Save Up to 40% on Cooling Cost This Summer By Upgrading Your Home Insulation
Summertime has officially arrived. It looks as if the sweltering hot temperatures are here to stay for awhile. Homeowners, are you thinking of ideas about how to lower your electric bill during the summer months? As you probably know running the air conditioning unit nonstop during the summer can be quite expensive. What can you do about addressing this problem? You could add drapes, hang some window blinds, install a ceiling fan or two, or you could think about upgrading your home insulation.
Yes, we said upgrading your home insulation! Before you start jumping to conclusions think about this. Yes, you might be thinking that insulation can only keep your home warm during the winter months. You’re not totally wrong. However, you would only be partially right. Insulation is also designed to block heat from entering your home during the summer months.
Why is home insulation important during the summer months?
When outside temperatures are warmer during the summer, outside heat seeks the coolness of your home. The heat can filter through any crack, leak or inadequate insulation that’s accessible. On cooler winter days, the heat inside your home uses these same efficiency gaps in your home’s envelope to move outside.
In the end, the greater the heat movement, the more you run your HVAC system and the higher your energy bills will be. It’s as simple as that. A home with the least amount of insulation consistently faces some of the more common problems during both the summer and winter months.
- Humid or cool drafty areas.
- Increased energy loss.
- Increased utility bills.
- An uncomfortable living environment.
Evaluation and Inspection
Before determining how much insulation you will need to add you will first need to know how much insulation you already have, and where you can expect to find it. Begin by having a licensed professional inspect the exterior walls and then attic areas of your home.
- A seasoned professional will know exactly which areas of the home to inspect. They will start the process by first checking your wall outlets. After turning off your home’s power.
- The licensed professional will then remove your wall covers and shine a flashlight around the outlet box area to see if there is any existing insulation in the wall area.
- Finally, the contractor will then pull out a portion of the wall to determine the type of insulation that is needed to make additional improvements.
Facts:
- Air Sealing and insulation reduces the use of home energy by 30% or more.
- Insulation: saves you money. Insulation makes your house more comfortable by helping to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the house and makes walls, ceilings, and floors warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
- 25% of a homes cool air is lost through the attic area of the home.
- 35% of the homes cool air is lost through a home’s walls
- 15 % of the homes heat and cool air are lost through the floor area.
Areas in the home to consider when upgrading your home insulation this summer.
- Attic Insulation – Heat passes through a horribly insulated attic. Building supplies like wood and drywall soak up the heat in an attic area without insulation. The heat is then radiated back through the ceiling and down into the home. Homeowners did you that by adding insulation in your home that you may qualify for a rebate offered by your state or federal government. Attic insulation is designed to help trap cool air inside the home during the hot weather season.
- Crawlspace Insulation- Warm and cold air enter your home through the crawlspace area of your home from the outside. As a result, you could end up living in a sweltering hot environment and it could potentially make life pretty miserable for you and your family. In addition, things such as fungi, mold, and moisture could start to grow. That’s why we suggest using rigid foam insulation designed specifically for the crawlspace area to eliminate the absorption of mold and moisture.
- Wall Insulation- a majority of the homes built before 1980 don’t have insulation in the cavity wall areas of the home. By simply making changes and improving your homes wall insulation you could potentially save up to $300 annually in heating and cooling costs.
Maximizing the effects of insulation performance during the warm weather months
- Air circulation- consider opening your windows at night. Temperatures are usually at their lowest during the evening hours. Opening your windows gives your home the opportunity to cool naturally. If your home’s insulation doesn’t have the opportunity to release the trapped heat from the home that’s absorbed during the day it weakens the condition of your insulation.
- Solar gain- During the day when the sun is shining brightly the warm heat from the sun is amplified. The rays of the sun shine brightly on windows and amplify the heated areas behind it. Consider using blinds, drapes and reflective material’ in your window area to minimize the impacts of solar gain.
For more information on how to improve your homes insulation contact one of our friendly consultants today by calling us at (443) 290-5182 for additional information.
