If you’ve recently purchased a home, you might want to consider effective home insulation. Or, if you’re selling, home insulation could raise your home value a great deal. Either way, the benefits of home insulation are plentiful. Insulating your home is accomplished by adding special materials to your walls, ceiling, or roof to make your home cooler in summer and warmer in the winter.
As a homeowner, you want to save as much money and energy as you can. But when your home is not properly insulated, you could be throwing your hard-earned money away by paying more to effectively heat and cool. When you insulate the windows, doors, ceiling and outer walls of your home, you can enjoy the year-round benefits of home insulation while improving energy efficiency, your wallet and your comfort during all times of the year.
How insulation works in both summer and winter
It all begins with heat flow, which moves from warm to cool spaces naturally. The heat moves to the unheated parts of your home—predominantly the attic, garage and basement. It can also move through the walls and ceiling. In the winter, heat is lost and is replaced by the heating system, while in the summer, the heat must be removed via the cooling system. Your goal is to decrease the heat flow so the HVAC system won’t have to work as hard, thus saving you money. Proper insulation lessens the heat flow because it resists the flow of heat. Insulation’s resistance to heat flow is measured by its thermal resistance or R-value.
Some people believe that their homes are already comfortable even without proper insulation. They also might not want to spend the money on it. However, in the long run, the savings and comfort will be evident.
Here are some other benefits and tips for home insulation:
- The addition of attic and wall insulation will effectively help cool your home in the summer and heat in the winter.
- Replacing windows with ENERGY STAR qualified windows will also assist in proper insulation and lower energy bills.
- Be sure to make sure any air leaks in attics, basements and crawlspaces are properly sealed as well.
- Insulation offers environmental benefits because it reduces fuel and energy consumption.
- If you like quiet, insulation offers an effective noise barrier.
Insulation will amount in yearly savings that makes a noticeable difference. It will also increase your property value, which is an added benefit especially if you are planning to sell. Home buyers will definitely pay more for a well-insulated home!
Also consider getting a free home value report from Neighborhood IQ to find out your home’s worth shortly after you’ve properly insulated your home to find out how much of an investment you have made in the big step of buying a home.
