United States properly insulated their homes, there would be:
- 110,000 fewer sick days every year.
- 240 fewer premature deaths every year.
- 6,500 fewer asthma attacks every year.
The air we breathe while inside our homes and other spaces matters. Air pollution kills millions of people every year. Particulate matter — hazardous particles such as soot, smoke, and exhaust suspended in the air — are deadly. The health benefits of insulation correspond to $1.3 billion per year in averted health care and $5.9 billion per year in additional savings associated with reduced energy consumption.
Final Thoughts
The benefits of insulation are many. If you need some help with the insulation of your home, call us today at 636-699-0449.